《I Own EVERY Class in This World: Life Set to HELL Mode!》


 Chapter 1: The Judgment

    <h4>Chapter 1: The Judgment</h4>


    "Wait a minute... why does this truck have no driver-"


    A 23 year old man was in the middle of an empty street, a fog surrounding his view, making him unable to see anything past the five meters mark.


    It was already weird enough he hadn''t met a singr person in around ten minutes, even though he was on a friday night, but what the hell was happening?


    He had juste back from his overtime at his job as a professionnal ountant, but the moment he tried to traverse a seemingly empty road...


    A truck came rushing his way, almost as if it was waiting for him in the shadows.


    "..." the man wasn''t dumb, after all he had read many novels and mangas, but he couldn''t let that slide.


    He had just been hired to his job three months ago, and he refused to die and let all those hours go to waste.


    So... he jumped to his left at thest moment, essentially avoiding the truck right as it was about to kill him.


    "Phew~" He wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Nice try, you fucking asshole-"


    But right as he turned back his head to see if everything was fine...


    Another truck came rushing from the opposite direction, yet again with no driver behind the wheel.


    "Yeah okay," this time he didn''t even bother to avoid it as it was way too close.


    ~SLAM~


    He was hit in full force by the mysterious driverless truck, and immediately died upon impact with the vehicle.


    And just as predicted, almost as if some weird magic was taking ce, the two trucks evaporated right after.


    They had done their job after all...


    ***


    (In an unknown space)


    A mysterious and powerful being was looking at the sky, lost in thoughts.


    ''When will they arrive...'' he was getting impatient, ''I sent those two to catch him, but they''re taking longer than expected...''


    Just as the being was about to give up hope and go check for himself, a bright light appeared in the distance. The light grew stronger and stronger until a figure emerged from within it.


    "Oh," the figure smiled as it saw the body of the ountant emerge from the rift and fall on the ground as he was unconscious.


    "What took you so long?" it spoke, not to the sleeping man, but to the two figures that were behind him.


    They were covered in white, and their eyespletely dark, their appearance was grotesque and a pair of white wings emerged from their backs, as well as pure ck horns from the top of their heads.


    "He somehow managed to avoid us once..." they both kneeled.


    The two creatures were the drivers of the trucks, also called the ''ascenders'' as they were tasked with sending potential individuals to this space, where they would be judged either worthy or unworthy of transmigrating.


    "Very well," Rher sat back on his giant throne, his physical appearance was extremelyrge, and a single one of his fingers would be enough to crush a hundred humans, "Bring him here, as the judgment shall begin."


    The two white creatures got up before bowing to their god, then one of them touched the ountant''s forehead, a golden light emerging from its palm.


    "It is done," they informed Rher before disappearing yet again, off to continue their work.


    After a few seconds, the man slowly opened his eyes, finding himself in a strange and ethereal realm.


    He sat up, looking around in confusion at the surrealndscape surrounding him.


    "You are in my dimension," Rher''s voice echoed in his ears as he regained consciousness.


    As he slowly stood up, he took in the surreal surroundings of this new dimension.


    The sky was a vibrant shade of purple, unlike anything he had ever seen before. The horizon seemed endless, stretching on and on into the unknown.


    And beneath their feet, the ground was solid yet ethereal, like a floating asteroid suspended in space.


    But what truly captured his attention were the countless other rock inds that dotted thendscape.


    They varied in size and shape, some resembling jagged peaks while others were smooth and round. Yet all of them shared onemon trait - they too were floating in this bizarre dimension.


    Beneath his feety one of the many ''inds'' that dotted the vast expanse of this dimension.


    But this particr ind was thergest, capable of holding not only Rher, but also his massive throne and still leaving plenty of room to spare.


    "Human, the judgment shall begin," The being known as Rher smiled, his entire figure concealed by a dark cloak.


    The only visible features were his piercing yellow eyes, staring intently at the human before them, and his impossibly wide grin.


    As he leaned back on his throne, Rher''s arms rested casually on the edges, showcasing his long, slender fingers adorned with sharp purple nails.


    It was clear to the man that whatever was about to happen was anything but good.


    "Judgment?" he repeated, staring back at the God.


    "Ohoh~ You don''t seem too afraid, I like it!" Rherughed, "Let''s just roll in the tutorial!"


    "Tutorial? What is that-"


    In an instant, three panels appeared before him, each disying a crudely drawn image and apanying text.


    The drawings looked as though they were sketched by a child, yet somehow held a strange air of otherworldliness.


    "..." he didn''t even feel the need to question whatever was happening, so he started reading.


    [Wee to the ''Judgment'']


    [In this space, many people get judged by the God of Fate, Rher, and only those who are deemed fit can pass on to the next world]


    Below that was a drawing of Rher sitting on his throne, and of a normal person with the text ''You'' above.


    ''Who even drew this, these are basically stickman figures...''


    [Those who are deemed unfit are sent to the void]


    The drawing this time showed the same ''you'' falling into the void, which was a dark sphere resembling a ck hole, all the while getting zapped by Rher.


    [Amount of people that have passed the judgment yet: 0]


    The third and final image showed a big 0 with Rher around it, a sad expression on his face.


    ''Don''t act like you''re sad, it''s your fucking fault,'' he groaned.


    The man finished reading the ''tutorial'', then looked back at the god, who seemed proud of himself for drawing that.


    "So let me get this straight," the ountant sighed.


    "Yes, do ask."


    "You ripped me from my original world, and unfairly killed me just to bring me here? And now I have a 99.99% chance of dying or being sent to some unknown void?" he held his forehead, unable toprehend how ridiculous that situation was.


    Rher looked at him for a second before speaking, "Um... yeah, pretty much."


    "..."


    "..."


    The two looked at one another, and so without hesitation, the man pointed his arms at Rher and gave him the middle finger.


    "Fuck you," he spoke, an annoyed expression on his face.


    "How violent!"


    Rher blinked, surprised by the man''s boldness. No one had ever dared to speak to him in such a manner before. But instead of getting angry, a wide grin spread across Rher''s face, revealing rows of sharp teeth.


    "So what now?" the ck-haired man continued, "Am I doomed to be judged by some random criteria I''ll never know?"


    "Human, this test is to make sure that you have your ce in this world, it is much harder than you think..." Rher tried to justify himself.


    "Who cares, this world probably sucks anyway!"


    "Hey, my world doesn''t suck-"


    "Nuh uh," he made a ''no'' gesture with his hand.


    "..."


    And yet again, the two stared at one another.


    "You are extremely stubborn," Rher went back to smiling, "But I like you!"


    "So when does the judgment end?"


    "Oh..." Suddenly, Rher''s pupils began to glow with a golden aura, and the surrounding air seemed to shimmer, "But it has already ended..."


    A blinding light enveloped the man, causing him to shield his eyes with his arm.


    And when it faded, there was a massive hole in the ground in the middle of the previously t ind in front of him, seemingly dug through the solid rock.


    The man cautiously took a few steps closer to the edge, peering down into the darkness below.


    "Am I supposed to jump?" he asked with the most nk of expressions, pointing at the hole, sure that he failed.


    "Uh? No! You passed!" Rherughed again, he really enjoyed that man''s personality.


    Hisughter echoed off the surrounding cliffs as he gestured towards the hole, revealing a hidden staircase leading down into the depths below.


    "You are the first and only person who will be allowed to pass, good luck, and don''t disappoint me!"


    The man stared down into the depths of the staircases, and once he looked back up, there was no trace of Rher anymore, even the throne had disappeared.


    ''Quit trying to act mysterious,'' he groaned as he began descending.


    [Amount of people that have passed the judgment yet: 0->1]


    He was descending the stairs, and the more he went on, the more dark and obscure the aura in his surroundings became.


    And when he reached thest step before entering a ck portal in front of him, a panel appeared.


    [Congrattions, someone actually managed to convince Rher, making you the one and only transmigrator of this world!]


    ''Does this mean i''m getting a system and bing op in the other world?'' the man questioned, having read his fair share of isekai media himself, he always knew it was something the protagonists of these worlds acquired to help them on their journey.


    [Lol, no]


    And just like that, an unknown force pushed him inside the portal, plunging him into darkness and silence. The sensation was dizzying, disorienting, as if he was hurtling through space and time.


    And after what felt like hours, days, weeks, months, years...


    He opened his eyes.

 Chapter 2: Eventful First Day

    <h4>Chapter 2: Eventful First Day</h4>


    The sky was a brilliant shade of blue, with vibrant rays of sunlight cascading towards his eyes.


    As they adjusted to the bright light and noise, he realized that he was standing on the edge of a building at least 50 meters above the ground.


    A sea of people looked up at him, their voices blending into a chaotic symphony of concern and confusion. The man''s mind raced as he tried to make sense of the situation.


    ":I" the ountant was confused.


    Suddenly, he heard shouting from below, pleading for him not to jump.


    He looked up and saw helicopters circling above, their cameras pointed at him.


    "Don''t do it!" They shouted.


    "I know you have no ss, but it doesn''t matter, it''s not worth it!"


    ''What the fuck kind of argument is that, and what the hell is a ss,'' the man groaned, pinching himself to make sure whatever he was in wasn''t just some dream and that he wasn''t in aa after being hit by the truck.


    But the pinch only brought pain, confirming that this was indeed reality.


    The wind blew through his ck hair as he stood on the edge, contemting the situation he found himself in.


    The chaos below only seemed to escte as more and more people gathered.


    The helicopters were also still spinning in the air, broadcasting whatever was happening live to the entire world.


    "Yeah ok," the manughed as he couldn''t hold it in, he couldn''t have been put in a more ridiculous situation, but Rher seemed to have a weird sense of humor.


    He distanced himself from the edge as he didn''t want to trip and fall, after all what would happen to him if he found himself back in Rher''s dimension, the godughing in his face for dying less than 5 minutes after being reincarnated was something he did NOT want to experience.


    But right as he moved away from the edge, he heard a voice behind him.


    "I knew you wouldn''t do it, you fucking pussy," said a young-looking boy with tanned skin and blonde hair, who despite his age, which was 15, towered over most people at roughly 180cm tall.


    "What the fuck did you just say to me?" not impressed, the transmigrator looked at the boy in the eyes, surprising him.


    "Haha~ It seems like this attempt made you go crazy," The boy smirked in response, activating some sort of power that emitted an overwhelming aura around him, "I''ll have to put you back in your ce again, ssless boy."


    "..." Stark didn''t even talk, just tilting his head in confusion.


    "Stark, you are the lowest of the low and can''t do anything right, and yet when I give you a chance to prove yourself, you pussy out?" the man summoned a steel sword out of thin air, it was shimmering with a silver glow, "I''ll show you the power of a ''warrior''!"


    ''Is my name in this world Stark...?'' he questioned, seemingly unhappy of the name he had gotten, his previous one was way better.


    He didn''t even seem to care about the fact magic was being used in front of him, instead focusing on some internal questions, he had no memories of this body after all, so he would need to start from ground zero.


    "PAY ATTENTION, FUCKER," the aggressive boy bellowed, his eyes zing with anger and determination as he charged towards Stark at an rming speed, his sharp weapon gleamed in the sunlight, ready to slice and dice.


    ''Hm...'' Stark simply stood there, lost in thought, not even bothering to acknowledge the other boy''s presence, but this only seemed to infuriate him more.


    "Oh! I get it now, Rher! I think this is the tutorial!" Stark nodded and hit the palm of his left hand with a fist of his right.


    Then without missing a beat, he instinctively took a step back, deftly evading the tanned boy''s attack.


    The sudden movement caused the aggressive boy to lose bnce and tumble over the edge as he wasn''t able to stop, not expecting Stark to avoid and so using his full speed.


    "Huh?" the blond man looked down as he fell.


    "WATCH OUT!"


    "SOMEONE ELSE JUMPED!"


    The crowd quickly dispersed, creating a clear path for the falling boy who crashed into the ground with a sickening thud.


    Meanwhile, Stark calmly looked down at where the boy had fallen before shrugging nonchntly, "Oh well, I guess I beat the tutorial," he muttered to himself before casually walking away.


    Walking down the stairs, he realized the building he was in seemed to be some sort of luxurious apartment building.


    And after a minute, he found himself outside, where the crowd and chaos were located.


    "Someone call an ambnce, QUICK!"


    The boy who had attacked Stark was on the ground, moving only slightly as his entire body was covered in blood.


    "..." Stark looked at him with a nk expression, then shrugged yet again before walking away, "Tutorial bosses are really weak, not gonna lie..."


    Themotion and all the cameras were now pointed at the blond guy, allowing Stark to walk away without much issues, and even though some people noticed him, they didn''t bother to ask him if he was okay.


    "Damn, was this guy really that unimportant? Anyway, I need to figure out where I am before something else happens," Stark sighed as he turned the corner.


    But when he did...


    "THERE YOU ARE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" a man in his mid-twenties came rushing his way, he also had ck hair and looked a lot like him.


    "Who are you?" he asked, unbothered.


    "HUH? I''M YOUR BROTHER! YOU USELESS SHIT," the man grabbed Stark by the arm and forced him to seat at the backseat of a luxurious car, "You are the shame of the family, I honestly think you jumping would have made things easier for us."


    ''How supportive...'' Stark rolled his eyes, but smiled on the inside, ''Where the fuck did you put me, Rher...''


    Frankly, he didn''t take any of this seriously, after all, for him, all of this was only the tutorial, which meant the introduction, hopefully he would get basic information about this world soon though.


    Stark observed his surroundings as the car sped off, taking in the opulence of the vehicle and the expensive-looking buildings passing by.


    It seemed like he was in a world technologically simr to his previous one.


    And after thirty minutes and many differentndscapes, he finally parked in front of a mansion.


    ''Nice, if that''s my house then life couldn''t get better!''


    Or at least that''s what he thought.

 Chapter 3: The ’Soul Wielders’ Family

    <h4>Chapter 3: The ''Soul Wielders'' Family</h4>


    Stark stepped out of the car and looked up at the grandeur of the mansion in front of him. The architecture was impressive, exuding an air of wealth and power.


    ''Nice,'' he grinned while nodding, seemingly happy, ''Good job, Rher, I knew you wouldn''t let me down.''


    "Mother and father have called you in, there is a meeting with the entire family because of you," Stark''s ''brother''manded, a drop of sweat dripping from his forehead.


    "Ok," Stark didn''t mind and walked alongside the stranger.


    The interior of the mansion was just as luxurious as the exterior, withvish decorations and expensive furniture adorning every room. As Stark followed his "brother" through the halls, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of detachment from it all.


    This world, with its opulence and formality, seemed so different from the one he hade from.


    But after being sent here as Rher''s ''chosen one'', he guessed he didn''t have much of a choice.


    Finally, they arrived at a grand meeting room where the rest of the family was already assembled. Stark''s parents, adorned in fine clothing and stern expressions, sat at the head of a long table.


    The other family members, which were basically two other woman with red hair were sitting on the table as well.


    His father had ck hair and red eyes, while his mother had red hair and red eyes as well.


    "Stark, you are fifteen years of age, and the ''ss Showcase'' ceremony is in two days, yet you disturb everyone again?" his father spoke before he could even sit down, his tone filled with authority.


    ''...'' Stark had to take in most of the information he would get during this meeting, after all he couldn''t let it show that he didn''t know anything, "Hmm... yes very interesting father..."


    "Are you even taking this seriously?" his father barked, "It''s already embarassing that us, a reknown family of ''soul wielders'' are stuck with... you!"


    "My friends keep mocking me for having you as my brother," one of the red-haired girls got up and mmed her fists on the table, "Can''t you ever do something right?"


    "Interesting, sister, but I don''t remember asking!"


    "YOU LITTLE SHIT," a red aura appeared around the girl, glowing immensely, "That''s why you get bullied!"


    "Calm down, honey," her mother stopped her from using her powers, then looked back at Stark, "You attempted to kill yourself, sent one of your ssmates to the hospital, and now are disrespecting your siblings?" she red at her son as if he was an animal.


    Since the moment Stark was born, he was already recognized as the weakest link of the family, the first words his mother uttered as he was born were "useless" and "weak" after all as she sensed he didn''t have a single trace of magic in him.


    But nheless, they kept him around since they believed that his powers woulde out at ater age, and yet nothing.


    ''Man... I don''t know what is going on with the guy I got transmigrated into, but looks like his situation is tough...'' Stark sighed.


    His thoughts were wandering to all the things he could be doing at this moment to increase his chances of survival in this magic-oriented world, and although he had no idea what or who the threats were, he was still interested in knowing.


    "Can I leave now?" he blurted out, his mother and father had been talking for a good five minutes, but he hadn''t listened as all they did was berate him, plus they wouldn''t give him any info since it seemed the only time they talked was to insult him.


    Of course, under any normal circumstances, Stark would have stayed with his family to take advantage of their money and of the fact he could live in a mansion.


    But no this time, since he had the feeling that staying in there was asking for death, and even more so when he stared at their eyes, they were cold, ready to kill him if he did anything wrong.


    [Stay if you have a death wish =)]


    Even a panel came to confirm what he suspected, and so that''s why he wanted to leave.


    His parents exchanged a disappointed look before nodding, acknowledging Stark''s dismissal.


    "Stark," suddenly, all his family members got up from their chair, "i''ll remind you onest time what makes you so different from us..."


    All of them put their right hand on the area of their body where their heart was located, and suddenly...


    ~FWISH~


    Different colored and textured hearts appeared, one of them was yellow of color and had asso around it, another was red with pulsating veins.


    His mother''s was pink, with hearts surrounding it, while his father''s was ck, with asional zaps of lightning.


    "It''s because you don''t have the ''soul wielder'' ss that you are so different."


    All of them seemed powerful, but Stark did wonder how any of this worked, and what all these ''sses'' were about.


    "Well... um... bye bye," Stark shrugged.


    "Don''te back then," his father looked at him with determined eyes, almost confident his youngest son didn''t have the balls to do any of this, he was always a scaredy-cat after all.


    "Ok," Stark took the door out of ''meeting room'' and after a few minutes found his way out of the mansion, "Mannnnn~ Time to figure out what kind of world i''m in," he decided that going to his school was probably the best option.


    Back in the meeting room, which was mostly just the dinner room since that''s where they ate, all of the family members were bbergasted.


    How could Stark change so much in just a day, just yesterday he was his same old self, did he have some kind of enlightenment?


    "It''s fine," the father calmed down the atmosphere, "He is too weak to do anything, and he isn''t going to survive the ''ss Showcase'' anyway, way too many influential figures will be there and he is probably not even gonna participate... Plus we were already nning to kick him out."


    It wasn''t like they really cared anyway, without Stark in the picture, their family lineage would be perfect.


    ***


    "I worked as an ountant for three months, and it took me four years of studying and one year of internship to get to where I was, you think this will scare me?" Stark eximed to himself, he had already ved up at his job, so he didn''t care much about any of these people.


    He had just been dropped into this random world with no exnation, but he guessed it was part of the ''game'' to discover whatever was happening.


    And Rher probably enjoyed seeing him struggle, that sadistic bastard.


    ''Fuck you, Rher!'' he internally shouted.


    ~BAM~


    He hit a middle-sized rock (that clearly wasn''t there five seconds ago) and fell to the ground.


    "FUCK YOU, RHER," he repeated while shielding his face, and this time nothing happened.


    But it looked like this wasn''t such an unfortunate event, because as soon as he got up, Stark noticed that a wallet had fallen off from his pants.


    He was wearing some kind of school uniform currently, but there was only some golden sigil on it, nothing that could confirm the location of his school.


    A wallet on the other hand was everything he needed, plus, after noticing the wallet, he touched his other pocket and realized he also had a phone.


    "YAHOO!"


    He opened the wallet, and inside were four things: his student card, a credit card, a debit card and a note reading: "have fun exploring this world!"


    ''Soooo funny...'' he groaned before tearing up the paper and grabbing the student card.


    Apparently he was a student of the ''Lotus'' academy, which was some middle school for supposed ''ss'' prodigies.


    ''Bro definitely got in thanks to connections, no other way,'' Stark smiled, after all wasn''t he supposed to be ssless, "Oh! But that reminds me, can''t I check my status window?"


    The paper that was on the ground suddenly formed back to its original state, and a giant ''yes'' was written on the back.


    "Status window, I guess, then..."


    And surprisingly, it did work...

 Chapter 4: Getting Basic Information

    <h4>Chapter 4: Getting Basic Information</h4>


    As Stark called out for his status window, a semi-transparent disy appeared in front of him, showing his information.


    This was something that every single person in this world had: a status window to check their skills and such.


    Seeing the panel, Stark sighed in relief, at least it meant he wasn''t THAT weak (or at least he thought).


    And so, he began reading.


    [Name:] Stark Heartsouls


    ''They didn''t have the inspiration to pick a better surname, did they...''


    [Level:] 1


    [Health:] 10/10


    ''...''


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [ss:] ssless


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    ''Huh...'' Stark guessed that he had indeed been chosen by Rher, so not that surprising.


    [Attributes:] Strength 3; Speed 2; Mind/Soul 14; Stamina 4; Defense 3


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel (locked)


    ''I guess that''s all...'' he sighed, none of this was exceptional except for maybe the locked skill, but he would need to unlock it somehow...


    [Commentary from Rher:] Hurrendous stats, might have made a mistake in summoning you...


    ''Appreciate the feedback my guy.''


    ...


    [Skill: Spatial Inventory]


    [Type:] Passive Skill


    [Level:] Cannot be upgraded since it is notbat rted.


    [Description:] This skill is always active, and allows the user whenever he wants to put or take out objects inside of an inventory space only essible to him (and no, you can''t go inside yourself).


    ...


    [ss Wheel]


    [Type:] Chosen One (locked)


    [Description:] ???


    ...


    ''Damn,'' Stark was surprised to see he actually had something decent in hand, he didn''t get a system as everyone seemed to be able to check this panel, but it was good enough...


    He then grabbed the phone that was in his pocket, it was his only way of finding basic information after all.


    ''Oh, password protected...'' he was met with a wall, and unfortunately enough, the ssless boy didn''t put on fingerprint recognition, meaning he was essentially locked out of the phone except if he found the code in less than five attempts.


    "Well... I found the name of the middle school he was in, so it doesn''t really matter," Stark shrugged.


    ''Lotus'' Academy seemed to be a weird name for a school, but it made sense considering it was supposed to be one that harbored prodigies with powerful ''sses'', or something like that...


    Stark had his doubts about the middle school he was supposed to be attending.


    Plus wasn''t there some big event in two days?


    In the end, he realized that he wouldn''t be able to figure it out by himself, and instead took a taxi.


    "To ''Lotus'' Academy," he ordered the driver.


    "Hey, wait a minute... weren''t you the one that threw that guy from the building...-" the driver tried to say.


    "To Lotus Academy, PLEASE," but Stark just repeated his words.


    "Oh well... as long as i''m paid."


    Through this discussion, Stark realized that the helicopters and cameras that were pointed at him had truly been broadcasting everything for the whole city, if not country (whatever they are), to see.


    ***


    It took him 40 minutes, and he had to pay a good amount of money, but in the end, he had reached his one and only hint as to what the fuck was happening: the Lotus Academy, which was also his middle-school.


    The Lotus Academy was a grand school with intricate carvings and pirs, a giant lotus above the entrance. The surrounding area was lush with greenery, with arge fountain at the center of the courtyard.


    There was also a giant screen at the top, with many videos of students fighting one another being broadcasted for all passersby to see.


    ''Huh...'' Stark looked at his surroundings for a few seconds before deciding it was time to enter.


    There seemed to be nobody around since school must have ended a few hours ago, but as the gates were still open, there was no reason to hesitate.


    "Who''s trying to enter at this hour?" A muscr man with brown hair appeared from behind the gate as Stark tried to pass, and even he was surprised to see the ck-haired ssless boy, "Stark? Why are you here?"


    "Library," he answered with no hesitation in his voice.


    "Oh..." the man scratched his head, even he seemed ufortable speaking to him, "It''s weird seeing youe back to school after it ended, but yeah... you do you..."


    Stark nodded, and as he made his way into the academy, he couldn''t help but roll his eyes.


    There was nobody in the luxurious looking hallways, but just the aura in the inside of the school made it obvious it wasn''t one anyone could enter if they didn''t have the power/connections to.


    He just followed the signs that directed to the ''Library'', and after a few minutes found himself in front of two wooden doors.


    He pushed them open and was met with rows upon rows of towering bookshelves, each filled to the brim with ancient tomes and modern textbooks.


    Stark wandered through the aisles, his fingers trailing along the spines of the books as he scanned the titles, and after a few minutes, he picked out three different ones.


    "sses for beginners"


    "Basic information aboutbat"


    "Important events of the world"


    ''I hope they give me the needed information...'' he sat on one of the avable tables with the three books.


    But as he was ready to sit down, he turned his head to the left, noticing he wasn''t the only one in the library.


    "..." A blonde-haired girl was staring at him with a confused expression on her face, almost as if she couldn''t believe that he was here.


    "What?" before beginning his long lecture, he asked this question as he didn''t appreciate that gaze on him.


    Taken aback, the girl immediately went back to reading the book between her hands, "Hmft~ Nothing, don''t get cocky!"


    ''What the fuck is wrong with people in this world,'' he sighed before opening the first page of a book.


    ***


    (A few hourster)


    As the sun began to set, casting a warm golden glow over thendscape, Stark stretched his hands backwards, releasing a content sigh.


    The third and final book was finished, and with it came a newfound understanding of his surroundings.


    "Ah~ I guess it''s a bit more clear now... huh..."


    He now understood what was happening around him, and how all of this came to be, but it would have honestly been better if Rher just told him beforehand.


    Basically...


    The world he was in was named ''Rheria'', with the country named Ferburg being his current location.


    In this world, every human possessed a unique power or ability known as a "ss". It was these sses that set them apart from one another.


    But Rheria was not without its dangers. Most of the outside world was infested with monsters, forcing the poption to seek safety within the 28 countries scattered throughout thend.


    These countries were immense in size, providing ample space for their inhabitants.


    The reason for the sudden appearance of powers is unknown, but apparently it had always been like this since the beginning, no asteroids hitting the heart or sudden apparition of rifts/towers to other worlds...


    This was just basic information.


    But the things that interested Stark the most were...


    The many sses that were present in this world.

 Chapter 5: The Classes

    <h4>Chapter 5: The sses</h4>


    After understanding the situation around this world, Stark immediately went to learn about the sses and powers that were avable.


    Instead of the normal stuff where everyone could get their own skills and improve depending on what they choose to persue, this world was extremely different from the rest.


    Basically: there are 10 sses, and chosen individuals gets ced into one of them (or none if they don''t meet the requirements), thus determining their abilities and destiny.


    The sses are the same for everybody, but it is the inner talent and skills that make the difference.


    Stark read more about these sses, and as he absorbed the information, he understood more and more why Stark''s family seemed to judge him as ipetent.


    Most of the poption don''t unlock a ss as it is something rare and for powerful individuals, but his family seemed to be one of ''soul wielders'', while on the otherhand he was just one of the ''people''.


    In this world, most people dream to get a ss and be ''ssifiers'', which is the name for people who fight monsters and have powers.


    And the ten sses of this world are...


    ...


    [Magus:] master magicians with the power to control elements and cast powerful spells, the spells can be extremely different between each individual, making everyone unique in their own way.


    [Exorcist:] specialists in banishing evil/cursed spirits and curses, possessing abilities to purify their surroundings and protect others from malevolent forces (mainly fight demons and use divine power).


    [Beast Tamer:] able to summon and control beasts, both magical and mundane, they can create alliances with these creatures to aid in battle and exploration, the more powerful their beasts, the more powerful the tamer is.


    [Warrior:] One of the mostmon sses people get, but still a fairly powerful one as they possess incredible physical strength, durability, andbat skills. They specialize in close-quartersbat and have a wide variety of melee techniques at their disposal.


    [Assassin:] Skilled in stealth, sabotage, and assassination, they are masters of the shadows and can slip past guards undetected, silently eliminating their targets with a deadly precision.


    [Archer:] Specializing in the use of ranged weapons, primarily bows and arrows, they possess a high degree of uracy and can strike from a distance with lethal force (strangely enough, apparently some of them use their abilities on guns).


    [Soul Wielder:] Ability to summon the power of your soul and materialize your heart in front of you, your abilities depend on your heart and willpower, it is one of the most mysterious sses and also one of the rarest ones.


    [Alchemist:] Able to create potions with different effects, they can both sell them or use them in battle to support others or themselves, potion effects can vary from individual to individual, allowing Alchemists to even fight in close-rangedbats with the right potions and ingredients.


    [Subus/Incubus:] Control the desires of others through their charm and allure, they can drain energy from their victims through physical contact, although most people in this ss use it for sex work and to enjoy a luxurious life since they are the most demanded people in dating/mariage.


    [???:] Thest and final ss has almost no information because of how rare it is, people who have it do not showcase its powers, the rarest ss of them all.


    ...


    ''Yo, can I get the incubus ss?'' Stark asked, it would be really great if he could enjoy himself.


    But of course, he got no response, taking it as a ''no''.


    During his entire stay in the library, Stark felt the stare of the blonde-haired girl on him as she would steal quick nces at him every few seconds under her book, then would act as if nothing was wrong when he turned his eyes toward her.


    ''Welp, there''s also that ''ss Showcase'' thing that''sing up, really annoying and dangerous...''


    Many people would die during that event since they only wanted the ''best of the best'' to be picked, but Stark had juste to this world and had no ss, meaning he was probably at the top of the ''about to die'' list.


    ''I can always ditch it anyway,'' he shrugged, although it would be difficult to find a ce in this unknown world after.


    And as for how the event would go... well... he would need to see by himself during this fateful day.


    ''Well, I guess that''s it for today,'' he sighed and got up from his seat.


    Noticing that the blonde-haired girl was still staring at him, he just smiled and headed toward the exit door.


    He didn''t know his rtionship with her, so he didn''t take any risks, being friendly wouldn''t advantage him anyway, not after being almost killed and kicked out by his family from their home.


    "Goodbye," he still spoke as to be respectful and then left.


    Stark found a hotel nearby afterward, and thanks to the credit card he had, he was able to pay a room for the next few days, although he would need to pay them back at some point.


    He didn''t waste time as he got in his room and immediately went to bed, not even bothering to change as he didn''t have any other clothes beside his uniform.


    Stark was dropped to the bottom, ssless, with no friends or allies, and now he would have to build himself back up.


    "Yawn~" he stared at the ceiling of his pitch ck room, and slightly smiled, "I guess i''ll figure it out somehow..."


    This was how his first day in this new world went, and although he had only found the most basic of information and still had no power (because Rher was a narcissistic greedy bitch, I mean, the guy has the world based on his name), he was still confident in his abilities.


    ***


    (The next day)


    When the sun began to appear in the sky, Stark opened his eyes.


    Although the ''ss Showcase'' was tomorrow, he still needed to attend ss apparently, it would help him pass the time and gather more info anyway, so he didn''t care.


    He took a shower and then wore back the same uniform while leaving his room, he didn''t have a backpack, but honestly who cares.


    ...


    [Skill: ss Wheel]


    [Type:] Chosen One (locked)


    [Description:] ???


    ...


    He inspected that panel while taking the walk to the school, but found nothing that indicated any way to unlock it, maybe it woulde outter.


    On the way to ''Lotus'' Academy, he noticed many other people wearing the same uniform as him, although most of them either ignored his presence or when they looked at him had ufortable looks on their faces.


    He entered the school but had a hard time finding his ss (it took him one failed attempt for a teacher to tell him), and then he finally reached it.


    -ss 3A-


    The door was opened as people were still entering, and so he did just like them.


    But when he took the first step inside the ss...


    All eyes fell on him.


    "Holy shit..."


    "He showed himself again?"


    "Does he have a death wish?"


    Such were the whispers that filled the room as Stark walked in.


    But even in his past life, he wasn''t the type to care about such things, so instead he just took a seat at back and nced at the outside world from the window.


    And thus, his first day of ss started.


    [Countdown before the ''ss Showcase: 1 day]

 Chapter 6: Duel Request

    <h4>Chapter 6: Duel Request</h4>


    As Stark sat in the ssroom, trying to focus on the lesson being taught, he couldn''t help but feel the weight of everyone''s gaze on him.


    It was clear that his arrival had stirred up some kind of reaction among his ssmates as most of them had seen the video that was going around the inte of him tricking the other guy into falling off a building.


    And after an hour of boring lessons he tried his hardest to listen to...


    ~SLAM~


    The door of the ssroom opened, and three guys entered it as if they were the kings.


    Stark immediately noticed that one of the boys, who was also the leader, was the tanned blond-haired man he had tricked yesterday.


    "Daniel, I won''t allow you to cause havoc in my ss," the teacher, a man in his mid-forties, who also looked used to this types of scenes, retorted.


    But Daniel brushed him off, pointing his hand at Stark, "You, me, at the back of the school right after ss ends, i''m finally going to end your pathetic life, you parasite."


    "Holy shit... Daniel actually asked for a duel...?"


    "Doesn''t it mean he is gonna kill him?"


    "I want to see that...!"


    It seemed like people were excited to see the fight, and looking at Daniel''s expression, it looked like he was ready to kill, his powers and family influence probably enough to let him get away with that.


    But Stark wasn''t impressed.


    ''Since when do tutorial bosses get second phases...'' he sighed.


    And without even taking the time to let him answer, Daniel and his little gang left as it wasn''t their ssroom.


    ''This guy was massively injured yesterday, and now he is back as if nothing happened... I guess there must be some powerful healers huh...''


    The ss continued for the rest of the day, but nobody could really focus as all they were waiting for was the uing confrontation where Daniel would decimate Stark.


    Surprisingly, Stark was the only one that didn''t look bothered by this at all, almost as if he didn''t care.


    And he actually didn''t.


    As the bell rang for the end of the day, the students began to file out of the ssroom, chattering about the uing duel between Stark and Daniel.


    It was the talk of the school.


    "Yawn~" the ck-haired boy in question slowly left the ssroom too and then followed the crowd toward the back of the school, wanting to just win this fight and get this over with.


    [Are you this confident you could win?]


    This panel appeared before him, and he stopped for a few seconds to read it.


    "Yeah," he replied before resuming to walk.


    [Hm... Why are you this confident?]


    "I don''t know, I just am somehow, tutorials aren''t that hard you know."


    [It''s not a- you know what, forget about it]


    And then it disappeared.


    Stark took the exit door then headed toward the courtyard, which was the ''back of the school'' he guessed.


    It was a massive open area surrounded by other middle-sized buildings, filled with benches and trees.


    There were also many terrains used for different activities, but mainly for student fighting as it was part of the curriculum for them to train and improve their sses.


    As he walked across it, he spotted Daniel and his gang waiting for him near the edge of a field, surrounded by at least two hundred students, and even some teachers.


    Stark approached them, and noticing his presence, the students made way for him, then shortly closed the circle afterward, stopping a few feet away.


    Daniel, the blond-haired boy, looked at Stark with a sneer, "So you actually came. Looks like I''ll be entertaining myself today."


    Stark raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Well, if we''re going to do this, let''s get it over with."


    Sensing that this wouldn''t lead to anything good, one of the teachers, a woman with brown hair that reached her waist and a very voluptuous body put herself between the two boys.


    "There is no need to continue this charade, just forget about it and go back home," she shouted, mainly ncing at Stark as she was sure he would lose.


    But Daniel didn''t care about any of this, and instead he mumbled, "Duel request: Stark."


    After whispering those words, a crimson panel appeared in front of Stark.


    [Duel Request: Daniel]


    [Type: Deathless]


    [Y/N]


    With a smirk on his face, Stark looked at the panel before responding, "Y."


    Immediately, the panel vanished, and the students surrounding them fell silent.


    The teacher, who was in the middle of the two boys, was ejected out of their circle in full force, thennded on the ground a few meters away.


    A giant sphere had formed around Daniel and Stark: this was the arena of the duel, and nobody would be able to disturb them in there.


    ''Very game like, I wonder just how many more things like this wille up,'' Stark scratched his chin.


    [Commentary from Rher: My guy, aren''t you scared? You have no ss and your stats are much weaker...?]


    ''Nah, i''d win, plus i''m sure you wouldn''t let me just die like this, would you?'' he grinned.


    [...Yeah]


    A countdown then appeared above their ''arena''.


    [5...4...3...2...1...]


    [GO!]


    And right at the countdown ended, Stark got two notifications.


    ~Ding~


    ~Ding~


    ...


    [New Skill: Perception]


    [Type:] Passive Skill


    [Level:] Cannot be upgraded since it is notbat rted.


    [Description:] This skill is always active, and allows the user to check the name, level, ss, attributes and skills of the person in front of them (also items).


    ...


    ''Nice,'' Stark didn''t waste time and immediately used it to check Daniel.


    [Name: Daniel Pridel]


    [Level: 12]


    [ss: Warrior]


    [HP: 1250]


    [Strength: 42]


    [Speed: 27]


    [Stamina: 64]


    [Defense: 107]


    [Skills: Strike; Force; Buff...]


    ''Okay... he is definitely way stronger than me...'' Stark was actually surprised the difference was this tant.


    But before Stark could even check out the second notification he had gotten, Daniel summoned his steel sword from thin air then dashed toward him.


    Seeing hime at him at full speed, Stark realized he wouldn''t be able to avoid it like he didst time.


    ''I have made a severe and continuouspse in my judgment,'' he was mainly speaking to Rher while smirking.


    [Do not fret, everything will be fine]


    ~SLASH~


    Daniel used [Strike] and hit Stark in the stomach, causing him 374 points of damage, which was way more than his measly 10HP.

 Chapter 7: The Domination Class

    <h4>Chapter 7: The Domination ss</h4>


    Stark dropped to the ground on his two knees, blood pouring out from the wound as Daniel removed his de.


    "Pathetic loser, I should have done this the moment I saw you," he knew Stark couldn''t have had more than 374 HP as he was extremely weak, so once he saw those numbers above his head, he knew it was game over.


    "I guess that''s it..."


    "Not even that interesting, huh..."


    "What the fuck did you expect, it''s like putting a toddler agaisn''t a pitbull..."


    But no... this couldn''t be the end, not after all that confidence Stark had given.


    After all... there was no way he would just let himself die like this.


    ...


    [Talent: Chosen One]


    [Type:] Instant Use


    [Perks:] #1 When the user receives critical damage, enough to kill him in one singr attack, he can use his talent and willpower to keep going, setting his HP to 1.


    #2 Amidst your journey, your talent will bring forth many events, both good and bad.]


    ...


    Stark smiled lightly once he realized he wasn''t dead, just extremely injured.


    [Health:] 1/10 (critical condition)


    He decided to use this opportunity to check the second notification he had gotten, after all he was sure he wouldn''t have gotten nothing while being sent to a world like this.


    And as expected...


    [Skill: ss Wheel UNLOCKED]


    He grinned as he began reading the description.


    ...


    [ss Wheel]


    [Type:] Chosen One


    [Level:] ULTIMATE


    [Description:] When sent to another world using the power of a god, and when chosen by that god, a person is granted one simple talent and skill to aid them, this skill allows the user to spin the wheel of sses.


    ...


    With determination zing in his eyes, Stark watched as Daniel basked in his victory and reveled in the adoration of the suckers in the crowd.


    But Stark refused to let this opportunity slip away. With a newfound skill burning at his fingertips, he knew he had one final chance to turn the tables.


    ''See, I told you I would get something,'' Stark smiled.


    "ss Wheel, activate!" he whispered.


    And just like that, a giant colorful wheel appeared before him, each of its ten sections representing a ss within this world, ranging from archer, to soul wielder to even incubus. It seemed to beckon to Stark, waiting for him to spin it and choose his fate.


    Hovering next to the wheel was a pulsing level, adorned with the words "pull me" in bold letters.


    ''Welp, here goes nothing,'' Stark smiled and raised his injured arm to pull the lever down.


    ~SPIN~


    As the wheel began to spin, Stark looked up to see what he would get, it was basically like a gambling addiction except it would actually determine his entire future.


    The wheel continued to spin, each colorful segment glowing brighter as it passed by, but nobody seemed to notice it, probably since it was only visible to the host.


    While spinning, Stark took the time to notice all the sses avable.


    "Magus, Exorcist, Beast Tamer, Warrior, Archer, Assassin, Soul Wielder, Incubus, Alchemist and... Domination?" he had never read about a ss named domination though, making him wonder if it was the ??? one that had little to no information.


    A simple red arrow at the top middle of the wheel would determine which ss he would be getting.


    And after a few seconds... the wheel gradually began to slow down, making the pressure ten times as high.


    ''Come on... incubus or soul wielder...'' he repeated those two sses in his head as it was the ones he really wanted (don''t ask him why he wanted incubus).


    When the wheel became slow enough for him to actively be able to read the names of the sses, he kept praying.


    And after a few seconds...


    ~Fsssh~


    ''Oh my god, it''s heading toward soul wielder!''


    He was calcting the oue, and by the low speed and position of the sections, it was indeed going to stop on that ss.


    Agaisn''t all odds, the wheel stopped at the edge of soul wielder...


    ''YES!'' heughed.


    But of course, it was Stark, it was a given he wouldn''t be lucky.


    The wheel had in fact not stopped moving, its speed was just so low it became almost invisible to the naked eye, and so the section moved, resulting in the arrow to move past Soul Wielder and stop at...


    ''Domination? Seriously?'' he was frankly angry, he felt scammed, and wondered if he could get a second spin if he asked nicely enough.


    [The host will be able to spin the wheel and unlock a new ss once they reach level 25]


    '':(''


    [Domination is a good ss]


    '':D''


    Not wanting to waste any seconds, Stark decided to check his ss description, making sure Daniel was still paying attention only to the crowd.


    ...


    [ss: Domination]


    [Description:] Each ss has their strength and weaknesses, but this one is called ''domination'' thanks to its ability, with enough training, to absolutely dominate all others, the rarest ss of them all, but also the strongest.


    [ss Effect:] Your life will be a living hell.


    [ss w:] The Domination Trial.


    [ss Weapon:] Fists and Magic.


    [Basic Skills:] Focus; Domination


    ...


    ''Thank you for the exnation my man, I understood absolutely NOTHING!'' Stark nodded, still kneeling on the ground, but reading informations about his ss made him realize he had also acquired two new skills.


    ...


    [Skill: Focus]


    [Type:] Basic ss Skill


    [Level:] 1


    [Description:] Increases the user''s concentration and focus, allowing them to perform tasks more efficiently and with increased control, time seems to move in your favor.


    ...


    [Skill: Domination]


    [Type:] Basic ss Skill


    [Level:] 1


    [Description:] Ability to perfectly control the user''s aura and use it to attack relentlessly, the amount of damage dealt to the opponent ispletely based on the amount of aura used (it increases with level).


    ...


    Even though Stark had no idea what any of these skills meant, he knew he had to try them out.


    ''Domination!''


    He closed his eyes, and as soon as the skill activated, he felt a strange flow of aura around his body.


    Without wasting any time, he subconsciously put his avable aura around his hands and feet, a crimson light now radiating outwards in waves around them, then dashed toward Daniel, his speed now immensely increased from that.


    Daniel, who was still basking in his victory, suddenly felt a shiver down his spine as if someone had just walked over his grave.


    But he didn''t even have the time to turn back that something hit his head with full force: it was Stark''s fist.


    "-827!" this number arose above Daniel''s head as he fell face first to the ground, indicating the amount of damage he had taken from his avable 1250 HP.


    Stark had just taken two-thirds of his life from this singr attack.

 Chapter 8: Flawless Victory

    <h4>Chapter 8: wless Victory</h4>


    ''What the fuck?'' Stark was surprised, he had not expected such a great amount of damage from a singr attack, but he guessed that attacking from behind and at the head did increase it.


    When people fought monsters/people in this world, the amount of damage dealt was disyed for everyone to see, meaning that the entire crowd had seen the 827 appear as Stark hit Daniel.


    "YOU FUCKER," Daniel didn''t understand, but still having his steel sword in hand, he turned back and swung at Stark with the goal of ending him for good.


    [Commentary from Rher: it would be adviced to stop this while possible to hide your powers, this could lead you to bing more powerful and having less enemies]


    ''HAHAHA, you think i''m stopping now?'' but Stark dismissed the idea, he wasn''t a real fan of hiding his powers anyways, what use would there be to do that if he was gonna die?


    ''Focus!'' Stark mumbled the name of his other skill, and suddenly his vision became clearer.


    Before Daniel could even finish his attack, Stark was able to slightly see iting, and although his speed stat was still very low, the domination and focus skills allowed him to just barely avoid the strike by backing away at thest second.


    Even blocking an attack could cause him 1 point of damage and kill him, meaning even that wasn''t option.


    Daniel''s eyes widened in disbelief as he failed tond a solid blow on Stark. He could feel the crowd''s growing tension and shock, and the frustration welling up inside him.


    Stark using his perception skill could see the amount of health Daniel had left.


    [HP:] 423/1250


    This meant that the next person to hit the other would be dered the winner, making the pression between the two fighters grow even more.


    ''Time to end this,'' Stark smiled.


    Daniel on the other hand was losing it: he had always been considered one of the strongest in ''Lotus'' Academy, and although he hadn''t started his ''ssifier'' life yet, he was still fairly respected by all.


    Girls were all over him and boys didn''t dare to defy him, no matter what he said.


    And yet... Stark, the one he always considered to be the weakest, was here, humiliating him in front of others.


    "WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF YOUR FACE," he was actually going insane, and so without waiting no more, he dashed toward Stark.


    ":)" Stark had indeed been smiling the whole time, enjoying the view as the boy that tried to kill him twice already was struggling.


    Surprisingly enough, the more Stark was in control of the situation, the brighter and stronger his aura was getting, and he did notice it.


    ''I need to figure out how this workster...'' he thought to himself.


    ~SLASH~


    Daniel used both the [Buff] skill, which doubled his stats, and [Strike] to attack Stark.


    But the ck-haired boy saw iting using Focus, closing his eyes as he avoided the second attack from Daniel, which missed its target again.


    "YOU-"


    Stark saw the window of opportunity as Daniel was still recovering from his failed strike.


    He crouched in front of the 180cm tall boy, then focused all his aura into his right hand for this final attack.


    And then...


    "CYA!" Stark, with sweat pouring down his forehead,ughed again.


    Daniel''s eyes widened as he saw Stark below him, positioned in a way that indicated he was about to attack from below.


    He couldn''t see the aura around Stark, but all his senses screamed for him to run away or abandon the duel now.


    "HELP-" he tried to scream, but nobody would be able to hear him from this distance, plus most of them were so focused on the fight they couldn''t hear him speak.


    "But nobody came," Stark answered as he was the only one that heard his pleads.


    ~BAM~


    Stark with a sudden movement began uppercuting Daniel in the chin, and of course, the clueless 15 year old wasn''t able to do anything against such a fast attack.


    "-1281!"


    Daniel was sent flying against the edge of the arena, hitting it in full force as he received the entirety of his life in that singr attack.


    [HP:] 0/1250


    And this meant...


    [Winner: Stark Heartsouls]


    "yboys like you need to stay put and learn their ces!" he smiled.


    Giant green text appeared above the arena for everyone to see, but most of them were too shocked to even say anything, unable toprehend the scene before them.


    Stark, THE WEAK STARK, had just beaten Daniel?


    Some even rubbed their eyes, thinking that it must be a joke.


    But everything was reality, and once the transparent sphere that kept the two fighters safe from other people''s interruptions disappeared, many students and teachers went to check on Daniel.


    Many thought that he would get up and get angry like usual, or maybe shout at the teachers.


    But no...


    The type of this duel was ''Deathless'', meaning that the two would fight to the death, then be revived afterward, it is like some sort of ''all in'' fight where people could use all their powers without risking death


    And that meant...


    "He is just unconscious..." one of the teachers announced after checking his pulse, after all a deathless match meant even if your HP dropped to zero, you wouldn''t die.


    And so right after the news, all eyes fell on Stark.


    "Why are you all so surprised? Of course the main character would beat the tutorial boss, wouldn''t he?" he grinned, confident that what he did was good.


    [You are not a main character, and this isn''t a tutorial boss, but whatever, good job!]


    Maybe hiding his powers was the better move in the long term since most wouldn''t suspect the poor little Stark to have any sses, and maybe even believe that the first damage he had caused to Daniel was luck, but now that he had beaten him, there was absolutely no doubt there was something strange going on.


    ''Oh well... I usually loved to boast about my work at mypany, so it doesn''t matter,'' he had taken his personality as an office worker to this new world.


    [You have absolutely destroyed that fool "Daniel Pridel", gaining 1471 experience points!]


    [Experience: 1000/1000]


    Stark was enveloped in a golden glow as he noticed that he had reached the needed amount of experience to level up.


    Beating someone in a duel would of course mean some sort of reward (or else people might just abuse them to train), and in this case Stark had effectively stolen some of Daniel''s experience, although not much since he hadn''t killed him.


    [Your level has increased to level 2, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Current level: level 2]


    [Experience: 471/5000]


    ''Nice, seems like everything works out in the end, this is what I call a good ending,'' Stark was happy with himself.


    But once he looked away from his screen panels to check his surroundings, he noticed all the surprised, scared, and astonished gazes on him.


    "What?" he asked, taking all of them aback.

 Chapter 9: The Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 9: The Awakening</h4>


    Everyone in the courtyard, both students and teachers alike, knew the sight of someone''s level going up since they experienced it at least once, or because they had seen someone else online.


    But what scared them the most in this situation, was the fact the first time Stark had level up was from beating up Daniel in a duel, and he didn''t even seem to care.


    Amidst the stunned silence, a few whispers began to ripple through the crowd, their voices barely above a whisper.


    "A monster...?"


    "What the fuck just happened?"


    "Daniel got beaten?"


    Stark was slightly tired from the encounter, and sensing that his first day of school had been greatly spent improving his abilities, he decided that it was time to head back home.


    [Good job, now everyone knows about your ''powers'']


    ''I don''t think anyone is gonna expect me to be from the domination ss though as it is so rare...''


    [...Fair enough]


    "Yawn~" Stark stretched his arms, "But wait... doesn''t that mean I wouldn''t have died even if he killed me?"


    He just understood what ''deathless'' meant, yet in the end decided it didn''t matter whether Daniel would be revived or not, he had done his part.


    But as soon as he took the first step toward the exit...


    "Huh...?" his pupils started burning, as if they were set on fire, resulting in him putting his hands over his eyes.


    "AAAAAAAAA-" he was screaming, taking aback everyone, his entire body surrounded by a crimson aura.


    Using his quick thinking to try and find an exnation to what the hell was happening, Stark''s mind immediately went toward the information he had acquired in the books from the library.


    His body was still burning, the aura now spread throughout everything, even his hair feeling like it was set on fire.


    [Information about sses: when someone awakens a ss, they will, in most cases, immediately copse because of the power they just acquired, the duration of sleeppletely depends on the person, but it is said the faster a person wakes up, the stronger their ss and potential is (although that doesn''t mean they will be the strongest)]


    [Some people actually fail their awakening even after unlocking their sses, making them just like the rest of people, and some don''t even wake up since their potential or mana is just too low]


    [Additional info: it has been recorded that the world record for fastest awakening (which is currently held by Miss.Catherine, also named ''The Dragon Tamer'') is of one day and three hours.]


    The fact Stark stayed up long enough to finish the battle was already a miracle.


    ''But wait... doesn''t that mean there is a big chance I miss the ''ss Showcase'' if I don''t wake up...?'' Stark thought as he fell to his knees, the pain had be quite numb now, but his mind was screaming for him to just close his eyes and sumb to the tiredness.


    And so he did.


    He copsed to the ground in front of everyone''s surprised gazes.


    ***


    (3 hourster)


    "..."


    As Stark opened his eyes, the fiery aura surrounding him slowly dissipated,pletely seeping into his body for him to use.


    Meaning that he had indeed been capable of acquiring the ''domination'' ss, but it wasn''t unexpected either since he had already been capable of using it.


    As he checked his surroundings, he noticed he was located in some sort of infirmary, the sun was beginning to go down, but he guessed that it was still the afternoon.


    "How long has it been?" this was his biggest worry, after all, he really wanted to participate during the ss showcase as it would allow him to gain more power.


    "Around three hours," a feminine voice answered his question.


    "Oh, well, I guess it''s fine, WAIT WHAT," he turned his gaze toward a chair located to his bed side, and there sat the blonde-haired girl he saw at the library yesterday.


    "..."


    Looking up close, she was extremely beautiful, and most girls would be jealous of her impressive figure, but Stark wasn''t interested in any of that for now.


    He immediately got out of the bed he had been resting on.


    "I carried you here by myself since nobody wanted to touch you, but it seems like it wasn''t bad," she was reading a book while talking to him.


    ''Is she expecting some kind of reward for helping me out...? Or maybe a favor from me in the future?'' Stark felt like receiving such kindness out of nowhere was extremely weird.


    [Outstanding determination, only three hours sleeping after an awakening? I might have made the right decision picking you]


    ''Oh yeah that''s true, although she doesn''t look surprised...'' he was talking about the girl beside him.


    [Most people wouldn''t even believe you if you told them you awakened in three hours, so they must believe it''s just aa after exhausting yourself with Daniel]


    ''WAIT, DOES THAT MEAN?''


    [Yes, although you have shown incredible power, many people think you cheated or got the luckiest battle of your life]


    "HOW DOES THAT EVEN MAKE SENSE," he shouted, absolutely furious his efforts were reduced to mere ''luck'', even in his past, Stark really enjoyed being praised.


    "Huh?" the blonde-haired girl looked at him as though he was crazy.


    "Nothing," he began heading toward the exit of the infirmary, and the girl that was sitting on the chair didn''t even bother to nce at him.


    And then, he left...


    As soon as he closed the door behind him though, the girl that had taken care of him for the past hours closed down the book between her hands and let out a deep sigh.


    "What the hell was that?" she kept thinking about the feeling she had gotten while carrying Stark here, it was an unexinable power that was emitting from him.


    "Pfft~ cheater, investigate him!"


    "Maybe he used the power he would get during his entire life for that?"


    She heard such talk from others, but deep inside, she felt like this couldn''t be it, there was no way someone could do 800 points of damage out of nowhere.


    Although she didn''t believe he had gotten a ss either since he hadn''t awakened all this time, plus he was sleeping only for three hours, which was a day below the world record, but maybe it was something else?


    "Well..." after waiting five minutes, she got up from her seat and began heading toward the exit, "the beginning of our ssifiers lives is tomorrow, so I need to be full of energy and mana to make sure everything is fine..."

 Chapter 10: The Class Showcase

    <h4>Chapter 10: The ss Showcase</h4>


    Stark woke up in the morning feeling refreshed, he just had gotten the best night of sleep ever, even in his previous life he couldn''t sleep much because of work, but everything in here seemed fine.


    Except for the fact 5 secondster he remembered that today was the ''big'' day.


    Not only was it his graduation ceremony from ''Lotus'' Academy, but this also meant he would have to participate in this ''ss Showcase'' event to continue his life in this world.


    He had absolutely no way of knowing what could happen there except for the book he had read two days ago, but he had the overall gist of it.


    He took a shower, ate some food he had bought from a convenience store nearby, then left, yet again with the same school uniform.


    Once outside, he remarked that many people weren''t wearing his school uniform, instead opting for armors and clothes with powerful materials (at least for their levels), they also didn''t have their usual backpacks, instead they were carrying ones filled with items, and also had their weapons in hand, showing them to others.


    Some had small animals/creatures on their shoulders (beast tamer), while others had a wooden cross in hand (exorcist).


    Stark on the other hand had nothing, his only weapon were his fist, and he would make sure to beat up everything in his way, he was especially angry after yesterday since most people didn''t even consider his performance yesterday as legit.


    ***


    Once in front of the school gates, he saw text written on the giant screen at the top of the academy.


    [Head to the gymnasium if you are a third year]


    Following the crowd of people, he found himself in front of the giant building, many teachers beside the doors to wee the students.


    There were at least three hundred people inside the gymnasium, all third years who would participate in the ''ss Showcase'' and hopefully be stronger.


    And after a few minutes inside, minutes where the atmosphere was filled with talking and flexing, the doors of the gymnasium closed, and all the lights went off.


    Suddenly, everything became silent as all the students were looking at the stage that had been set.


    The ''ss Showcase'' wasn''t the only interesting part about this whole ordeal, it was also the fact that the group ''Golden Dragons'' would be the ones to exin the event and bring them there.


    Golden Dragons are a mercenary group specialized in the development of the youth, with the sole goal of making the new ssifiers stronger and increasing their chances of survival in the ''rifts''.


    Obviously, all their members were extremely powerful and famous, many of them envied by many.


    ''...'' Stark stared at stage with a nk expression, and a few secondster...


    ~FLASH~


    Five golden pirs of light appeared on it, and what came out of them were three men and two women, each with their respective outfits and weapons in hand, all looking powerful.


    "Oh my god!"


    "Is that Yuli, the heart master?"


    "And that''s Alex, the ice magus!"


    While most people were amazed by their sudden appearance, the one in the middle, a man in his mid-forties with short white-hair as well as a monocle cleared his throat, resulting in the entire gymnasium to go silent.


    "Today is a big day for all of you, it is the start of your lives as ssifiers," he began his speech, his voice filled with authority, "I know many have only been dreaming of this moment all this time, but do not forget that fighting is not a game, and that you will truly be risking your lives today."


    Next to him, a woman with long blue hair and magnificent ocean-colored eyes stared at the students, a staff in her hand, "The rift you will be going to today, as most of you know, is a beginner level one called ''City Ruins'', the rmended level is 5 to 15, so it is advised to be within that range, but i''m sure most of you already are!"


    "Wait a damn second," Stark stopped for a few seconds to check his status.


    [Level:] 2


    ''...'' he shrugged, ''Oh well...''


    "You, as well as many other recognized middle schools from Ferburg will be participating in this event, as you may all know, the best performing people will probably have all eyes on them, so I advise you to try your best, while also making sure not to die, there is no second life after all," the man in the middle continued, a bittersweet smile on his face, a sign that he had seen hundreds of people die already in front of him.


    Through the books he had read, Stark realized that there wasn''t just one academy in Ferburg, instead there were dozens of them, each of them specialized in their own sses or future professions.


    Meaning that most of the poption that wanted to improve their skills without going to an academy would need to move away, be scouted by a powerful teacher/guild, or just keep going solo/creating a party.


    And so just like that, the Golden Dragons'' speech ended.


    Following that, the students inside the gymnasium were guided toward several buses that were set outside the school to guide them toward the first rift.


    Rifts in this world are basically like dungeons where monsters and items spawn, they are a portal to other worlds, and each of the recognized ones are ssed by level and difficulty.


    There are seven difficulties: Beginner, Novice, Advanced, Hell, Nightmare, Determination, Death.


    Thankfully enough, the first one was only a beginner level with a 5-15 level requirement.


    But this didn''t mean this was easy, far from that, it was only the first one they would need to go through, and even then, many will sumb to the monsters.


    Without dy, all students boarded a bus heading towards Leforia, which is located southeast to Ferburg.


    As they drew closer to Leforia, all the students inside the vehicles felt a surge of excitement, and even Stark wasn''t spared from that.


    For many, it was the first time they were going to get first-hand experience inbat as most only got to their levels using their wealth.


    ''Pay to win bullshit...'' Stark groaned as he looked out the window, the seat beside him was empty as no one wanted to sit next to him.


    The bus journeyed on, and before long, they reached their destination.


    When they did, the sun had already begun descending, announcing the fact the afternoon was soon to end.


    They were now just outside what was called the ''safe zone'', every single rift was outside of it, making it impossible for anyone to go without at least risking their lives just a bit.


    Not far from them, many corpses of decaying creatures eliminated by the Golden Dragons were resting, making everyone realize the extent of what they were going to do from now on.


    "If anyone wants to give up, speak now or silence yourself forever!" Oliver, the leader of the Golden Dragons spoke, "There will be no help inside the rift, and I can promise you way too many new ssifiers die before evenpleting it."


    But nobody spoke, they had gone too far to give up now, plus it was eitherpletion and improvement, or the risk of being disowned or kicked out of their family home.


    In front of the students was a giant ruin, obscured by a dark aura everyone could sense, no matter their levels.


    It was the [City Ruins] dungeon!


    Noticing no one was moving, Oliver smiled, "It is great to see such determination, you may now do whatever you feel is right."


    And just like that, they were allowed to move around now.


    ''...'' Stark stared at the ruins before him, a face full of excitement, ''Welp, it''s now or never, who cares if they don''t believe in my capabilities, I don''t need them anyway...''

 Chapter 11: City Ruins

    <h4>Chapter 11: City Ruins</h4>


    As soon as the Golden Dragons and all other adults disappeared using some intricate spells, all that was remaining around the ruins were students from many different middle schools, making their numbers range in the thousands.


    Instantly, the surroundings became alike to some kind of market or guild, many people asking for others to create a party with them, and others selling items they brought just for this asion.


    Stark on the otherhand wasn''t asked to join any party, and no one even tried to sell him anything.


    But he didn''t mind, he only smiled at the sight of all these people try their hardest.


    ''It''s fine... because I have my incredible system!''


    [Commentary from Rher: you don''t have a system, you have to work just as hard if not harder than them or you''ll just die]


    ''...''


    Stark was one of the first people to approach the entrance of the [City Ruins] and entering it.


    As he passed through the dungeon entrance, it felt like his consciousness was pped.


    And when he opened his eyes, he found himself in another world.


    The sun was burning bright in the sky, and instinctively, Stark looked up to check it out.


    But...


    ''Huh?'' the sun wasn''t normal, not at all, it didn''t have its orangeish color, instead...


    It waspletely ck, casting not its usual light on the world below, but an eerie darkness that made it just enough to see.


    His [Perception] skill automatically activated as he looked at it.


    [ck Sun: Capable of transforming dead humans into monsters, the power of its rays slowly but surely infects others, so it is rmended to always be on the lookout]


    [Tip: look for a bonfire every now and then]


    Stark then switched his attention from the sun to his surroundings, and he immediately understood why it was called the [City Ruins].


    The entire area was covered in broken and decaying buildings, as well as abandoned cars, the ruins of a once-great city.


    Piles of rubble and debris filled the streets, and the air was heavy with the stench of decay and the absence of life.


    Shadows hid all sorts of lurking threats, and the silence was broken only by the distant sound of battle.


    Stark took a deep breath, feeling the tension building in his chest. This was the first challenge he would need to face in this world, and no one would be here to help him, so he would need to solo this dungeon by himself.


    This meant more danger, but also more rewards and experience point, and he was ready to take that risk.


    With a determined nod, Stark set off into the ruins, his eyes scanning the surroundings for any signs of danger.


    He was getting ready to encounter his first monster and see if he was truly capable of dealing with all the shit in this world.


    After all, fighting a human was one thing, but fighting monsters with unexinable appearances was something he had only seen in novels.


    It didn''t take long for him to encounter his first ever monster in this world though.


    As he walked through the seemingly empty streets of the ruined city, he heard noise in front of him, and suddenly, three creatures appeared from behind a corner.


    [Name: Decaying Corpses (ck Sun curse)]


    [Level: 6]


    [HP: 850]


    [Strength: 32]


    [Stamina: 192 (they don''t get tired easily)]


    [Speed: 8]


    [Defense: 28]


    [Skills: Infect; Bite]


    ''850 HP...'' Stark repeated, his eyebrows raised, it was extremely tough even for a level 6 monster, not that he knew anyway.


    Plus, the thing that worried him the most was the fact that he could only use his fists as weapons, meaning he would have to approach them no matter what.


    Thankfully enough, their speed was extremely low, and their defense not so great either.


    And so without hesitation, he focused his thoughts on the battle ahead.


    "Domination, activate!" he whispered the words, and suddenly the same aura that had aided him against Daniel surrounded his legs and hands.


    Not wanting to waste time, Stark dashed at the monsters, and before they could even attack...


    ~SLAM~


    "-928!"


    He hit the first one in the head, causing it to die with a single attack.


    It was an instant-kill.


    Surprised, Stark backed away to look at his fist again, it was still surrounded by that aura, but it shone brighter than before, a sign that he was starting to dominate the battle.


    Without any dy, Stark charged at the remaining two Decaying Corpses.


    They were caught off guard by his sudden attack, and the aura in his fists dealt massive damage to both of them.


    "-953! -856!" Stark punched them in quick session, eliminating thest two monsters with ease.


    The air was heavy and still, the devastated street silent once more.


    Stark examined the bodies of the Decaying Corpses, his eyes narrowing as he noticed a strange symbol inscribed on them.


    ''What is this, some sort of mark left by the curse of the ck Sun?'' he wondered, his curiosity piqued, but eventually didn''t put much more thought into it as he would need to keep going if he didn''t want to get ambushed.


    [You have in three "decaying corpses lvl6", gained 1800EXP!]


    ''Phew...'' He sighed, it would have been devastating if he failed to even defeat a single one of the weaker monsters, but thankfully he was able to deal massive amounts of damage, almost crossing the 1000 mark.


    He continued his way through the streets as he was officially now in the area where monsters would constantly appear to stop him.


    He also felt the rays of the ck sun on him, but luckily they didn''t seem to affect him, yet.


    On his way, he encountered more decaying corpses and even some ''cursed dogs'', the same symbol was on them when he inspected their dead bodies.


    [You have in two "decaying corpses lvl6", gained 1200EXP]


    [You have in four "cursed dogs lvl7", gained 2884EXP]


    Each of these horrifying creatures were extremely fast, enough to almost take Stark by surprise the first time he encountered them, but thankfully enough he was able to avoid them quite easily when his eyes were on them.


    Their HP was also lower than the decaying corpses, allowing him eliminate them in one hit too.


    [Your level has increased to level 3, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 1355/10000]


    He hadn''t paid much attention to it before, but he realized he had gotten something called ''skill points'', and so he wanted to check what they were.


    ...


    [Skill Points]


    [Description: Able to allocate one to upgrade a skill by one level, once used, it is impossible to get them back, so make sure to use them wisely]


    [In Inventory: 2]


    ...


    ''Hm...'' he thought, ''well, I guess can try that...''


    But right as he was about to try, he heard a heart wrenching scream behind him.

 Chapter 12: Defeating Monsters

    <h4>Chapter 12: Defeating Monsters</h4>


    Stark hurriedly turned around, his heart racing as he saw a woman, her clothing tattered and torn, pinned down and attacked by five "decaying corpses".


    ''...'' Stark stared at her as the monsters ate her up, it wasn''t because he didn''t want to save her that he didn''t move, but because he knew it was already over.


    Above the girl''s head was the text [ck Sun Curse], meaning that she was already infected.


    And as predicted, only a few seconds after she was pinned down and the monsters got up, the woman''s skin turned a dark green color, and her expression became the same as the others.


    She immediately got up and joined the group as they all noticed Stark''s presence and dashed at him, although very slowly.


    ''Holy shit, isn''t there too many of them...?'' he had only fought groups of three/four monsters, but six was a battle he didn''t expect.


    The reality of the situation hadn''t struck him yet, but he had just witnessed one of the other students among the group of new ssifiers get killed and transformed into one of these beasts, something anyone would be terrified of if they saw it up close.


    Yet Stark just readied his fists, the only thing in his mind was the battle ahead, not even caring about what happened in front of his eyes.


    Or maybe it was because he was too dense and that his priorities weren''t set straight.


    In the end, it didn''t matter.


    [Iy Mondel (ck Sun Curse)]


    [Level: 9]


    [HP: 950]


    [Strength: 22]


    [Stamina: 52]


    [Speed: 23]


    [Defense: 42]


    [Skills: Infect; Bite]


    Stark once using his [Perception] skill on her noticed that her stats were much different than the other ''decaying corpses'', possibly because she was an actual human transformed by the ck sun instead of an already made monster.


    ''Almost feels like i''m about to kill a real girl...'' Stark squinted his eyes, but his determination didn''t falter, after all he didn''t know about the duel''s ''deathless'' type when he fought Daniel, fully expecting him to die.


    Stark''s domination power came from the fact he was confident/determined and that he would dominate his battles, a simple disorienting thought like this meant his power would be reduced.


    With a furrowed brow, Stark focused on the task ahead, calcting the timing of his attacks to maximize efficiency.


    He dashed at the six decaying corpses, his fists glowing with the same power that had helped him dominate the other fights.


    It was extremely reckless to fight literal zombies that could transform you into one of them with a single bite of their mouths with your fists, but he didn''t have any other choice.


    He jumped in the air and smashed the transformed girl''s head with both his fists.


    "-1249!"


    Her head was crushed by the attack, and she immediately fell to the ground.


    "Rest in peace," Stark nodded before using the girl''s body as a jump pad toward a second monster.


    "-938!"


    "-858!"


    "-873!"


    After a few hits, Stark was able to eliminate every monster that stood in his way.


    By the end, he whipped the sweat off his forehead and smiled as it looked like he was actually capable of taking on this much monsters if he managed his movements well enough.


    [You have in five "decaying corpses lvl6", gained 3000EXP!]


    [You have in "Iy Mondel (cursed) lvl9", gained 1282EXP!]


    [Experience: 5637/10000]


    He surveyed the street once more, picking up on the faint whispers of darkness in the air, but thankfully enough, there wasn''t anyone around here anymore, no monsters, no humans.


    It had been around ten minutes since he entered the rift after all, so most people were still probably forming parties.


    Stark nned to move on to the next area, but right as he was about to...


    He noticed a faint glow beside the ''decaying corpses'' bodies.


    ''...?'' he was cautious, but when he saw something shining, Stark''s brain immediately knew he wanted to check it out.


    Approaching the source of the faint glow, he noticed iting from a staff on the ground.


    It was emitting a faint blue light, unlike the dark aura that lingered around the decaying corpses.


    Curiosity piqued, he picked up the magic staff, using [Perception] to inspect it.


    ...


    [Item:] Low-Level Magic Staff


    [Type:] Staff


    [ss:] Magus


    [Tier:] Common


    [Required Level:] 7


    [Quality:] Bad


    [Attributes:] None


    [Special Perks:] None


    ...


    ''Hmm...'' Stark observed the staff, and after reading about the information, he wanted to try something.


    He held the staff with both hands, and then tried to pour his aura at the tip.


    But right as he tried to do that...


    [You cannot use this weapon with your current ss]


    Such a panel appeared in front of him.


    Stark frowned and looked at the staff in his hands, then sighed, "I guess I can just sell it, I hope..."


    "Spatial Inventory," he whispered these words, and suddenly, a void appeared beside him.


    It seemed a bit small to fit the staff, but once he tried to put it inside, the hole grew in size, enough to aodate for staff''s size.


    Instantly, the staff disappeared into his spatial inventory, and Stark let out a breath of relief.


    It seemed like monsters were able to asionally drop items, although it was rare, and the fact the human girl was just transformed increased his odds of getting her staff.


    Stark had no idea about the value of any of these items, but it didn''t matter, he would take everything with him, whether it was useful or not to his fights wasn''t important as he could sell all of it.


    Money was a big problem for him as he didn''t have any.


    And just like, Stark kept moving.


    He was more advanced than almost all others participants of the "City Ruins" rift, going solo was risky, but it seemed like he was one of the only ones who went alone that survived, all others were too weak and at a disadvantage against this many monsters.


    ''Oh yeah... the skill points,'' he immediately remembered about his idea before being interrupted by the group of ''decaying corpses'', and so he opened his status window.


    [Name:] Stark Heartsouls


    [Level:] 3


    [Health:] 100/100


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [ss:] Domination


    [Info about ss:] The first Domination Trial ising soon, be ready...


    ''What the?'' he raised his eyebrows, this wasn''t here before, but quickly moved on.


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    [Attributes:] Strength 9; Speed 8; Mind/Soul 21; Stamina 11; Defense 7


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv1; Focus lv1


    ''I can only upgrade domination and focus it seems...'' he was walking in the empty streets, now used to the eeriness of the ruined city.


    [You have in ''ck Rat lv7'', gained 620EXP!]


    He found a rat as big as a human in his way, and just hit its ugly face once to kill it.


    ''Welp, time to actually use the skill points now!''


    [Skill Points: 2 Avable]

 Chapter 13: New Skill and Upgrades!

    <h4>Chapter 13: New Skill and Upgrades!</h4>


    Stark hesitated for a moment, pondering how to allocate his skill points.


    He could upgrade domination all the way to level 3, or maybe upgrade both domination and focus to level 2...


    In the end, he decided that it didn''t matter as he would get more skill points as he leveled up.


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 2!]


    [You have upgraded ''Focus'' to level 2!]


    With that, he should be slightly stronger than before.


    [Note: Skills can only be upgraded up to level 10 (without a skill upgrade stone), the rest depends on stats, ss, weapon and the strength of the skill]


    ''Domination should be a really powerful skill... shouldn''t it?'' after all he was able to do more than 1000 points of damage if he hit the enemy right.


    Although he had no real way to know if it was more than others since he had only ever seen Daniel deal 357 to him.


    [You have in two "decaying corpses lvl6", gained 1200EXP]


    [You have in "cursed dog lvl7", gained 721EXP]


    [You have in two "ck Rats lvl7", gained 1240EXP!]


    [Experience: 8798/10000]


    Soon enough, Stark found himself in the level 10 area, there were no signs of life there either, just broken buildings and solitary, twisted trees that had been bent by the ravages of time.


    With a deep breath, he stepped forward and the world around him turned darker than previously.


    [The rays of the ck Sun seem to be hitting harder here, the monsters are stronger and more aggressive]


    This exnative text appeared right as he entered, making him wonder if he shouldn''t turn back and wait for other people toe as to increase his odds of safety.


    But no...


    "Get yourself together, Stark, these fools don''t believe in you, and they would probably sacrifice you if it came to it," he pped both his cheeks, and took a step toward the level 10 area of the [City Ruins].


    As Stark continued his journey through the rift, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of unease.


    There weren''t any decaying corpses, cursed dogs or ck rats in here anymore, making it weird as he had gotten used to these fes.


    It didn''t take long for the first creature to appear though.


    As he passed in between two giant buildings, something grabbed his legs.


    "-103!"


    "Ouch!" he looked to see that a shadowy handing out of the ground had grabbed him and hurt his legs, some blood pouring out from them.


    [Name: Shadow Figure]


    [Level: 10]


    [HP: 1100]


    [Strength: 82]


    [Stamina: 12]


    [Speed: 105]


    [Defense: 12]


    [Skills: Grab; Shadow Step]


    Seeing that its defense was extremely low, Stark took his chance and focused his aura around his leg before kicking the shadow in the face.


    The "Shadow Figure" was a monster that could hide in between shadows to take ssifiers by surprise, you would usually be able to see them because of their bright yellow eyes that were easily noticeable, but unfortunately enough, Stark had no experience so he didn''t pay attention.


    And as Stark attacked the shadow with his foot...


    "-1427!"


    The shadow vanished once it was killed.


    ''Holy shit, that''s a lot of damage!''


    [You have in "Shadow Figure lv10", gained 1300EXP!]


    And right afterward, he was surrounded by the familiar golden glow.


    [Your level has increased to level 4, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 98/15000]


    Stark was happy he was finally able to upgrade his level and be stronger, but the itch in his leg reminded of him of the sudden attack he had just survived.


    [HP: 147/250]


    ''Hm,'' his level was upgraded, and his HP also went up, but it seemed like he wasn''t actually able to refill his health without the proper skills/items, meaning he would need to be extra careful.


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 3!]


    He also didn''t waste time and immediately upgraded his domination skill in case he forgot.


    And so he kept going, his journey inside the dungeon far from over as the goal of all the participants was to defeat the boss.


    The person that would defeat the boss would obviously get the dungeon rewards while also keeping their identity hidden since except if they were in a party, no one would really know.


    Until then, everyone would have to keep fighting in the dungeon and risk their lives, the test not over it is confirmed that its boss was dead.


    [You have in "Shadow Figure lv10", gained 1300EXP!]


    [You have in "Decaying Corpse lv10", gained 1100EXP!]


    [You have in "Ghoul lv11", gained 1500EXP!]


    ...


    [Your level has increased to level 5, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 550/25000]


    ...


    Before long, Stark was able to reach level 5, enveloped by the familiar golden glow after killing more enemies.


    Without a second thought, he decided to open up his panel to check his stats.


    [Level:] 5


    [HP:] 297/400


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [ss:] Domination


    [Info about ss:] The first Domination Trial ising soon, be ready...


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    [Attributes:] Strength 17; Speed 14; Mind/Soul 26; Stamina 18; Defense 12


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv3; Focus lv2


    ...


    ''Hm...'' Stark''s stats had indeed improved, but what interested him the most was that he had unlocked a new skill.


    [Level 5 Reached: please pick a card]


    3 different cards appeared in front of him, the three of them painted with a grey color, their front impossible to see from his position, and although he tried to turn around, the cards would obviously just turn as well, making it impossible to check what they contained.


    [Each of these cards hold a skill, choose one randomly]


    ''I''ll have to try and get a mirror to see if I can cheat the system...'' Stark''s first thought as he saw the three cards was to find a way to cheat his way to sess.


    But realizing it wasn''t possible for now, he took a deep breath and decided to take a chance. He reached out and picked one of the cards at random.


    As he did, the card flipped over to reveal its front, showing a picture of a glowing fist.


    ...


    [Skill: Aura Smash]


    [Type: Umon]


    [Level: 1]


    [Description: Unleash a devastating punch that deals damage based on the amount of aura used, it is perfect for ranged enemies, and has a 30% chance to stun the target, cooldown of 30 seconds between each use]


    ...


    Stark''s eyes widened as he read the description. This could potentially be a game changer, especially if he was able to stun his enemies first, plus he was already beginning to think that fighting hands-to-hands with enemies that can infect him was bad.


    Below the skill description was some sort of stickman animation, the stickman which represented Stark focusing his aura in his hand before throwing a punch, and a giant crimson fist of auraunching itself toward some enemies.


    [Aura Smash has been added to your skill list]


    ''I''ll have to try thatter, huh...''


    He kept going, but of course not before using his skill point.


    [You have upgraded ''Aura Smash'' to level 2!]

 Chapter 14: The First Bonfire

    <h4>Chapter 14: The First Bonfire</h4>


    [You have in "Ghoul lv11", gained 1500EXP!]


    [You have in "Flesh Monster lv10", gained 1350EXP!]


    Stark kept advancing through the level 10 area, able to kill most of the monsters in one hit, only the ''flesh monsters'' posed a challenge, their sturdy bodies requiring three strikes to take them down due to their massive 2000HP pool.


    He hadn''t had the opportunity to use [Aura Smash] yet since most enemies came alone, and he felt like it was a waste of time to try something that could reveal his location.


    It wasn''t long until he found an opportunity though, because as he began turning the corner of a seemingly empty street, he saw a hord of monsters, at least ten of them, just grouping around, looking at the sky, specifically at the ck Sun.


    ''...'' Stark stared at the lot.


    "Aura Smash, activate!"


    One of his hands began glowing with a crimson aura, brighter than it ever had been before.


    ''Looks like using this skills makes it so that most of my aura focus''s on this hand...'' he analyzed the skill as he used it, thinking about its weaknesses as using too much aura meant he was left defenseless if anything happened, his aura wasn''t infinite after all.


    Luckily, it wasn''t the case this time, and so he was able to test out his ability.


    Closing one of his eyes for precision, he adjusted his hand to aim in the middle of the hord of monsters.


    And although it took him some time since it was his first time using it, he finally unleashed his skill.


    He threw a punch, and a giant crimson fist of aura flew out of his hand, aimed towards the monsters.


    It followed a trajectory Stark perfectly calcted, and after a few seconds, the aura impacted with the group of monsters, falling in the middle of them as they were all watching the sky.


    ~BOOM~


    A massive explosion of aura hit the monsters, and the damage numbers appeared soon enough.


    "-1938!"


    "-1648!"


    "-1293!"


    The closer they were to the middle, the more damage they received, and by the end of the explosion, only one monster remained: a ghoul that had been a bit farther from the group.


    It was looking at its deadpanions, confused as to how all of them died in an instant, but unable to move as it was stunned.


    [HP: 539/1350]


    [Status Effect: Stun]


    It also received a fair amount of damage, so it only took Stark one simple punch for the Ghoul to fall to the ground.


    "Jackpot," Stark thought to himself, impressed with the power of his new skill.


    "Aura Smash" was indeed a game-changer, allowing him to attack massive groups of monsters and also be allowed to use it from afar, although it did take him awhile to aim.


    Maybe it would be even stronger when his domination skill and aura would level up, but until then, he was satisfied.


    [You have in three "Ghouls lv11", gained 4500EXP!]


    [You have in four "Decaying Corpses lv10", gained 4400EXP!]


    [You have in two "ck Priests lv12", gained 3500EXP!]


    [Experience: 15800/25000]


    ''Hehe~'' he was secretly proud of himself for that, wouldn''t anyone be after growing stronger, but of course he didn''t let it show on the outside, although there was nobody around.


    He kept going after that.


    But after focusing his attention far into the street ahead, he saw something weird: there was a giant fire burning.


    ''Huh?''


    He approached it cautiously, not knowing what to expect. The fire was sorge that it lit up the entire street, casting a warm and safe glow upon the surroundings, different from the darkness.


    ''A bonfire...?'' he made sense of what it was when he was close enough.


    But his view wasn''t his only sense that was being triggered right now, his ears too.


    He heard a faint music, and a voice singing in the direction of the bonfire?


    ''Humans? Are these guys dumb, they are going to attract monsters!'' he began running in the direction of the bonfire, it was only a kilometer in front of him, so not that far.


    [You have in a "Ghoul lv11", gained 1500EXP!]


    [You have in a "Shadow Figure lv10", gained 1300EXP!]


    On his way, he had to kill some monsters, but they didn''t even put a dent on him.


    He was now only 100 meters away from the bonfire.


    ~Laling Lng~


    The music intensified as he approached, now able to hear another person sing alongside it.


    "And when the fire of your heart burns~ Nothing will be left for them to take~"


    Only 50 meters.


    "The light at the end is growing~ And it transcends everything I know~"


    As he approached the 10 meters mark, the heat from the roaring bonfire licked at Stark''s skin.


    He could feel the warmth enveloping him, creating a sense of safety andfort that he had not felt in a long time.


    And suddenly, as if entering a different realm, Stark felt at ease for the first time.


    "Oy~ Looks like someone else joined us!" one of the boys sitting on the ground next to the bonfire called out with a smile.


    His short brown hair was ruffled and a scar adorned his right eye. In his hands, he held a yukulele which he had been ying to lift the mood.


    Beside him sat another boy with ck hair and a nk expression. He had been singing along with an unchanging expression this whole time, his magic staff resting beside him.


    "Didn''t expect someone else toe here so soon, and alone at that!" the yukulele yer nodded in agreement, almost as if he was acknowledging Stark''s strength.


    "What is this...?" Stark asked, confused, he had felt a shiver run down his spine once he approached the bonfire, a feeling of safety taking over him.


    "Hm... it''s weird that you don''t know, but I might as well use my knowledge to help ya~" the brown-haired man got up and brushed off the dirt from his ass , then pointed at the bonfire, "This thing is the halfway point of the rift, it serves as andmark."


    "Hm," Stark nodded.


    "But that''s not all," he smiled, "You see that sun above you right?"


    "The ck Sun?"


    "Yep yep," he nodded, "The more you stay under it, the more cursed you are."


    And just as he said, when Stark thought about the ck sun curse, a panel appeared in front of him.


    [ck Sun Curse: 74%]


    But right as he saw that...


    [ck Sun Curse: 73%]


    ''It''s going down?''


    "The bonfire allows you to remove the ck sun curse from your body, that''s why the two of us are waiting!"


    "Oh well... I hope you don''t mind if I join you then," Stark kneeled down to sit on the ground, then quickly noticed that there were several monsters beside them, so he immediately got up and prepared himself to fight.


    "They won''t attack, they can''t attack when you are near the bonfire..." the ck-haired boy spoke for the first time.


    "What''s your name by the way," the yukulele yer asked.


    "..." Stark thought for a second, giving his real name wouldn''t be beneficial, especially if they knew he was THE Stark, "Stalk," he answered on a whim.


    "What a weird name..." heughed, "The name''s Kent, and the gloomy guy beside me is Bill!"


    And just like that, Stark sat on the ground beside the bonfire, waiting for the curse of the ck Sun to go before he could continue.


    After all, Stark did not n to stick together with anyone, he would take the boss by himself.

 Chapter 15: The Calm Before the Storm

    <h4>Chapter 15: The Calm Before the Storm</h4>


    (Meanwhile, outside the city ruins)


    The blonde-haired girl that had helped Stark before had been waiting outside the city ruins for a bit, checking her surroundings and the people around as they all formed teams or sold items.


    "Do you want to team with us Lana?" a group of girls, sparkles in their eyes, spoke, "We are big fans and we can be of help."


    Lana dismissed them though, "Sorry, I n to go alone."


    Of course, that was a lie, she obviously had some life-saving items in hand to protect her in case of dangerous situations, so technically she wouldn''t be alone, plus it would be great if she could meet someone to team up with, precisely someone that isn''t annoying.


    The first face that wandered in her mind as she thought of that was Stark''s, but she shook it off as she knew that Stark wasn''t that strong, at least not strong enough to be at her level.


    And then... she entered the ''City Ruins'', almost thirty minutes after Stark did, yet there were actually lots of people still outside.


    As she entered the ruins, she quickly noticed the presence of the ''ck Sun'' and read the panel that informed her about whatever it was doing to this ce.


    Lana would usually have many bodyguards surrounding her, but in this situation she categorically refused, she would need to survive on her own at one point or another, so she couldn''t be protected forever was what she said to her father.


    "-224!"


    "-271!"


    "-182!"


    She saw people fight monsters, some dealing good amount of damage, while others less.


    For their current level, the average damage that could be dealt was probably from 200 to 300, especially in this first dungeon, meaning it would take a few hits to kill each monster.


    Lana on the other hand... She was an archer.


    She pulled her bow out of her backpack, as well as some very well crafted arrows, then pointed them at two ''decaying corpses lv6'' that were alone, walking towards her.


    She fired two arrows at the same time, and then...


    "-938! -973!"


    The two monsters fell, killed by a single attack.


    But it wasn''t unexpected...


    "Oh wow... she did 900 damage, she must be strong!"


    "That''s Lana Moonless after all, she has overpowered equipment..."


    Lana ignored such talk, after all, she had precisely ordered her father and family to not hand her anything that would give her an advantage, instead she had just an average bow with average arrows, although with better materials.


    The other reason this amount of damage wasnt surprising was because...


    Lana was level 19, far exceeding the rmended level of this dungeon and most of the people in here, also she had a very good talent.


    And so just like that, more and more people started pouring inside the ''City Ruins'' rift, now fighting the monsters inside alongside their friends/teammates.


    ***


    (Around the bonfire)


    Kent and Bill were extremely considerate, they didn''t even ask Stark about his ss or about why he didn''t have a weapon with him: for them, as long as you came all the way here alone, it meant that you were strong.


    "Are you guys teaming?" Stark asked.


    "Oh, no," Kent shook his head, "I came here around fifteen minutes ago, and only five minutester did this guye," he pointed at Bill.


    ''Doesn''t that mean these guys met like ten minutes ago then immediately began singing together...?'' Stark wondered, but of course didn''t say that out loud.


    "Then you must already be cured from the ck sun curse, aren''t you?" Stark continued, "Why are you here?"


    Kent grinned, clearly enjoying the conversation. "Well, Stalk," he said, using Stark''s made-up name, "Look to your right!"


    Stark did as he was told, and in the distance he could see a wall of silver fog that took up the entire street, impossible to see beyond it.


    "That''s the entrance to the mini-boss area, every ssifier must traverse it and defeat the monster there, whether in group or solo," Kent pointed at it, "We don''t want to risk it as mini-bosses are stronger than normal enemies, so we''re waiting for more people!"


    Although these guys had the strength toe here all by themselves, making them almost equal to Stark in term of power, they were still not delusional enough to attempt to defeat a mini-boss by themselves.


    "Hm..." Stark grinned as inparison to them, he was actually crazy enough to take on the challenge.


    [ck Sun Curse: 0%]


    He waspletely cured from the curse, but that''s not all.


    [HP: 400/400]


    It seemed like the bonfire also had healing properties, allowing him to be healed.


    ''Almost feels like a checkpoint before a boss battle,'' Stark smiled, ''Unfortunately enough for me though, there are no second chances...''


    After discussing with Kent and Bill a bit more, he decided that it was time.


    "I think i''ll go ahead by myself," he spoke, getting up from his seat.


    Kent and Bill looked at each other with widened eyes before looking back at Stark, "Are you sure? I mean, this is basically suicide..."


    "I think i''ll be fine, if I just sit around and wait for people to help me, then it wouldn''t help me in the future, i''d rather risk my life and be stronger by myself," he shrugged as he left the bonfire space, now allowing monsters to sense and attack him.


    [You have in three "Decaying Corpses lv10", gained 3300EXP!]


    [You have in two "Cursed Hounds lv11", gained 2900EXP!]


    Seeing him fight up close, Kent and Bill were surprised, they had never heard of someone fight with their fists, even alchemists needed to use potions and items to fight after all.


    And yet the numbers that were disyed each time Stark hit an enemy were undeniable.


    "-1927!"


    [You have in a "Ghoul lv11", gained 1500EXP]


    Right as he reached the edge of the giant silver fog wall, a golden glow envelopped his body.


    [Your level has increased to level 6, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 1300/35000]


    He was ready to enter it, but right as he was about to, he heard a voice from behind.


    "GOOD LUCK!" Kent shouted, then gave him a thumbs up, "I hope to see you another time, Stalk!"


    Stark grinned, he didn''t know this guy either, but he couldn''t deny he was interesting.


    "Goodbye," he whispered before traversing the fog.


    [You have entered the mini-boss area, there is no going back from here]

 Chapter 16: The Mini-Boss: Feathered Scourge

    <h4>Chapter 16: The Mini-Boss: Feathered Scourge</h4>


    As Stark went inside the silver fog, he couldn''t help but feel a chill run down his spine as his vision was extremely obscured, yet every other sense of his was triggered: he could smell rot, he could feel an eerie aura around him, and he could hear the voices of tourmented souls screaming for him to go back.


    [Rmended level to attempt mini-boss: 15]


    [Warning! It is advised for you to go back!]


    But Stark didn''t care, and he pushed through the fog, traversing it after a few seconds and now able to see normally again.


    ''Holy...'' he opened his eyes, and took notice of his surroundings.


    He found himself in a deste area filled with decaying corpses, the ground littered with bones and moss that seemed to have grown over everything.


    He was still in the ruined city as buildings were still around, but the overall atmosphere was different.


    ''Am I in the luxury district?'' the buildings looked more luxurious than before, and some abandoned jewelry and design clothes stores and could be seen.


    [Level 15 area "Advanced District" entered]


    ''Hm,'' Stark began walking through the district, looking around for any signs of monsters or of the mini-boss.


    Meanwhile...


    High above a building, a grotesque creature with jagged wings, sharped talons, and glowing eyes watched Stark''s entrance into the district.


    It was the mini-boss, the ''Feathered Scourge'', a demonic creature that ravaged the luxury district, feeding on the souls of the dead and twisting the environment to its liking.


    But do not be mistaken, it is also under the control of the ck Sun.


    Below, Stark continued to explore the district, trying to ignore the growing sense of dread as he pushed forward. He had no idea what awaited him, but he was determined to face whatever came his way.


    And after a minute or two of that... the creature decided it was time to start the battle, thinking more people woulde.


    The creature leaped silently toward Stark from the building, its wings giving it an incredible amount of speed, and its ws ready to kill the boy.


    ''What''s that noise...'' Stark mumbled as he heard the small pping of the wings, and instinctively looked up, just to see the giant creatureing at him from above, "HOLY SHIT!"


    Focusing most of his aura around his legs, Stark used somest second decision and jumped out of the attack''s way.


    ~CRASH~


    He had luckily been able to avoid the attack, but...


    "-382!"


    Even that wasn''t enough to stop him from being injured as the after shock of the scourge''s smash attack managed to send him flying against a nearby building.


    [HP: 118/500]


    ''Fucking hell, one more attack and i''m done for...'' Stark immediately got up and readied his fists, intense aura pouring out from them as he analyzed his opponent.


    The mini-boss was at least five meters tall, had massive jagged white wings emerging from its back, a mouthless head with only yellow eyes looking down on him, and long legs and arms that could do a lot of damage to anyone who came in contact with them.


    [Name: Feathered Scourge (Rift MINI-BOSS)]


    [Level: 15]


    [HP: 25000]


    [Strength: 281]


    [Stamina: 738]


    [Speed: 372]


    [Defense: 182]


    [Skills: Wing Dive, Feint Strike, Soul Syphon, Eye Curse, Hellfire, Divine Strike]


    ''Defense is low... that might be the key to beating it,'' it had an enormous amount of HP, and it would take Stark at least 13 hits to kill it, but the fact he would only attack with his fists against such an impossible opponent was terrifying.


    And yet, Stark just red at the winged monster, determination in his eyes.


    He clenched his fists, determining his next move. His aura continued to pulsate around him, a testament to his unwavering resolve.


    The monster in return merely let out a guttural growl (it had no mouth so kinda weird), the sound echoing throughout the abandoned district. It leaped towards Stark once more, its wings slicing through the air like knives.


    Stark timed his dodge perfectly, leaping backward as the wings whizzed past, leaving a trail of dark mist in their wake.


    "Hellfire!"


    But the monster used one of its skill as it passed through, making a pir of fire emerge from the ground where Stark had justnded, forcing him to roll away to avoid the damage.


    "Feint Strike!"


    The Feathered Scourge lunged at Stark again with incredible speed, its ws glowing ominously. But Stark was ready, and he met the attack with a powerful counter strike.


    He dodged the ws of the monster, and then...


    "-2182!"


    Stark''s fist connected solidly with the monster''s face, the impact sending it reeling backwards.


    ''Phew... at least I know that I can deal good damage to it...''


    "Eye Curse!"


    The mini-boss looked down for a few seconds as it activated this powerful skill, then right as the skill reached its peak, it looked back at Stark, its piercing gaze on him.


    ''HOLY?'' the sheer intense and overwhelming aura shook his entire body.


    But that was all, nothing else.


    [The ''fear'' effect cannot be applied to someone with the ''domination'' ss]


    It seemed like the ''Eye Curse'' skill made it so that the scourge used its aura to scare off its opponents and deal the ''fear'' status effect to them, reducing their movements and uracy.


    But it didn''t work on Stark, and so the scourge, believing that he was affected, lunged itself toward him again, using ''Feint Strike''.


    But as expected, Stark avoided the attack as if everything was fine, and punched the mini-boss not once, but twice as it was taken aback.


    "-4920!"


    He had dealt more damage than before, maybe because his confidence had gone up...?


    [Mini-Boss HP: 17898/25000]


    The winged creature, yet again taken aback by Stark''s ability to avoid its attacks, growled again, this one more aggressive and louder than thest.


    And for the first time, his confidence as high as ever before, Stark was the one who attacked the mini-boss, rushing towards it.


    "Feint Strike...!"


    The mini-boss tried to slice Stark in half, but yet again, the boy avoided the attack, punching the monster in the stomach in return as he wasn''t tall enough to reach its head.


    "-1738!" seems like it still did a fair amount of damage.


    "Soul Syphon," the feathered scourge''s hand suddenly began glowing as if trying to grab onto Stark''s soul.


    At that moment, Stark felt a shiver run down his spine. He knew this skill would be dangerous, and so he backed away, only able to punch it one more time.


    "-1837!"


    [You have been hit by ''Soul Syphon'', draining attributes slowly for battle]


    [Strength: 26...25...24...]


    Even being close to Soul Syphon was enough to activate it, and now it wasn''t his life that was being reduced, but his other stats.


    ''I need to end this quick before I do 1 damage per hit...'' Stark thought, feeling the aura around his hands shine brighter because of his determination.

 Chapter 17: Defeating the ’Feathered Scourge’

    <h4>Chapter 17: Defeating the ''Feathered Scourge''</h4>


    [Mini-Boss HP: 14323/25000]


    It still had more than half of its life, while Stark on the otherhand was one attack away from dying (two if he counts the ''chosen one'' talent''s perks, but he didn''t know how it worked so he would rather not take his chances).


    ''Time to use this and hope...'' he looked at his hands, which were surrounded by that same crimson aura, and tightened them both.


    ''Aura Smash, activate!'' he reserved this skill for the perfect situation since the 30s cooldown was annoying, but what better situation than him being on the verge of death?


    Almost all of Stark''s aura went into his right hand, making it shine brighter than it ever had before, even though in the face of death, Stark was still smiling, showing utmost confidence.


    The remainder of the aura on the otherhand was still focused on his legs, and the reason for that was obvious: Stark began running in circles around the mini-boss, him not moving at all for a while would obviously make the scourge attack him after all.


    The mini-boss stared at Stark as he was running around it, its yellow shiny pupils following him.


    And then... it did the unthinkable.


    It pped its wings gently, making it float a few centimeters in the air, then it put its two hands together, lifting them up at the sky.


    ''What the hell?'' Stark was still running in circles, trying to aim his fist at the mini-boss.


    "DIVINE STRIKE!" a golden text that announced the mini-boss''s ultimate attack appeared above it, making Stark''s eyes widen.


    And although the feathered scourge could only use divine strike once on a powerful enemy, it decided Stark was worth it.


    Immediately, Stark looked up at the sky to see a golden shiny halo above him, following him closely, it was shining so bright that even the people at the beginning of the ''City Ruins'' were able to see it.


    "Hey what''s that?" someone asked.


    "A beam?" another answered


    "...?" Lana on the otherhand looked at the sky after eliminating another monster, "Weird..."


    Stark instinctively knew that he would die if it hit him, so he focused on his movements.


    And then...


    ~BOOM~


    A beam of divine light came hurtling toward him from the halo above.


    Stark dived forward before the beam could hit him, avoiding it by a strand of hair, and then continued running.


    The light beam was following him closely, and he knew that if even one of his fingers touched it, it was over.


    The mini-boss on the otherhand was pping its wing from left to right to avoid its own attack, meaning that it also wasn''t immune.


    And this gave Stark an idea.


    "DIE!" he threw his aura smash at the scourge, and the giant crimson fist appeared as predicted, heading toward the mini-boss at incredible speed.


    It hit it directly, creating a massive explosion of aura.


    "-5281!" the amount of damage was not enough to kill the monster, but what Stark was praying for was...


    [Enemy stunned!]


    "YES," the mini-boss was suddenly unable to p its wings and fell to the ground, wondering why it couldn''t move.


    Still followed by the ''Divine Strike'', Stark began running toward the mini-boss, jumping right above it instead of hitting it, and the reason for that was because... the halo was also heading toward the mini-boss.


    Instinctively, seeing its attack returned against it and because it couldn''t move to avoid it, the ''Feathered Scourge'' deactivated ''Divine Strike'', making the halo and golden beam dissapear.


    But this was its biggest mistake.


    "BINGO!" Stark jumped behind the mini-boss and smashed its head with his aura-filled fists.


    "-3718!"


    The damage was incredible because Stark was absolutely dominating the battle now.


    And so what had to be done was done.


    "-3829!"


    And finally...


    "-4273!"


    [Mini-Boss HP: 0/25000]


    The feathery creature crumpled to the ground, the once-glowing feathers now dull and lifeless. Stark took a moment to catch his breath, his heart pounding in his chest as he looked around at the wreckage of the battle.


    He had quite litterally just "beaten a boss to death".


    [You have in ''Feathered Scourge lvl15 (Rift MINI-BOSS)'', gained 40000EXP]


    And soon after that panel came a familiar golden glow that surrounded his body.


    [Your level has increased to level 7, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    And...


    [You have beaten the mini-boss without getting hit (NO HIT achievement), granting you a better equipment piece]


    ''Well... more like it''s either I no hit that guy or I die...''


    Stark looked at his hands, still glowing with the remains of the Aura Smash, and smiled. He had done it. He had defeated the Feathered Scourge, his first mini-boss in this treacherous world.


    Right on top of the scourge''s body appeared an item, his reward for the NO HIT achievement, and so he grabbed it.


    It was a ne.


    As Stark picked up the ne that had materialized atop the defeated Feathered Scourge, a warm sensation spread through his body.


    The ne was exquisitely crafted, with intricate designs etched into the metal and a radiant gem at its center that seemed to pulse with energy.


    ...


    [Equipment:] Soulbearer''s Embrace


    [Type:] Ne


    [ss:] Domination


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Required Level:] 10


    [Quality:] Good


    [Attributes:] +20 Strength; +100 HP


    [Special Perk:] Grants the wearer the ability to absorb a very small percentage of damage dealt back as health.


    ...


    This was a ne that required him a level 10 to use, but also the domination ss, meaning that only someone with this ss would be able to use it.


    ''Maybe it''s because the domination ss is the best that it''s so overpowered...?'' he frankly didn''t know, but getting HP back sounded op.


    He clearly remembered reading about items and equipments back at the library, and so he listed what he knew.


    There are 8 tiers for each item/equipment piece/skill: Common, Umon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythical, Godly, Immortal.


    And as for the quality, there are seven categories: Bad, Normal, Good, Exquisite, Perfect, Artifact, Unbeatable.


    But for now, he couldn''t use that ne since it was restricted to only people that were level 10 to use.


    ''Spatial Inventory,'' he mumbled and the inventory void opened next to him.


    Then he put the ne inside, ''See yater, little ne, when I am capable of using you...''


    When Stark beat the boss, the giant wall of silver fog disappeared, meaning that Kent and Bill, who had been looking at it from afar, were now allowed to pass through.


    "Holy shit, he actually did it alone!" Kent was astonished.


    "..." Bill on the other hand looked at the disappearing fog with a nk expression, he was surprised too, but also very interested in ''Stalk''.

 Chapter 18: Leveling UP!

    <h4>Chapter 18: Leveling UP!</h4>


    "I guess that''s it for now," Stark mumbled as he killed the mini-boss and did everything that was needed to do.


    [You have upgraded ''Aura Smash'' to level 3!]


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 4!]


    He used the two skill points he had that were avable after reaching level 7, and then he kept going.


    He of course noticed that the silver fog was gone, meaning that more people would be able to get to this area, but he didn''t care, he had gotten the loot for himself.


    [Current Level: Lv7]


    [Experience: 6300/50000]


    ''My god, I wonder just how much people at the higher levels must of grinded, especially since this is a beginner level dungeon...''


    At the end, Stark just wanted to get to level 10 to be able to use the ne and to challenge the boss.


    He wasn''t dumb, and the fact he almost died against the mini-boss was a testament of how difficult the real boss will be.


    Because even if in the end the rift had rewarded him forpleting it without taking a singr hit, he had beenpletely forced to that with a little above 100 HP to spare.


    And now... he had moved to another area, the "Advanced District" of the [City Ruins], which is a level 15 area.


    [The rays of the ck sun are calling your name, their cursed nature hitting harder than ever before, move fast or it will be toote]


    [Enemies in this area only have one idea in mind: killing you, do not spare any of them]


    ''Didn''t n to do that...'' Stark smiled, and as he turned the corner of a luxurious street, he found himself in front of the first group of monsters (other than the ''Feathered Scourge'') he would encounter in this area.


    [Name: Shadow Wolves]


    [Level: 13]


    [HP: 2500]


    [Strength: 79]


    [Stamina: 132]


    [Speed: 271]


    [Defense: 92]


    [Skills: Shadow Bite, Quick Step, Menacing Eyes]


    ...


    These wolves were swift and vicious, their red eyes locking onto some flesh they were eating as they bared their sharp, ckened teeth.


    Their entire body was covered in a ck matter that took over their furr, and Stark could only guess it was the ck sun curse that changed them this much.


    It was a group of six, and looking at their stats, they seemed to be extremely fast, although their strength and defense in contrast were low.


    ''Aura Smash...'' Stark instinctively mumbled the name of the skill, and his right hand started glowing immensely again.


    He threw his crimson fist at the wolves, and...


    ~BOOM~


    "-3618!"


    "-3238!"


    "-2787!"


    Three were killed by the attack, one was stunned and received more than half its life, and the other two... they avoided the attack.


    "WAIT WHAT?" Stark had not expected them to be able to do that, but two of the shadow wolves had seen the fisting at them, and began running towards him.


    "Quick Step!"


    They used that skill to immensely increase their speed, and then...


    "Shadow Bite!"


    The two lunged at Stark at the same time, their eyes still glowing with that red fury, and their furr''s weird structure leaving dark aura behind.


    But Stark remained calm.


    "Focus..." he activated the skill, and suddenly he could see the wolf''s movements better than before, now able to see their trajectory a few microseconds before they attacked.


    And that was all that was needed for him to avoid the attack and not be instantly killed.


    ~Pwish~


    He avoided the first wolf, and punched the second in the jaw with his aura-filled fists.


    "-2162!"


    It wasn''t enough to kill it, but the sheer damage Stark had caused it made it so that the wolf was stunned.


    "Go meet your friend," heughed as he grabbed two of the wolf''s legs while still mid-air and threw its body with incredible strength toward the other one he avoided.


    "-628!"


    "-1293!"


    The ''Shadow Wolf'' died upon impact with itspanion, while the other one received more than half of its life with this strike.


    It tried tounch itself at Stark again, but he just kicked it in the stomach.


    "-1728!"


    Now only one ''Shadow Wolf'' remained, the one that was stunned and extremely injured.


    Stark slowly approached it, almost walking and taking his time.


    On the otherhand, the monster could see the human approach, a wide smile on his face.


    "=)" Stark was only a few centimeters in front of the wolf now, able to punch it whenever he wanted.


    In response, the wolf looked at the human and activated its third skill in ast ditch effort to survive.


    "Menacing Eyes!" Its pupils and eyes started glowing more brightly with that crimson aura, trying to scare off Stark.


    But...


    [The ''fear'' effect cannot be applied to someone with the ''domination'' ss]


    And so Stark just stood there, unaffected.


    "Aoohhwh~" the wolf growled, now able to move its mouth since the stun effect was going away, and it roughly tranted to "Ah, shit..."


    "-2719!"


    Stark kicked it in the face, and it died.


    [You have in six "Shadow Wolves lv13", gained 14400EXP!]


    ''Holy!'' Stark was bewildered, he had gotten so much EXP on these enemies even though he just took most of them by surprise.


    [Experience: 20700/50000]


    ''The amount needed each level keeps getting bigger and bigger, I wonder just how much do I need to grind for level 10...''


    There was only one more area to go through after the advanced district before eventually reaching the boss of the rift, and Stark could confidently confirm that he was probably the most advanced person inside the dungeon as beside Kent and Bill, who had stayed behind, he met no one else.


    He checked the wolves'' bodies for anything, but unfortunately, no piece of equipment had dropped, after all, these things were pretty rare.


    ''What about that ck sun curse...?'' he wondered as he continued walking in the direction he was following.


    [ck Sun Curse: 48%]


    ''Holy shit, it''s growing faster than before, although not unexpected...''


    ...


    [You have in ''Scorthed Businessman lvl14'', gained 2100 EXP!]


    [You have in ''Underground Parasite lvl12'', gained 1750 EXP!]


    [You have in ''Mother Bird lvl14'', gained 2500 EXP!]


    ...


    [Your level has increased to level 8, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 1793/60000]


    ...


    [Your level has increased to level 9, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 5720/75000]


    ...


    ''Phew... took me at least an hour to level up, killing this many monsters is beginning to be easy, although it takes time,'' Stark wiped the sweat off his forehead as he looked at his status window, many monster corpses around him.


    [Level:] 9


    [Health:] 118/950


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [ss:] Domination


    [Info about ss:] The first Domination Trial ising REALLY soon, be ready, you will suffer.


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    [Attributes:] Strength 42; Speed 54; Mind/Soul 61; Stamina 81; Defense 68


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv4; Focus lv3; Aura Smash lv4


    ...


    ''Hm... I guess it''s better thanst time,'' he smiled.

 Chapter 19: The City Outskirts

    <h4>Chapter 19: The City Outskirts</h4>


    Most people were now inside the [City Ruins] rift, fighting their way through the level 5 area.


    "WATCH OUT!"


    "HELP ME OUT HERE!"


    People could only form parties of 5 inside the rift, and after doing so, they would be allowed to share experience points between each other as long as they participated in the kill, making it safer to level up.


    No one could really know what the hell was happening further inside the rift, so everyone just focused on themselves.


    "Where is that Stark fucker?" Daniel entered the rift 45 minutes after Stark, rushing his way through the level 5 area and reaching the level 10 one with his squad.


    "We saw him enter the rift at the beginning, so he should be here..." one of Daniel''spanions spoke, a spear in his hand as he was also part of the warrior ss.


    "HAHAHA~ That fucker got lucky yesterday, and now he is probably already dead!" Daniel nodded, as for him (and probably most people), it was impossible for Stark to get past the first area, "He probably became one of those monsters!"


    "-728! -827!" he eliminated a monster that came his way, then looked around him, noticing all the other people that were fighting.


    Lana on the otherhand was also in the level 10 area, currently extremely close to Daniel''s group as they were right next to her.


    ''So annoying...'' she groaned while shooting two arrows to kill a monster nearby.


    Instinctively, Daniel looked to his right as he saw the high amount of damage being dealt by Lana, and noticed her blonde-hair, beautiful face, and spectacr body.


    Nobody knew it, but Daniel had a massive obsession over Lana, always trying to please her and approach her, but she would always reject him.


    After all, Lana was used to such attempts from men who thought they had a chance with her.


    "Hey Lana-" he tried to approach her, but sensing his presence, Lana immediately began running, acting like she spotted another monster, "Oh... well i''m sure she''ll sumb at one point or another!"


    "Of course she will, any girl would dream of being with you, the Pridel family name is extremely famous after all," one of Daniel''spanions reassured him, making him grin.


    And it was at this exact moment that Stark defeated the mini-boss.


    Suddenly, everyone stopped, a golden panel appearing in front of them.


    [The mini-boss ''Feathered Scourge'' was defeated by REDACTED, you can now advance further inside the dungeon!]


    Daniel, Lana, and everyone else that were inside the dungeon read the text with shocked eyes.


    ''Already?!'' was what they all thought, after all even their teachers predicted it would take at least five hours before the mini-boss was defeated, and yet in less than an hour it was already down?


    "Probably some powerful group that rushed through the dungeon?"


    "Maybe it''s a hidden high-ranked ssifier!"


    "Or one of the solo yers that went first..."


    Such theories appeared among all ssifiers that were still fairly at the start or almost middle point of the dungeon.


    But what they all knew was that: whoever had defeated the scourge must be pretty damn strong.


    This is how dungeons in this world work, once an achievement is made, it is broadcasted for everyone to know, except they wouldn''t know the identity of who did it.


    Only Kent and Bill, who were two of those ''strong solo yers'' were aware of the identity of the mini-boss killer, but even they believed that Stark was actually named ''Stalk'' since he lied to them.


    And just like this, the stage was set, and people began fighting through the monsters faster in hope of reaching the level 15 area and fight the boss too, also they needed to take advantage of such an opportunity to level up.


    ***


    Stark, unaware of the panel that informed everyone of what he did, continued walking through the ''Advanced District''.


    And soon enough... he found himself in front of thest area of the dungeon.


    ''Oh yeah, before I forget...'' he mumbled, checking out his avable skill points.


    [Skill Points: 1 Avable]


    ''Almost forgot to use it, better be safe than sorry...''


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 5!]


    His domination skill was now at the half-way point as the limit for skills was level 10 (at least until the user leveled up enough, and then the limit would increase, or by using an item)


    And that meant...


    ''Huh?'' his body was suddenly being surrounded by a crimson aura, it was not only around his hands and feet anymore, but also his head, torso, legs...


    [You have gone far and upgraded the domination skill, your aura was massively increased as a reward, and you are now capable of using it around your body as a sort of protective shield.]


    ''Holy shit!'' Stark smiled, his HP was extremely low, and his journey since the beginning was a giant ''NO HIT'' challenge since even one attack would kill him.


    And now...


    "Can I actually absorb some damage now?" he wondered, eager to use that new ability of his, but also knowing that he couldn''t take any risks, "Welp... i''ll see when the time is right."


    He took a step forward, and now was in the final area of the rift.


    [Entered level 15 area, "City Outskirts"]


    The atmosphere switchedpletely, it was already dark and twisted in the ''Advanced District'', but thest area was on another level.


    The buildings were reced by shaby old houses, menacing eyes could be seen from every broken window, and the air was thick with tension.


    [The ck Sun has noticed and acknowledged you, it will now try everything in its power to stop you, ssifier, good luck]


    The panel was dark, mimicking the sinister darkness of the empty streets.


    [Current Level: Lv9]


    [Experience: 12810/75000]


    ''If this is a beginner level dungeon, I wonder just how bad the higher level ones are, people in this world must have a thick skull...'' he said that, but in the end still began walking through the dark outskirts of the [City Ruins].


    As he navigated the deste streets, Stark''s acute perception picked up on subtle movements in the shadows.


    Yet even noticing all these creatures and eyes on him, nothing came out of a corner to stop him or attack him... for now.


    And right after taking another step... another unexpected panel came interrupting Stark in his journey.


    [ck Sun Curse: 90%]


    [WARNING! GET TO A BONFIRE BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE! THE DARKNESS IS CONSUMING YOU]


    ''...'' Stark sighed, the curse percentage had gone up so fast he didn''t even take the time to check, and now he was at great risk of being turned into one of these... things.


    Going backward was not a solid option either since he would probably be infected before it happened.


    So his only choice... was to keep going forward, speedrunning his way through the monsters that would try to kill him.

 Chapter 20: The Elite Monster [1]

    <h4>Chapter 20: The Elite Monster [1]</h4>


    Stark pushed through the dark and ominous City Outskirts, the curse of the ck Sun looming over him like a shadow. Every step he took felt heavier as the darkness threatened to consume him. The once quiet streets now echoed with the sounds of his own heartbeat, racing in his ears.


    ''...'' and even then, the aura around his hands and legs didn''t falter, still shining brightly, a proof that his determination hadn''t been moved by the circumstances.


    He reached a street with many abandonned small houses, the ones around him less out of shape than the others.


    Suddenly, a low growl echoed through the deste streets, and then...


    ~CRASH~


    A massive amount of monsters came out of the windows, their eyes glowing with a bright red aura that indicated they were ready to attack.


    "1...2...4...6...10...14" he counted them, "WAIT 14?"


    Just looking at their appearances, Stark could notice that it was the same type of monster all over, meaning they were the ones in control of this area.


    [Name: Gloomstalkers]


    [Level: 14]


    [HP: 2500]


    [Strength: 102]


    [Stamina: 391]


    [Speed: 72]


    [Defense: 271]


    [Skills: Infect, Gloom, Mallet Smash, Lengthen]


    Their bodies werepletely white, two meat mallets recing their arms (the mallets took the form and white texture of their hands, making them blend perfectly), and red eyes that shone in the darkness.


    These creatures were utterly disturbing, something straight out of a horror movie.


    Their sheer number was surprising, and although their speed made them go extremely slowly toward Stark, it seemed like they enjoyed tormenting their victims by slowly watching them tremble in fear.


    Stark positioned himself forbat, his fists in front of his face and his aura ready to protect him: he waspletely surrounded from all directions.


    But then... the gloomstalkers suddenly stopped as they were a few meters away from reaching Stark, and they began looking up, not toward the ck sun, but toward the roof of a nearby abandonned house.


    ''...?'' Stark wondered what the hell was happening, and he looked at the direction the monsters were watching.


    Just to see... nothing?


    It waspletely dark, stopping him from seeing anything beyond that point.


    ''What the fuck-'' he didn''t have the time to finish his sentence because...


    Suddenly, a figure stepped out from the darkness, their form cloaked in tattered robes that billowed ominously in the wind. The figure''s eyes gleamed with a dangerous light as they locked gazes with Stark.


    ''Ah shit... here we go again!''


    [Name: Outskirts Second Leader (ELITE)]


    [Level: 15]


    [HP: 12000]


    [Strength: 172]


    [Stamina: 581]


    [Speed: 461]


    [Defense: 615]


    [Skills: Summon, Dark Fog, Soul Drain, Cursed Domain, Shadow Magic]


    ...


    ''Area''s have bosses too now...?'' Stark pondered, after all this guy had the ''ELITE'' title, and more HP/Stats than any other monster he had met until now other than the ''Feathered Scourge''.


    The ''Outskirt Second Leader'' was wearing a massive dark cloak that stopped anyone from seeing its body, and a white smiley-face mask to hide its face.


    It also had a ck staff in hand, one emitting an eerie aura and a ball of void spinning around at the edge.


    Seeing their leader arrive, the ''Gloomstalkers'' immediately resumed walking, and the boss just sat down at the edge of the house''s roof, watching its minions kill the human.


    The Gloomstalkers closed in on him slowly, their eerie white bodies moving like specters in the darkness.


    As the first Gloomstalker lunged towards him with a menacing swing of its mallet arm, Stark swiftly dodged to the side, feeling the rush of air as the attack narrowly missed him.


    In response, he punched it back in the head.


    "-3192!" it''s body immediately turned to dust.


    Using that momentum, Starkunched himself towards the next Gloomstalker, delivering a barrage of punches and kicks with precision and power.


    The creatures fell one by one, disintegrating into ash as his attacksnded. Despite their overwhelming numbers, Stark''s determination burned brighter than ever, fueling his every move.


    By the end of his rampage, all the gloomstalkers had died, and the leader was still watching from the roof.


    "Summon!" it lifted its staff in the air, and suddenly... more gloomstalkers started appearing from the ground and windows.


    "Is that an infinite EXP generator?" Stark smiled, he was actively quite tempted to keep going and grind, but he knew he would get tired eventually, plus his time was counted because of the ''ck Sun Curse''.


    ''Aura Smash,'' he mumbled as his fist started glowing with that crimson aura.


    And then he threw it at the unsuspecting leader, who thought it was safe up there if Stark only used his fists.


    "-2312!" it''s defense was very high, so the damage was reduced a ton, but it was still a good amount.


    Taken aback, the leader was sent flying backward, and once it came back at the edge, it had a dark aura around its body and staff, showing signs it was gonna attack.


    "ck Fog!" A thick, inky fog began to swirl around the Outskirts Leader, enveloping the area in darkness. Stark could barely see his own hand in front of his face as the fog crept closer, threatening to suffocate him.


    ''God damn it,'' his senses were on high alert in case a gloomstalker was close, but it seemed like they couldn''t see either.


    "-3261!" navigating through the fog, he would asionally find some gloomstalkers he killed, and also had to avoid some others before they could hit him.


    One singr touch of their mallets would probably send him flying after all...


    And so after thirty seconds of that...


    ''Aura Smash!'' He hurled his right fist again in the direction the leader was in previously, he used his aura as andmark toward where to aim, and this timended it on the leader''s legs.


    "-1937!" the boss roared in pain, and then...


    ~FIOU~


    Losing bnce since Stark had aimed for the legs, it fell forward toward the street.


    ~THUD~


    "-728!" it received damage because of the fall, but it was still rtively fine.


    Not able to see anything because of the fog, the leader deactivated that skill, and after a few seconds, the mist cleared, revealing the Outskirts Second Leader struggling to stand back up.


    Dozens of monsters now surrounded Stark, and the leader was pointing its staff at him too.


    ''You''re close to me now... finally a fair fight,'' he smiled while positioning his hands.


    "Shadow Magic!" the leader''s staff began glowing with an eerie aura, and the ball of void at the edge of it also started growing in size.


    And thus, the final battle before the real boss of the dungeon began.

 Chapter 21: The Elite Monster [2]

    <h4>Chapter 21: The Elite Monster [2]</h4>


    Stark felt the weight of the impending battle settle on his shoulders as he faced off against the Outskirts Leader.


    The leader''s eyes bore into Stark, a silent challenge passing between them.


    As the first tendrils of shadow magic began to curl towards him, Stark knew he had to act fast.


    Looking at him from all nearby windows, and surrounding himpletely were dozens upon dozens of gloomstalkers.


    ''How are the other people supposed to beat these things...?'' he wondered, after all he was confident in his strengthpared to all the other students, yet here he was struggling this much against an area boss...


    "Shadow Magic!"


    Arrows made out of darkness began forming around the second leader, and then hurtled toward Stark.


    With a swift movement, he dodged the iing tendrils of darkness and closed the distance between him and the Outskirts Second Leader in a sh.


    With a powerful leap, Stark aimed a devastating punch directly at the leader''s chest. The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the air, causing even the gloomstalkers to stagger back in surprise.


    "-3618!" the damage was incredible.


    The leader staggered backward, its cloak billowing around it as it struggled to regain its bnce.


    "Summon!" it summoned more gloomstalkers from the ground in front of it to protect itself from Stark''s attacks.


    Seizing the opportunity, Stark followed up with a series of lightning-fast strikes, each blownding with precision and force against the monsters, not even letting them get out of the ground.


    "-3739! -2638! -2947!"


    Forced to back away, Stark made sure that nothing was behind him.


    [Area Boss HP: 3405/12000]


    ''One or two more hits...'' Stark thought.


    His confidence was its peak, and the leader looked extremely injured, struggling to even stay in ce or summon more gloomstalkers.


    "-3718!"


    "-3918!"


    "-4183!"


    Each gloomstalker that tried to attack him was met by an instant punch that made it turn into dust: none of them were capable of touching Stark, even with their numbers.


    Realizing that: most of the minions just stood there, not even moving anymore, knowing it was futile to even try, it seemed like they had a conscience of their own even while being controled by the leader.


    And that''s when it happened: beyong the smiley-face mask the second leader was wearing, Stark noticed dark and hostile pupils, glowing with a purpleish aura.


    "CURSED DOMAIN!"


    A sudden surge of dark energy emanated from the leader, enveloping the entire area in a malevolent aura of darkness.


    Stark felt a chill run down his spine as his movements slowed, the shadows seeming to constrict around him, sapping his strength with each passing second.


    The gloomstalkers that remained standing seemed revitalized, their attacks gaining a dangerous edge under the influence of the Cursed Domain.


    [You are in a cursed domain, defeat the enemy boss before it is toote (all enemies receive a stat boost inside the domain)]


    Struggling against the oppressive magic, Stark gritted his teeth and focused on maintaining his resolve.


    "Shadow Magic!"


    The second leader didn''t waste time and summonned three darkness arrows again,unching them at Stark.


    His movements were reduced, and the arrows were faster than before, but ''Focus'' still allowed him to see theming.


    He avoided one... he avoided two...


    He couldn''t avoid the third.


    Sensing that, Stark decided to focus most of his aura around his chest, in the area where the arrow was aimed at, in the hopes of stopping it.


    And...


    "-82!" the damage he received was minimal as the arrow was stopped by the wall of aura before it could pierce him, meaning that this "aura barrier" truly worked.


    [HP: 36/950 (CRITICAL CONDITION)]


    ''Fuck that shit!'' Stark realizing that he was one hit away from dying focused all his aura into another ''Aura Smash''.


    He kept avoiding darkness arrows all the while powering up his attack, and after a few seconds...


    "GO TO HELL," he punched the air, sending the crimson fist toward the second leader, who was unable to avoid it.


    "-2192!" its defense was higher because of the domain.


    But...


    [Enemy stunned]


    Seizing the moment of weakness, Stark wasted no time. Channeling all his remaining strength and fury into a final, decisive strike, heunched himself at the stunned leader with a speed and power that seemed almost supernatural.


    "I''m not stuck with you!" he jumped in the air, in front of the leader''s eyes as it was unable to move any of its limbs or staff, "YOU ARE STUCK WITH ME!"


    He punched it.


    "-2719!"


    [Area Boss HP: 0/12000]


    The leader let out a final anguished cry as Stark''s punch connected, shattering its remaining defenses and sending it crumbling to the ground.


    A deafening silence fell over the battlefield as the cursed domain dissipated, leaving only the sound of the wind rustling through the trees.


    All the gloomstalkers surroundings Stark immediately also began turning to dust as they were all only kept alive by the outskirts second leader''s magic.


    And just like that, Stark was able to defeat that shitty boss.


    [You have in "Outskirts Second Leader lv15 (ELITE)", gained 22000EXP!]


    [You have in twenty-two "Gloomstalkers lvl14", gained 24500 EXP]


    [Experience: 59310/75000]


    ''Not even enough to level up...'' he sighed but immediately began running nheless.


    [ck Sun Curse: 95% (WARNING)]


    ...


    [You have in ''Shadow Demon lv14'', gained 2300 EXP]


    [You have in ''Water Blob lv13'', gained 2150 EXP]


    [You have in ''Crazy Archer lv14'', gained 2200


    ...


    [ck Sun Curse: 96% (WARNING)]


    Sweat pouring out from his forehead, Stark continued running, his time was counted, and although he wondered just how was any of the other students supposed to survive this, he still had his own safety in mind first.


    [ck Sun Curse: 97% (WARNING, GET TO A BONFIRE)]


    The warning red in Stark''s mind as he sprinted through the city outskirts, now ignoring the monsters that tried to stop him as he didn''t want to waste time.


    He could feel the ck Sun looking at him, awaiting for him to be consumed by its powers to transform him.


    But... it would never have this pleasure.


    Since when he turned around another corner, Stark spotted the flickering glow of a bonfire in the middle of a giant street.


    And beyond it... a silver fog wall could be seen.


    ''BINGO!''


    [ck Sun Curse: 98% (WARNING, GET TO A BONFIRE)]


    Relief flooded through him as he pushed himself to run even faster


    Warning panels surrounded his view as the number reached 99%, but thankfully enough... he was able to reach the bonfire, entering the ''safe space'' right before the boss battle.

 Chapter 22: NO CHEATING!

    <h4>Chapter 22: NO CHEATING!</h4>


    The bonfire crackled and flickered, casting a warm, reassuring light in the dark world Stark found himself in.


    [Entered safe space, enjoy the safety while itsts =)]


    The silver fog wall loomed right in front of him (only a few meters away), a barrier separating him from whatever awaited on the other side: the boss of the [City Ruins].


    But for now... all he wanted to do was rest.


    He sat on the ground around the bonfire, enjoying the feeling of slowly regaining his HP and the curse of the ck Sun going down.


    ''No... I can''t rest now...'' he thought after sitting down for a minute, and then got up.


    [Experience: 65960/75000]


    ''I''ll get to level 10, then I can rest as much as I want,'' he nodded before getting up, he had retrieved some of his life back, plus he was confident he would have no issue dealing with enemies nearby.


    There were some monsters he had never seen roaming nearby, and so he decided to do something... quite strange.


    He went to the border of the ''safe zone'', and then put half of his body outside, allowing the monsters to see him.


    Some immediately rushed to kill the human, while others just looked, waiting to see what would happen.


    And so as some monsters were about to hit Stark... he took a step back and went inside the safe zone again.


    And then...


    "Let''s see if that works!" heughed then tried to punch the monsters while still in the safe zone, giving him an almost impossible to break shield while still being able to hit them as his fist traversed the ''barrier''.


    "-2719!"


    "-3162!"


    "-2913!"


    The monsters outside the safe zone roared in frustration as Stark''s punches connected through the barrier, dealing damage without putting himself at risk.


    ''I''m actually cheating the system, how has nobody thought of that before,'' heughed, trying to punch yet another monster.


    But...


    ~ZAP~


    "-100!"


    A lightning strike that came from the sky hit his body and dealt 100 points of damage to him, luckily he had allowed his HP to go up with the bonfire, or else it would have been bad.


    [No cheating]


    This panel appeared in front of him.


    "..." Stark groaned before leaving the safe zone and killed thest monster that was in front of the barrier, "this was thest one anyway, I wasn''t gonna abuse it," he shouted to whoever (or whatever) was watching him, but of course, no response.


    [You have in ''City Beast lv15'', gained 3000 EXP!]


    [You have in two ''Mouthless Figures lv15'', gained 5800 EXP!]


    [You have in ''Owl Cultist lv15'', gained 2750 EXP!]


    And of course, eliminating those foes resulted in the reappearance of the golden aura, once again enveloping him.


    [Your level has increased to level 10, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 2510/85000]


    ''Finally... damn it!'' Stark smiled and sat beside the bonfire again, enjoying the feeling of finally reaching level 10, meaning he could now equip the ne he had acquired.


    And also...


    [Level 10 Reached: please pick a skill card]


    Just likest time, three cards materialized in front of him out of thin air, this time their color was blue.


    ''Oh yeah... that thing,'' this had been how he acquired [Aura Smash], it seemed like he would be able to choose a new skill every 5 levels.


    Stark gazed at the three blue cards in front of him, pondering his choice carefully.


    "Oh well, it''s not like I can decide what skill i''ll get," he shrugged and picked the middle card at random.


    The other two disappeared once he did that, and so he turned the card he picked to see an image of... himself?


    ...


    [Name: Clone Frenzy]


    [Type: Rare]


    [Level: 1]


    [Description: Summons a clone of yourself that acts and fights just like you do, giving you a temporary additional character to control in battle, the clone does damage based on how much aura you give it, but its stats are extremely reduced, and its HP is set to 1, cooldown period of 30 minutes between each clone]


    ...


    And yet again, below the description was some sort of low-budget animation showing how the skill worked: a stickman that was supposed to be Stark used aura to summon another stickman that looked exactly like him, and he was able to control it to fight enemies.


    ''I guess it''s good...'' Stark would need to see it in battle to judge, but this was his first ''rare'' type skill, meaning that it MUST be good, right?


    [Clone Frenzy has been added to your skill list]


    [You have upgraded ''Clone Frenzy'' to level 2!]


    After reaching level 10 and acquiring this skill, Stark just sighed and looked at the sky while sitting beside the bonfire, its darkness was mesmerizing for some strange reason.


    ''Spatial Inventory,'' he mumbled after five minutes, and the small void appeared beside him.


    He hesitated for a few seconds, but then put his arm inside while thinking of the "Soulbearer''s Embrace" ne.


    Suddenly, he could feel his fingers brushing against the cool metal of the ne, and so he pulled out his hand, just to see that the ne was in fact inside it.


    ''I guess that''s pretty cool and convenient.''


    Without wasting time, he put the ne around his neck.


    ["Soulbearer''s Embrace" Equipped]


    If he remembered correctly, that ne was supposed to give him +20 strength, +100 HP, and also...


    [Special Perk:] Grants the wearer the ability to absorb a very small percentage of damage dealt back as health.


    If there was a way to gain health through damage, then he sure as hell was gonna take it.


    ''I guess that''s all for now, isn''t it?'' hey on the cold ground, maybe it was dirty, but even sitting down left him ufortable, so this was his best option.


    He needed to be full of energy before attempting to kill the boss after all since he would do it alone and only at level 10 while it was probably rmended to do it with a party of level 15 ssifiers.


    ''I hope that new skill helps... it would be great if it truly worked just as I envisioned it to be...''


    Stark kept thinking about the future for a bit... and then... before he even realized it, the ground became strangelyfortable.


    And so he closed his eyes.

 Chapter 23: A Sleeping Stark?

    <h4>Chapter 23: A Sleeping Stark?</h4>


    People began rushing through the beginning areas after the message of the mini-boss being defeated appeared.


    After all, this dungeon was supposed to be used to level up (mostly) safely while also gaining experience, so if someonepleted it quickly, they would have less time to do so.


    The deeper they went, the higher amount of experience they could get, and the least the people that would be there to annoy them.


    Lana was one of those that prioritizedpleting the dungeon over leveling up since she already had the gear to do so, although she was alone.


    Soon enough she reached the level 15 area "Advanced District", and from now on only the strongest were there.


    Kent and Bill had also decided they wouldn''t go further inside the dungeon past that point as it was too dangerous, and they also believed that "Stalk" was the same.


    After all... who was dumb enough to go for the boss in the first day, right...? RIGHT?


    "-928! -827!" killing enemies, Lana kept going.


    Her interest wasn''t to level up as she was now level 20, more than enough to start going into actual dungeons, not beginner ones.


    And although ''Archer'' was considered one of the weaker sses, her powers and equipment were still good enough topete with all the others (except for Domination, obviously).


    Her goal wasn''t to level up, but to defeat the dungeon and boss.


    "Complete that dungeon and be the strongest one inside there," her father, an extremely strong ssifier, told her.


    So her goal, just like Stark, was toplete the dungeon as fast as possible and retrieve all the rewards/fame.


    Of course, she wasn''t dumb, so she would obviously wait for some high potential people to help her out with the boss, going alone was suicide.


    But for now... she needed to get to the bonfire before the boss.


    ***


    (3 hourster)


    "I see it!" Lana smiled, she had sessfully entered the "City Outskirts", which was thest area of the [City Ruins] rift, and managed her way through all the monsters.


    All she could see around her was the empty streets, no one was there, meaning that she was probably the first to reach this ce.


    No... she was CONFIDENT that she was the only one.


    And right in front of her was the bonfire before the final boss of the dungeon, she would set herself there and wait for around 4 more people to create a party and defeat that boss together.


    "This dungeon is more dangerous than I thought... but there''s definitely no one there, all the others are too weak to fight the monsters here as of now..." she kept advancing.


    And the moment Lana reached the giant bonfire...


    "Huh?" she spotted a pair of legs right behind the fire, and as she peeked her head to check what (or who) it was... she spotted a sleeping Stark, "WHAT?"


    She was astonished, not only had someone already reached this area... but Stark nheless? How did he do it? Did he avoid every monster and through some godly luck reach this ce?


    No... this wouldn''t be possible...


    Her mind immediately wandered to the time Stark defeated Daniel and caused massive amount of damage to him.


    "Could it be...?" she approached him slowly, making sure not to wake him up, and got closer to his sleeping face.


    Stark seemed to be resting peacefully, his face calm and serene. It was as if this whole dungeon didn''t matter to him.


    Realizing this wouldn''t lead to anything, Lana just sat on the ground beside the bonfire, waiting for other people toe.


    ***


    In the realm of dreams, Stark found himself standing in a vast, empty space.


    The air was cool and soothing, a stark contrast to the harsh world he had been navigating just moments ago.


    As he looked around, he noticed a figure in the distance, its features blurred and indistinct. Something about it drew him closer, an inexplicable pull that beckoned him forward.


    With each step he took, the figure seemed to shimmer and shift, changing form until it finally solidified into a mirror image of himself.


    Stark stared in disbelief at the doppelg?nger before him, feeling a strange mix of curiosity and unease.


    The other Stark smiled, a perfect replica of his own grin, and spoke in a voice that sounded like an echo of his own thoughts, "Are you ready?"


    "Ready for what?" the real one answered, confused.


    "The First Domination Trial, you have read about it several times in your status window, right?"


    "Yeah..." he hadn''t ignored it all this time, it was just he didn''t have any info so he didn''t think it was worth it... for now.


    "It ising soon, and you will suffer, but in the end..." the fake Stark didn''t have the time to finish its sentence that it vanished.


    And suddenly, the dream world started to shake, a proof that Stark was beginning to wake up.


    ***


    (30 minutester)


    ''Hm~?'' Stark opened his eyes, rubbing them as he got up, then remembered about where he was, "Holy shit, did I seriously sleep in here? Luckily nobody saw-"


    He turned his head, and noticed Lana looking at him.


    "I''m surprised you could even sleep here with the boss lurking around the corner," were the first words she said as she was busy inspecting her bows and arrows.


    "Gotta be full of energy before fighting the boss, shouldn''t I be," Stark replied while yawning, not even questioning why she was here, and got up from the ground, his clothes were a bit dirty but it didn''t bother him.


    "Fighting the boss? But you''re alone!"


    "Hum... yeah? That''s kinda the point, y''know," Stark wasn''t the type to hide his achievements, so he didn''t care about telling anyone that asked him about the fact he had killed the mini-boss by himself, although most wouldn''t believe him...


    He stretched for a bit while talking to Lana, the shock across her face growing more and more after each of his replies.


    "How did you even get here?"


    "Killing the monsters...? Isn''t that obvious?" these question were almost bing silly, and so after a few minutes of back and forth, Stark decided that it was time.


    His HP were full, he had all his skills, and his ne was equipped, nothing could stop him now (except an insta-kill attack from the boss).


    And so just like that, he left the safe space and headed toward the silver fog.


    "Where are you going???!!!" Lana got up too, surprised.


    "Going to kill the boss," Stark grinned and traversed the wall of fog, not even bothering to hear her reply.


    Lana stood there, unable to understand whatever the fuck was happening.


    The only thing she knew was that... she couldn''t let Stark defeat the boss by himself if he had some sort of trick up his sleeve- NO, she meant she couldn''t let Stark die alone.


    And so she followed after him.

 Chapter 24: The Boss of the ’City Ruins’

    <h4>Chapter 24: The Boss of the ''City Ruins''</h4>


    Stark, unbothered, kept advancing through the fog, he had already done this once before for the mini-boss, so the atmosphere and cries of souls that begged him to turn back didn''t bother him anymore.


    Lana on the other hand had never experienced such a thing, and so she couldn''t help but feel slightly ufortable, if not scared.


    Reaching her arm forward in the hopes of finally leaving the fog, she was able to grab something: Stark''s shirt.


    "...?" the boy stopped and looked behind him to see a Lana with a weird expression, paranoia stretched across her face as her pupils darted in all directions, "Can you please let me go? Why did you even follow me?"


    Hearing his voice, Lana felt more appeased, but of course she didn''t show it and instead let go of his shirt, "Don''t get ahead of yourself, I just don''t want you to steal all the rewards!"


    ''Tsundere ass attitude,'' Stark rolled his eyes before continuing to walk through the fog, Lana following closely as she didn''t want to be alone.


    And after a few seconds... they reached the boss area.


    [You have entered the BOSS area, there is no going back from here]


    ***


    As they emerged from the thick, swirling fog and their eyes adjusted to the dim light, they were finally able to take in the sight of the boss area.


    Surrounding them was a massive circle of abandoned buildings, eerie and deste with no visible exit or means of escape. And at the center of it all, rising above the ruins, stood a grand mansion with shadowy windows and an imposing aura.


    Behind them was obviously the silver wall of fog, but once you traversed it, there is no way to go back.


    [One of the fifteen members of the ''Godless Demons'' group is present here, kill it]


    [Participants: Stark Heartsouls, Lana Moonless]


    "Where''s your weapon," Lana grabbed her bow and magic arrows, ready to fight.


    "I don''t have one," Stark replied while smiling.


    "WHAT? B-BUT?"


    "Don''t worry about me and focus on yourself, I won''t protect you after all," he replied and began walking toward the mansion.


    "..." She knew he was right as she honestly had no reason to worry about him, but of course, there was also the fact they were BOTH participants in this, so she wanted him to at least be useful.


    Lana followed closely behind Stark as they approached the grand mansion in the center of the boss area.


    But as they reached the halfway point...


    ~SLAM~


    With a loud creak, the massive doors of the mansion swung open, revealing a menacing figure that stood behind them.


    The boss stepped out, its powerful presence emanating an overwhelming aura of authority and malice.


    [Mkar, City Mayor (BOSS)]


    This text appeared in front of both the ssifiers when he appeared, and so the two of them took a few seconds to observe him.


    Mkar, the City Mayor, stood tall and imposing in front of them. His borate smoking gleamed ominously in the dim light, adding to his intimidating appearance.


    His eyes burned with a malevolent glow and his wicked grin sent shivers down their spines. He wore pure white gloves on both hands and shiny ck shoes, giving off an air of wealth and power.


    To further add to his sinister image, Mkar''s face was half-hidden by a ''ck Sun'' mask while a strange melon hat adorned his head.


    Without a word, he raised a hand and summoned dark energy that crackled around his fingers menacingly.


    Lana began to aim her bow at the mayor, and seeing that Stark was doing nothing actively scared her more than the boss itself.


    On the other hand, Stark took a few seconds to use [Perception] and check the boss.


    [Name: Mkar, City Mayor (BOSS)]


    [Level: 15]


    [HP: 45000]


    [Strength: 471]


    [Stamina: 289]


    [Speed: 154]


    [Defense: 829]


    [Skills: Dark Pulse, The Cane, Abysall Shield, Godless Demon, The Mayor''s Control, Hat Trick...]


    The Mayor was slowly walking toward them, his stats were pretty good, although more on the defensive side than in the rest, and its speed was extremely low.


    Stark smirked at the boss''s stats, analyzing them carefully in his mind. His demeanor was calm and collected, a stark (get it?) contrast to Lana''s nerves that seemed to be getting the best of her.


    Without a word, he suddenly sprinted towards Mkar.


    "Dark Pulse!" Mkar crouched, both his hands touching the ground, and veins of darkness immediately began spreading toward Stark and Lana.


    When he was close enough to one of the veins, it woulde out of the ground to try and pierce him, but of course, Stark had ''Focus'' and was able to narrowly dodge them by rolling to the side each time.


    ''What the fuck is he doing, why is he rolling like this?'' Lana pondered, and shot one of her arrows toward the Mayor.


    "-628!" it hit him in the chest, but he was so focused on Stark that he wasn''t bothered by such an attack.


    Lana was shocked that Stark was going to engage with the boss head-on, something most people would consider suicide, strategy was key in the rifts, yet here he was doing random shit.


    After ''Dark Pulse'' ended, Mkar rose up to his full height (which was approximately four meters) and unleashed another attack.


    "The Cane!" he bellowed, as a shadowy cane materialized in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, the cane elongated andshed out towards Stark like a viper.


    Stark reacted quickly, drawing upon his agility and reflexes. He dodged the sweeping strike by a hair''s breadth, but then...


    The cane turned around, controlled by the Mayor and able to defy thews of physics.


    Not expecting that, Stark only had a few microseconds to adjust, and so the best course of action was to put lots of aura around the area where it was aimed.


    "-721!" he was hit, and although he protected himself, he still received a lot of damage, making him stumble to the ground.


    [HP: 479/1200 (+100 from ''Soulbearer''s Embrace'')]


    He immediately got up though, and with unwavering determination continued running toward the Mayor.


    Lana shot another arrow at the boss, this time infusing it with the ''Dragon Breath'' skill.


    "-1219!" she was able to deal very good damage to the boss, enough this time to actually make him acknowledge her presence, but too focused on Stark to attack her.


    "He is actually distracting him very well," Lana gently smiled, she was surprised that Stark was able to dodge all these attacks all the while closing the distance between him and the boss, that didn''t exin how he would deal damage though since he had no weapon.


    And so just like this, the fight against the boss of this rift began.

 Chapter 25: Malakar, The City Mayor [1]

    <h4>Chapter 25: Mkar, The City Mayor [1]</h4>


    "Aura Smash!" after getting up from the cane hit he received, Stark focused his aura around his hand, ready to attack the Mayor too.


    With a powerful shout, Stark unleashed his Aura Smash towards the Mayor, the giant crimson fist hurtling towards its target.


    But of course, Mkar saw the attacking, and so he used the hand that wasn''t carrying the cane to use another skill.


    "Abysall Shield!"


    A shimmering ck barrier materialized in front of Mkar just in time to intercept Stark''s Aura Smash. The impact created a shockwave that reverberated through the air, causing the ground to tremble beneath their feet.


    "-627!"


    The shield after being hit by such a powerful attack obviously cracked under the immense pressure and was destroyed, meaning the Mayor wouldn''t be able to use it for a while.


    "-1171!" Lana also used another arrow infused with another one of her skills, dealing more damage to Mkar.


    It seemed like they were doing it slowly, but little by little, the Mayor was receiving more and more damage.


    [Boss HP: 41355/45000]


    Lana was a very good support, dealing damage from afar while Stark held him off.


    ''Our chemistry is surprisingly good, although I would prefer if he could actually do something...'' Lana hadn''t noticed the appearance of the abysall shield right before Stark''s attack hit, meaning that she thought he dealt medium damage to it.


    Stark continued his relentless assault on Mkar, dodging the boss''s attacks with expert precision and slowly but surely approaching him.


    And when he was only a few meters away now...


    He dashed forward.


    "The Cane!" the boss still had his cane in his hands, and so he tried to hit Stark with it.


    Stark rolled on the ground, and once it came to him, instead of taking the hit likest time, he literally just used his fists to hit and break it.


    "...?" The Mayor was taken aback.


    "Got you," Stark smiled as he hadpletely closed the distance now, he was in the perfect range to attack the Mayor.


    And so he did: before Mkar could even use another one of his skills, Stark focused his aura and...


    "-3712!" even with his powerful defense, Stark''s aura and stats dealt massive damage.


    "WHAT?" Lana was astonished, even going as far as stopping to aim with her bow to make sure the number she was seeing was right, and it was.


    ''Calm down, Lana, focus on the battle,'' She shook her head and began arming her bow to shoot again.


    "-3819!" Stark was even able to punch the boss again as it hadn''t had the time to counter the first one.


    "Hat Trick!"


    The Mayor used another one of his skills, and suddenly, his hat was enveloped in a dark, ominous energy. The hat lifted off his head, spinning wildly in the air before shooting towards Stark like a spinning de of darkness.


    Stark barely had time to react, but he managed to deflect the hat with a swift movement of his arm.


    "-281!" it dealt him some damage, but not enough to actually be worried.


    The hat ricocheted off a nearby rock and soared back towards Mkar, who grabbed it and bowed like a gentleman afterward, a smirk could be seen on the visible half of his face.


    Stark backed away after that, sensing that the Mayor was going to keep attacking.


    And after a few back steps... he found himself right next to Lana, who was still aiming her bow and arrows at Mkar.


    "-718!" she hit him in the chest again, then armed another arrow right after.


    Mkar on the otherhand was spinning the cane in his hand, almost enjoying the show.


    ''I''m low on HP...'' Stark thought, he had received two hits already.


    But as he thought about that... a panel appeared in front of him.


    [Dealt massive damage to BOSS ENEMY, regaining 59HP!]


    The ''Soulbearer''s Embrace'' Ne perk activated, and he was able to gain some of it back.


    ''Oh shit, it''s small, but it might actually make the difference...'' Stark, regaining his confidence, smiled.


    "I''m gonna go back, keep doing whatever you''re doing, i''ll keep him away from you," Stark spoke to Lana, then began dashing away before she could reply.


    "I-" she sighed before smiling, "You better do your job."


    Stark sprinted back towards the Mayor, his determination burning brighter than ever. Mkar smirked as he saw Stark approaching, readying himself for another round ofbat.


    "Dark Pulse!" the Mayor summoned the veins into the ground again, and every single one of them went rushing toward him.


    This time, however, Stark had a new strategy in mind.


    "Clone Frenzy!" he used histest skill.


    [Description: Summons a clone of yourself that acts and fights just like you do, giving you a temporary additional character to control in battle, the clone does damage based on how much aura you give it, but its stats are extremely reduced, and its HP is set to 1, cooldown period of 30 minutes between each clone]


    And suddenly, his aura started seeping out of his body and headed right in front of him, forming a perfect replica of Stark, ready to assist in the battle against the Mayor.


    "..." The clone''s eyes werepletely white, some aura pouring out from them like a fire, and its expression was neutral.


    Its eyes were locked on Mkar with unwavering focus, awaiting Stark''s orders.


    "Let''s do this," Stark muttered to his clone as they both charged towards the oing Dark Pulse veins.


    The clone mimicked Stark''s movements (almost) perfectly, matching his speed and agility as they weaved through the rushing veins.


    "What the?" Lana was confused, why were there suddenly two Starks?


    She aimed her bow at the Mayor as he smiled at the uing enemies, then fired again.


    "-528!" somehow, it felt like she was doing less and less damage... was there a reason to that?


    Meanwhile, Stark and his clone dodged and countered, working in perfect synchrony to break through the dark onught.


    "The Cane!" feeling threatened for the first time, the Mayor summoned his cane in hand, then elongated it... towards the clone.


    ''Ah shit...'' Stark knew that his clone''s HP was set to 1, meaning it couldn''t even defend such an attack without dying.


    And so he positioned himself right in front of the cane and deflected it with a powerful m.


    "-72!" he received almost no damage thanks to that.


    And then...


    "Aura Smash!" now only 5 meters away from the Mayor, Stark decided it was time.


    And so, both his and his clone''s hands began glowing with a bright crimson aura.

 Chapter 26: Malakar, The City Mayor [2]

    <h4>Chapter 26: Mkar, The City Mayor [2]</h4>


    Controlling the clone revealed itself to be much more of a challenge than Stark believed it to be, even more so since it was his first time with no prior testing.


    Thankfully enough though, it seemed like the clone actively thought for itself and subconsciously did what Stark wanted it to do.


    Which was why it also used [Aura Smash] when he did, copying him.


    Both Stark and the clone''s right hands began glowing with that ominous aura, and after a few seconds...


    Stark punched the air in the Mayor''s direction, sending a crimson fist of aura toward him.


    "-3712!" a powerful blow to the boss, who was forced to back away because of the sheer damage.


    But that wasn''t all...


    Stark immediately ordered the clone to repeat what he just did, sending another Aura Smash attack towards the Mayor.


    The clone, without hesitation, mirrored Stark''s movements perfectly,unching a second crimson fist at Mkar.


    "-1727!" it was less powerful than the original, but still fairly good for a copy.


    And also...


    [Enemy stunned]


    ''OH MY GOD,'' Stark was bewildered, he didn''t believe that the clone could also cause status effects, but oh boy was he wrong.


    The boss fell to his knees, unable to get up or move any of his limbs, and also unable to use his magic since it required him to move his hands.


    ''What the?'' Lana thought as she saw both Starks suddenly run toward the boss without caring about anything, she wasn''t even aiming with her bow anymore, instead just enjoying the spectacle before her eyes.


    Stark ordered his clone to dash toward the boss as it was the perfect moment to cause a huge amount of damage, and so they both did just that.


    The clone lunged at the stunned Mayor with a fierce battle cry, its aura-infused fist ready to strike. Stark followed closely behind, channeling all his energy into his next move.


    As they closed in on Mkar, the clone unleashed a devastating blow, hitting the boss with unparalleled force.


    "-2319!"


    The clone backed away after this attack as Stark followed through with a kick to the jaw.


    "-4312!"


    Then Stark also moved to the right for the clone to punch Mkar in the face.


    "-2129!"


    Using the clone''s back as a jumping pad, Stark then grabbed both its shoulders to jump in the air and smash the Mayor''s head.


    "-6462!"


    They had justboed the boss, and dealt almost 15K points of damage in a matter of seconds.


    [Dealt damage to BOSS ENNEMY, regaining 158HP!]


    [HP: 343/1200]


    After receiving all these attacks, Mkar was finally able to move, and immediately used [Hat Trick], sending his hat toward the real Stark.


    Taken aback, Stark asked his clone to ce itself in front of him.


    And so it did.


    "-1728!"


    ''My god, the damage is insane, is something wrong with that boss...?'' Stark would have definitely died if he had been hit, even if he deflected it or used his aura around his body.


    The clone after being hit by this attack immediately vanished, and the crimson aura that formed it went back to Stark.


    ''You did well,'' he smiled, almost feeling like he lost someone close to him, but instantly going back to serious mode as he needed to focus.


    ...


    [Boss HP: 11917/45000]


    [The boss is ENRAGED, be careful]


    This panel appeared in front of them both.


    It seemed like that in this world, when bosses reach their halfway point (or when their HP gets reduced enough), they go into some sort of second phase/frenzy.


    And Mkar was no different.


    "THE MAYOR''S DOMAIN!" he got up, lifting both his arms sideways as his eyes began glowing, and even his ck sun mask was emanating a dark aura.


    "-462!" but even mid power-up, Lana still shot an arrow at the boss.


    ''...'' Stark turned to look at her, "Aren''t we supposed to let him finish his transformation before attacking?"


    "I think killing him while he is powering up is more efficient..." she replied, somehow during the fifteen minutes they had been fightning, she found it in herself to trust Stark.


    "Fair enough, but I still wanna see what he does!" Stark smiled and waited.


    As the Mayor continued his transformation, a dark energy began swirling around him, creating an ominous aura that sent shivers down Stark''s spine.


    He couldn''t help but feel a sense of foreboding as he witnessed the dark power radiating from the Mayor''s form.


    Lana, sensing the imminent danger, notched another arrow on her bowstring, ready to strike at any moment. The tension in the air was palpable as they all waited to see what Mkar''s new form would bring to the battlefield.


    And then...


    ~CRASH~


    From all the nearby buildings, the mansion, and even the ground, monsters began toe out.


    "Hey, that''s not a transformation, he looks the same," Starkined, although he couldn''t deny the aura around the boss was more sinister, and its figure felt more imposing.


    [Name: City Inhabitant lv8]


    [Name: Businessman lv12]


    [Name: Cursed Dog lv6]


    All the different monsters they had met in the dungeon appeared all of a sudden: all under the control of the Mayor as they followed his everymand.


    Lana shot a monster, killing it, then armed her bow again, sweat pouring from her forehead as she knew the sheer number of monsters was too much for her to take currently.


    "Survive, i''ll go kill that bastard," Stark looked at her with his determined eyes, and all she could do was nod.


    "Be quick... please..." she mumbled, low enough for him to not hear her.


    With a nod of understanding, Stark focused his attention on the Mayor and his horde of creatures.


    The monsters moved with unnatural coordination, their eyes filled with a malevolent gleam as they closed in on Stark.


    But Stark wasn''t interested in any of them, and so he began running toward the Mayor: his arms were still lifted up, probably because this is how he controlled the ''inhabitants of his city''.


    He avoided most of the monsters, and asionally killed some that were fast enough to catch up to him.


    And so, just like this, Stark closed the distance between him and the boss.


    And thus, the final showdown could begin.

 Chapter 27: Defeating the BOSS!

    <h4>Chapter 27: Defeating the BOSS!</h4>


    "TAKE THIS," Stark activated [Aura Smash] and sent another crimson fist toward the boss.


    But...


    "-4729!" a bunch of lv13 monsters ced themselves in front of him to protect the Mayor, taking the hit in its ce.


    "-627!" the Mayor received minimal damage since he was protected.


    Mkar smirked as he saw his monster take the blow for him, clearly enjoying the show of power and the feeling of being in total control.


    Stark was surrounded, and surprisingly enough, Mkar ordered his monsters to mainly target Stark, leaving Lana to deal with a low amount of monsters.


    Stark gritted his teeth in frustration at the interference, but didn''t let it deter him.


    He swiftly followed up with a series of lightning-fast punches, aiming to break through the defenses andnd a crippling blow on the Mayor himself.


    No monster that was in his way stood a chance.


    Mkar, however, remained calm amidst the chaos, his eyes locked onto Stark with an unsettling calmness.


    With a swift gesture of his hand, he activated "The Cane" skill, summoning the object in his right hand.


    His left one however was still in the air, controlling the monsters.


    "It seems like it''s losing control over them when one of its hands is down..." Stark noticed that some monsters weren''t even moving anymore, giving him the chance to close the distance further.


    Only five meters before reaching the boss now.


    The cane came rushing toward him, changing directions everytime it met a monster, and then...


    "-272!" Stark saw iting, but even while deflecting it, it still did good damage.


    "His defense and attack are higher than before," he thought, not even stopping after that hit, "But it doesn''t matter..."


    Stark wanted to end it, and so he used the back of a monster to jump in the air, high enough to avoid any iing attacks from the Mayor or his minions.


    He soared through the air, his aura zing around him like a fieryet, looking down on all the monsters below.


    With a fierce battle cry, Stark descended upon Mkar, his fist aimed straight at the Mayor''s face.


    "-3718!" as Stark''s fist connected with the Mayor''s cheek, a shockwave resonated through the battlefield.


    Using in the momentum in his favor, Stark used the Mkar''s body tounch him in the air again, avoiding both the [Hat Trick], [The Cane], and all the attacks from the monsters.


    "LET''S END THIS," the sea of monsters below awaiting for him to fall, Stark spinned in the air.


    "Aura Smash!" he activated the skill, ready tounch it down, this time confident he would hit all his targets as he had the boss in his vision.


    ''Holy shit...'' Lana was astonished, and she found it quite beautiful as Stark''s figure perfectly aligned with the giant ck Sun in the sky, creating an effect where Stark''s aura was perfectly visible around him.


    It only took Stark a singr second to aim his attack below, and so heunched the giant crimson fist at the monsters under him.


    ~FWISH... BOOM~


    The explosion was bigger than any other this attack had ever caused.


    "-6371!" the Mayor couldn''t use his minions to protect himself, and so being hit by the center of the attack meant he received the highest amount of damage.


    Plus...


    [Enemy stunned!]


    All the monsters in his surroundings cleared from the crimson fist, Stark began dropping down toward Mkar as he couldn''t move his body anymore.


    The boss used every ounce of strength it had left to lift its face just a bit, and thus he saw the sight of Stark diving toward him, his fist full of aura, ready to end the battle.


    ''It''s the end,'' It thought, acknowledging that it couldn''t do anything anymore.


    With a fierce determination in his eyes, Stark descended upon the stunned Mayor Mkar, his fist crackling with intense energy as he prepared to deliver the final blow.


    The air around them seemed to vibrate with anticipation as Stark''s attack loomed closer and closer to its target.


    Mkar, unable to move due to the stunning impact of Stark''s previous strike, could only watch in helpless horror as the inevitable approached.


    As Stark''s fist made contact with Mkar''s form, a blinding explosion of energy erupted from the point of impact, sending shockwaves rippling through the battlefield.


    "-5372!"


    [Boss HP: 0/45000]


    Mkar fell to the ground, his body lifeless as his HP had been reduced to 0.


    And so, unable to control his domain anymore, all the monsters inside the boss area fell, disappearing a few secondster.


    Lana, who was overwhelmed by the monsters, almost let a cry of joy when she noticed that they were all gone, and so without wasting time she dashed toward Stark.


    "YOU DID IT!" she jumped to hug him.


    "..." Stark, a neutral expression on his face, didn''t reciprocate the hug.


    "O-Oh," realizing how embarassing what she did was, she let go of him, "G-good job!"


    "Yes," Stark nodded, unaffected by her presence, after all he had done most of the job.


    [You have in ''Mkar, City Mayor lv15 (BOSS)'', gained 75000EXP]


    And adding the experience gained from the many monsters he had defeated while rushing to the boss...


    Stark was enveloped by the golden glow again.


    [Your level has increased to level 11, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 2617/100000]


    Lana was also enveloped with the glow, meaning she had leveled up as well, and even though she hadn''t done much, she was still a participant.


    [Dealt killing blow to BOSS ENNEMY, regaining 507HP!]


    [HP: 578/1450]


    But of course, along these few panels came a few other ones.


    [You have beaten the boss while only being two (LOW HELP achievement), granting you a better equipment piece]


    [You have defeated the boss of this rift, the ck sun has acknowledged your strength and will not be trying to infect you anymore]


    [Your efforts have paid, you can now leave this rift whenever you want]


    Above the Mayor''s lifeless body, something began shining: an item had appeared.


    Immediately, Stark began walking toward it.


    "I''m taking it by the way, I did everything," A neutral expression on his face, he informed Lana, who was also reading the panels.


    "I-... Okay," she had nothing to say, he had done most of the work after all.


    And just like that, Stark was able to defeat the boss.


    ''I wish she hadn''t followed me though... I would have probably gotten an amazing item if I beat it solo...'' he groaned while crouching to take the item.

 Chapter 28: New Items and Information

    <h4>Chapter 28: New Items and Information</h4>


    When Stark approached the shiny light on top of the Mayor''s body (Lana following closely behind him to see what he would get), he noticed that there wasn''t only one item... but TWO!


    The first one was a blue bow that emanated some sort of chilly magic aura, it seemed to be of high quality.


    The second item, however, caught Stark''s attention even more. It was a ring with a glowing crystal in the center, radiating a soft, soothing light.


    He immediately decided to use [Perception] to analyze both these items.


    ...


    [Item:] The Ice Bow


    [Type:] Bow


    [ss:] Archer


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Required Level:] 20


    [Quality:] Good


    [Attributes:] +30 speed, +20 Stamina


    [Special Perks:] While using this bow, arrows have a 5% chance to freeze enemies


    ...


    [Item:] Crystalheart Band


    [Type:] Ring


    [ss:] Domination


    [Tier:] Epic


    [Required Level:] 15


    [Quality:] Excellent


    [Attributes:] +50 Health, +40 Mind, +10 to all other stats


    [Special Perks:] Grants the wearer a shield that absorbs 10% of iing damage.


    ...


    ''Holy shit, this is OP!'' Starkughed, he had gotten an incredible item again, and he would also be able to sell the bow at a fair price, making his journey totally worth it.


    "Wait, there are two items, one is a bow, and i''m an archer, so can I get it?" The bow in front of her was better than the one she was using currently, and she also had the required level.


    Weapons with perks weren''t that rare, but those that had one were much more expensive than the ones that didn''t.


    "..." Stark stared at her for a few seconds, then back at the bow, "Nah, it''s mine."


    He activated [Spatial Inventory] and put the bow and ring inside.


    Lana didn''t even question the weird void that opened and that was somehow able to store both the items, she was just shocked Stark wouldn''t even give her that while he wasn''t even an archer.


    "If you want the bow," Stark maniacally smiled at her, "You''ll have to pay up," he rubbed three of his fingers together, mimicking the sign of money.


    "I-" Lana didn''t know what to reply, on one hand she knew that Stark was the sole reason she survived the boss fight, whether it was from stopping him from approaching her, or forcing most of the monsters to go toward him, it was undeniable that he had helped her.


    And yet... she couldn''t believe he was so petty over such a small matter.


    "You can take them," she made up her mind, but she would make sure to buy a bow way better than the one he had acquired.


    "Good girl!" Stark patted her shoulders, then began walking toward the exit.


    "...?" she had never been treated this way before, it was always respect and admiration that surrounded her, as well as undeniable love from all those around her.


    And yet... when she saw Stark so nonchntly call her a ''good girl'' without even being embarassed, it was like something snapped inside of her.


    Her face was bright red, and she tried her hardest to hide it, "What the hell is happening... calm down me... you can''t be aroused by this...!"


    Leaving Lana behind to fight with her inner conflicts, Stark decided it was time for him to leave the dungeon, he had nothing else to do in there, and wanted to sell his items as well.


    But as he began taking steps toward the exit...


    A panel appeared in front of him.


    [Congrattions forpleting your first dungeon, Host! As a reward, you have been granted new information!]


    ''...?''


    Stark stopped for a few seconds to read, ''What kind of information do I need at this point.''


    [You can read the information now or leave it forter (not rmended)]


    Curiosity getting the better of him, Stark decided to read the new information he had received as a reward forpleting his first dungeon. As he focused on the panel in front of him, the words started forming a message:


    [New Information Unlocked: Domination ss]


    ''Hm...'' he guessed that it was actually interesting, he had absolutely no information about this one after all.


    [The domination ss is possibly the most powerful ss in this world, but it is also the hardest!]


    [ssifiers who own this ss are bound by many rules:


    -Their life is immediately set to HELL mode, meaning that enemies are a lot stronger while fighting them.


    -The amount of experience needed to level up is also increased by a ton, but in exchange, every level up grants a lot more power than any other ss.


    -The monsters are stronger, but they also grant more EXP!]


    ''Huh... I guess the amount of experience needed between each of my levels is indeed much more than anyone else...''


    Thinking that was all, Stark continued walking toward the exit of the boss area: the mansion, as a portal had appeared there.


    [WAIT.]


    A crimson panel that exuded a menacing aura appeared again before.


    [5 days left until the ''First Domination Trial'', GOOD LUCK]


    ''The fuck? It stopped me again for that?'' this was all that appeared in front of him, and once that panel disappeared, nothing else came, ''The trial is happening in five days...?''


    Subconsciously, Stark remembered that such a thing was written on his status window, and so he decided to open it.


    ...


    [Level:] 11


    [Health:] 578/1450


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [ss:] Domination


    [Info about ss:] The first Domination Trial is in 5 days, good luck.


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    [Attributes:] Strength 103; Speed 92; Mind/Soul 73; Stamina 73; Defense 78


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv5; Focus lv3; Aura Smash lv4, Clone Frenzy lv2


    ...


    ''What the hell is the domination trial...'' Somehow, he had a really bad feeling about it, one that told him he would meet his end there.


    The fact it was so soon meant he wouldn''t be able to look for an academy/organization/guild to go to after showing his achievements to the world.


    The first thing he would need to do was to... participate in that thing.


    Stark was a bit overwhelmed by the new information about the Domination ss, but he didn''t have much time to think about it.


    He had to focus on selling his items and on the impending "Domination Trial" in five days.


    He reached the portal that was beyond the mansion''s door, and after giving onest look to the embarassed Lana, he passed through it.


    ''Fuck that shit, i''ll find a way...'' he thought.

 Chapter 29: Second Duel?

    <h4>Chapter 29: Second Duel?</h4>


    With new information about the Domination ss in mind, Stark appeared in the area where he had first entered the [City Ruins] from, in Leforia.


    [Congrattions onpleting the rift, Stark Heartsouls]


    This panel appeared as soon as he left, of course invisible to everyone but him.


    There were still a lot of people still outside the [City Ruins], mostly just engaging in pointless conversations and forming teams, while some others just procrastinated or waited for the firstyers to be less crowded.


    Some people noticed himing out of the rift, but of course they just thought he was another one of those that took a break as many did.


    And right after that...


    [THIS RIFT HAS BEEN COMPLETED BY REDACTED]


    This giant red text appeared above the portal to the dungeon, taking everyone aback as they hadn''t expected it.


    "WHAT?"


    "SO SOON, BUT I DIDN''T EVEN ENTER?"


    Panic spread through the crowd, and after a few seconds...


    ~BOOM~


    Five beams of lights appeared at the entrance area, it was the Golden Dragons military group.


    "Is there some kind of issue with the rift...?" their leader, Oliver, wondered, unable to understand how could it bepleted so fast.


    They had expected at least three days, giving the time for all the students to gain experience and sort out the ones unfit to fight the enemies.


    Yuli, a white-haired girl beside him, analyzed the portal for a bit, using some sort of skill to check out whatever was happening, "No... the boss has truly been defeated by someone..."


    "Ohoh~" Oliver chuckled, we have a high potential individual/team in our hands, don''t we, "Welp, the rules are the rules, order everyone to be back here in less than 30 minutes."


    It had only been half a day since the start of the ''ss Showcase'', and yet it had already ended.


    "It is unfortunate," Alex, a magus with a blue staff in his hands, sighed, "We''ll find some way to make the students gain more experience, probably just by allowing them to go back inside the rift, but for now we need everyone to leave for a check-up..."


    ''...'' Meanwhile, Stark stopped in the distance beside some other ssifiers who hadn''t even gone inside, no one would ever suspect that he was the one who did it, except if Lana spilled the beans, and even if she did, he honestly had no issues showing his powers.


    Some of the Golden Dragons went inside to ry the message about the immediate call back of everyone inside.


    All of them had also received the message of defeat of the boss, and it was an understatement to say that they were shocked.


    And after thirty minutes... all of those still alive after the few hours inside the rift had already gone out, some annoyed they weren''t able to keep going, others relieved as the world inside was terrifying.


    Those that didn''te out had either been killed by monsters, an unfortunate end, but proof that they weren''t fit for this life, while the remainder had been cursed by the ck sun, forcing them to transform into these... beasts.


    The Golden Dragons after making sure everything was set used a [Voice Enhance] spell to make sure everyone heard them.


    "The busses that will bring you back to Ferburg will being in less than an hour, until then we will be holding an inspection on everyone!"


    Dozens of men in ck suit were postponed all around the perimeter of the dungeon, and most people hadn''t even noticed their presences until they were actually pointed at by Oliver.


    "Please do not do anything reckless, these men are trained to be violent in case of any sign of resistance."


    Their suits were shining, proof that they were actually enhanced to increase their defense, and the atmosphere around them made it obvious they would be at least level 50 or above.


    ''All that for low-levels students...?'' Stark thought, and his mind immediately went to the scenario of them forcibly taking items from people.


    Luckily enough, he had [Spatial Inventory], meaning no one beside him could ever find these items as long as he didn''t take them out.


    As a giant queue was beginning to form around all the different ''inspectors'', Stark like many who were uncertain just stood in the middle of ruins, waiting for time to pass.


    And suddenly... after ten minutes of that.


    "YOU!" Stark heard a voice from behind, and when he turned to look, he saw an angry Daniel running toward him alongside his goons, "I FOUND YOU!"


    ''Does this guy want to get beat up again...?''With determination in his eyes, Stark braced himself for the confrontation with Daniel and his minions.


    Hearing Daniel''s shout, most people in the crowd began looking at him, and even those from afar tried hard to see what themotion was about.


    "I didn''t find you in the dungeon, and it was because you didn''t even enter it, you fucking pussy," heughed, his steel sword in hand.


    In response, Stark just stared at him, confused.


    "Uh... okay."


    "You got lucky the first time we fought, but this time... it''s over, i''m really gonna kill you!" his sword began glowing with a silver aura.


    "Holy shit, what''s happening?" someone spoke.


    "Are they fighting?" another replied.


    Even the Golden Dragons watched from afar.


    "Should we stop them," Alex wondered, he frankly enjoyed this type of drama, but not among young folks that weren''t even adults yet.


    "No," Oliver smiled, a bright aura shining in his eyes, "I think we should let them do whatever they want, if someone dies, then it means they weren''t fit to be a ssifier."


    Back to Stark, he just stood there, a neutral expression on his face, looking down.


    To most people, it just meant that he knew he was cornered with no way out, and that he was just begging for mercy.


    But no, it was theplete opposite: he was stopping himself fromughing.


    After a few seconds, the ck-haired boy looked up, a wide grin on his face, "So let me guess, you wanna fight again?"


    His confidence was enough to even make Daniel ufortable, a drop of sweat pouring from his forehead.


    "Yes asshole, i''m going to kill you-" the tanned boy doubled down though, ready to sh Stark with his sword.


    "Domination!" Stark didn''t waste time and activated his main skill, aura enveloping his hands and feet.


    He was ready to avoid Daniel''s attack and absolutely decimate him in front of everyone.

 Chapter 30: Back to Fellarburg

    <h4>Chapter 30: Back to Ferburg</h4>


    His fists full of aura, Stark positioned himself for the battle against Daniel, and this time there would be no deathless duel or anything of the sort, it was all or nothing.


    "I am going to kill you..." Daniel was starting to doubt his judgment now, the atmosphere around Stark was different than it was ten seconds ago for some reason.


    But he couldn''t let it show that he was hesitating, he was part of the Pridel family, one of the biggest ones in Ferburg, if not the entire world.


    Luckily for him though, someone came to stop whatever was happening: Lana Moonless.


    "Stop whatever you''re doing," she spoke with an emotionless voice, cing herself between the two.


    "Oh my god, that''s Lana!"


    "THE Lana? From the Moonless family, the ones that own lots of businesses, guilds, and are all extremely powerful...?"


    "I heard her father is called the ''Archer King''..."


    Frankly, Lana would never stoop so low as to stop ongoing battles between people as she all considered that extremely childish, but for some reason... she felt like she needed to stop this one, and it''s totally not because Stark is there, obviously!


    "Lana, what are you doing?" Daniel showed his soft spot for the blonde-haired archer, unable to defy anything she said, both because of his obsession for her and because her family was stronger.


    Stark, on the otherhand just looked at her with a neutral expression, it was as if his eyes were staring at her soul.


    "That ck-haired guy is done for... of course Lana is gonna side with Daniel!"


    "It''s business matter, that guy is cornered."


    "I guess the weak really should just stay back huh..."


    Lana really wanted to say something to Stark at that moment, not to criticize him or anything, just to make sure everything was alright, but seeing his expression and aura while looking at her, she switched her gaze and looked at Daniel.


    "Aren''t you tired of causing problems," she spoke to him, giving him a harsh look,pletely different from her expression with Stark, "Seriously... I HATE men like you..." she groaned and began walking toward Stark.


    "W-what the?" Daniel was astonished, he had not expected to be called out by Lana in such a way.


    And honestly, no one did, they all expected her tosh out at Stark for being a nuisance.


    ''Well, she''s going toward him anyway, so he is also getting it!'' Daniel smirked again, ready to see Lana unleash another barrage of insults at him.


    But... when she approached Stark, none of this happened.


    She just grabbed his arm and took him away, toward one of the men in ck.


    They disappeared into the crowd before anyone could do anything, and everyone present to see the scene was left speechless, Daniel the first.


    He had known Lana since she was little, falling in love with her the first time he saw her as a little girl, and their families were on good terms, so to him, everything was going well.


    When they reached middle school, he relentlesly persued her, but she would always shrug him off, not even interested in him a single bit.


    And it wasn''t like she was making a bad choice: Daniel is a hypocrite, vowing his love to her but still sleeping around.


    Just like that, the inspection kept going.


    ***


    When it was Lana''s turn to be inspected, the guards let her pass without checking anything: it was obvious, she was famous and her father was probably the boss of these guys, no wonder they didn''t check her.


    Stark on the otherhand was right behind the blonde archer, and of course, he was stopped like everybody else.


    "Please show us the items you acquired, and inform us about what you did in the rift."


    "No items," he lied, "And also, I am the one that beat-" he tried to speak about his achievements to the guard, after all Stark was someone who loved to boast.


    But Lana came to interrupt them, "He is with me, no need to inspect him either."


    "But miss, we were tasked to-" the guard was put in a tough spot, he had been given strict instructions to not let anyone that isn''t Lana or from a big faction/family pass without a search


    "This guy is my friend, is it so hard to understand or do you want me to tell my father about it?" she hated abusing her powers, but this time was a special asion as she didn''t want Stark to tell them about his fight with the boss.


    "V-Very well!" the guard let Stark pass, "Next in line!"


    And so just like that, Stark was allowed out.


    The busses had already arrived by now, and people were leaving little by little.


    "Welp, thank you I guess," Stark smiled before heading toward a half-full bus that was ready to take off in less than five minutes.


    It was currently around midnight, and so all he wanted to do was take advantage of this ride to sleep.


    He sat on a bus chair (with no one beside him), and yawned, he had been the one that probably had done the most things inside the rift, so of course he was tired.


    ''I just want to sleep...'' he closed his eyes, and after a few seconds, he sensed a presence beside him, "...?"


    He looked to his right, just to see Lana, "Do you have a crush on me or something? Why are you following me?" he asked.


    "HUH? ME? There are just no other chairs beside this one I feelfortable sitting on!"


    Stark took a few seconds to notice many empty chairs in the bus, but just decided it wasn''t worth it, and went back to closing his eyes.


    Soon enough, he fell asleep.


    ***


    (Many hourster)


    The sun was starting to rise, casting its warm rays through the windows of the bus. Stark slowly stirred, feeling the ufortable stiffness in his neck and shoulders. He opened his eyes and sat up, blinking away the gritty remnants of sleep from his eyes.


    They had finally arrived back at the Lotus Academy, and soon enough most of the people left the bus, greeted by their parents or other figures rted to them.


    For this special asion, even Lana''s father, the ''Archer King'' went to check on his daughter, hugging her as soon as she left the bus, Stark right behind her.


    "My little princess, did you do well?" he smiled, a proof that he really cared about his daughter.


    "Of course I did, dad, I beat the boss!"


    "THAT''S MY GIRL," he was extremely tall with blond hair and a beard, and lifted her up while spinning.


    Stark wasn''t interested in such a scene, and so he decided to go back to his hotel room as nobody hade to check on him, he had a rough day ahead of him as he wanted to sell his items, and maybe, just maybe, try to find anything rted to that Domination Trial.


    But right as he was about to leave...


    "Wait, you," Lana''s father shouted, and gestured for him to approach him, for some reason, he had the feeling that Stark was an important person.

 Chapter 31: The Classifiers Trading Association

    <h4>Chapter 31: The ssifiers Trading Association</h4>


    "Wait, you," Lucas, Lana''s father, called out, he was able to spot Stark''s aura thanks to his formidable archer eyes, and of course that''s how he was able to spot people with high potential.


    His daughter was the same, which was how she knew if someone only wanted to speak to her because they had ulterior motives, and also able to gouge their strength that way.


    Stark was one of the few people that were actually genuine and strong, so he decided to call out to him.


    "Ohe on," Stark rolled his eyes, he didn''t want to get involved in such a matter, and so he did the thing he thought was best in this situation: run away.


    Anybody else that was called by the Archer King would of jumped in joy since it was an opportunity to get closer to the big boss and his daughter, yet Stark just wanted to rest and sell his items.


    "Hahahahahahah~" Lucasughed, he of course had the speed to catch up to Stark instantly, but didn''t bother to do as it was more interesting this way, "He seems to be important to you, Lana!"


    "H-Huh?" she didn''t understand how her father could see that, and she visibly blushed at his remark, "W-well... just a friend..."


    "A friend is more than enough for me, finally someone that can understand you, I feel like he is gonna achieve great things!" and so the two of them climbed inside a luxurious car that had been waiting for them and took off.


    ***


    Stark went to his hotel room, which was only around ten minutes away from his middle school, Lotus Academy.


    He arrived in his room, and it was the same as ever, thankfully they hadn''t given it to another person as he hadn''te back for an entire day because of the ''ss Showcase''.


    He took his wallet with him, it contained his credit card, debit card and student card, which would probably make things easier for him.


    His phone was also on a table beside his bed, and out of frustration, he grabbed it and decided a few pass-codes.


    [1234... INCORRECT]


    [2024... INCORRECT]


    [0000... INCORRECT]


    ''...'' he thought for a few seconds, and an idea came to mind as he took his student card in hand, ''Even in my previous world, my phone code was the same...''


    Stark''s birthday was the 21st of May, and so that meant...


    [2105...]


    And surprisingly, it actually did work.


    ''Holy shit, the FBI needs to hire me!'' he was proud of himself.


    But not wanting to waste time, he took his wallet and phone with him and left the hotel room.


    He had done his research beforehand, and so instead of taking his time to rest or go back to the library to acquire information, he hailed for a taxi and drove to the biggest ssifier trading district in all of Ferburg.


    It took him only 20 minutes since he was close to the center of the city he was in.


    "Thank you for the ride," he thanked his driver and exited the car, now standing in the bustling trading district of Ferburg.


    It was around 7am in the morning, yet hundreds of people wereing and going from different buildings and talking to one another.


    The buildings around him had massive neon signs hanging above them, advertising various items and services that could be bought and sold at their respective establishments.


    Stark walked past the familiar sounds of negotiations and deals being made, his heart pounding with anticipation.


    Soon, he arrived in front of the biggest building of them all, and the one that attracted the most people.


    "ssifiers Trading Association," he mumbled, and guessed that it was probably the right ce to be at.


    He entered the building, leaving the bustling streets behind him, he frankly didn''t enjoy the noise too much as he would much rather stay in silence, something he had inherited from his past and calm life.


    Inside, he found himself in a massive lobby with a high ceiling and bustling with other ssifiers who were here for the same purpose as Stark.


    All over the ce, holographic screens could be seen advertising items, equipments and weapons that could be useful to people.


    Feeling a bit lost because of the sheer amount of people, Stark stopped for a few seconds to observe his surroundings.


    Thankfully enough though, a woman in a stylish suit approached him with a friendly smile, "Wee to the ssifiers Trading Association, sir, how may I help you today?"


    Her attitude, posture and entire posture had probably been rehearsed hundreds of time to make her seem as friendly and professional as possible, and even Stark couldn''t deny that it was working.


    "I''m looking to sell some items i''ve acquired inside a dungeon recently," Stark exined, smiling back.


    "Oh~ very well, please follow me to one of our special rooms and I will call a professional appraiser to evaluate the prices."


    The receptionist didn''t seem very interested in him based on her expression, after all, the ''ssifiers Trading Association'' was mainly interested in buying items and weapons that were from higher ssed rifts, and Stark''s appearance screamed "hey I just started my life as a ssifier".


    ''Low level items'' were also appreciated since they could be bought for cheaper and were a good way to start your journey, even more so when they had perks, but it was just that, they were just temporary until you could acquire better loot as your level got higher.


    The woman took Stark to a reception room, and inside of it, sitting on a couch, was a middle-aged man with sses and a soon-to-be balding head.


    He was enjoying a cup of coffee while using his phone, probably just waiting for his next customer.


    And so as soon he saw Stark, he switched his attitude and went into ''business'' mode.


    Stark sat in front of the man, neither of them exchanging a greeting as they knew they were here for one thing: trading.


    ''Spatial Inventory,'' Stark with a nk expression opened the void that stored his items, which appeared beside him and surprised the man.


    Then he thought about the items he acquired in the rift, and suddenly, he was able to grab them.


    He pulled out the [Low-Level Magic Staff] and the [Ice Bow], cing them in front of the table.


    "What a weird... skill?" the man stared, confused.


    "Don''t worry about it, just check these items please," Stark smiled, staring at the man with his deep aura-filled eyes.


    The man nodded and began to examine the items.


    After a minute or two, he put the staff down, then spoke, "the staff seems of bad quality and only ofmon rarity, we are ready to offer 53,000 rher coins for it."


    Rher coins are the currency of this world, and yes, that stupid god of fate actually named the money after himself.


    "Hm..." Stark thought, but was satisfied enough with the first price even though it was extremely low, possibly because it was one of the lowest rated piece of equipment there was, "I ept."


    "Very well," the man grabbed the staff and put it beside him, then immediately began inspecting the bow, which interested him much more.

 Chapter 32: Unexpected Conflict

    <h4>Chapter 32: Unexpected Conflict</h4>


    The appraiser grabbed the ice bow from the table, and just like with the staff, he grabbed a magnifying ss enhanced with the [Appraise] spell and began inspecting every centimeter of it.


    It took him much more than with the staff, instead of a minute, he spent around five just inspecting and mumbling, "Hm~"; "Interesting~"; "Ohoh~".


    After that, the appraiser put the bow on the table and smiled at Stark, "Our association is willing to exchange this bow for around 150,000 rher coins."


    At first, Stark was ecstatic as he was gonna be able to pay off many things he needed in his journey, and maybe rent an actual appartment instead of that expensive hotel he was in.


    Such an amount would guarantee some people to livefortably for many months, yet for a ssifier, this was a sum that would disappear as soon as he wanted to buy better equipment, skill scrolls or items.


    Yet, somehow, Stark felt a hunch, and decided to activate his [Perception] skill to check out the bow.


    ...


    [Item:] Ice Bow


    [Type:] Bow


    [ss:] Archer


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Required Level:] 20


    [Quality:] Good


    [Attributes:] +30 speed, +20 Stamina


    [Special Perks:] While using this bow, arrows have a 5% chance to freeze enemies


    [Price:] 180,000


    ...


    A new category had appeared all of a sudden, one that wasn''t avable for even the staff, maybe it was because his skill felt that it was unfair and showed him the actual fair price.


    "Are you trying to scam me?" Stark looked at the man with a deep menacing stare, grabbing the bow from the table, "This bow should be worth at least 180,000 rher coins."


    "Yes but..." the man suddenly exined to Stark that even though what he was saying was right, the association still need a marge to profit from the items that were bought.


    ''...'' Stark looked at him for a few seconds as he exined, "I want 165,000 rher coins."


    "Very well," the appraiser gave up and agreed to the amount before grabbing the bow and putting it beside him, "You would be a great businessman sir, are you maybe interesting in joining us-"


    "I''d rather not," Stark immediately answered.


    "Very well, then please register your name in the association''s data base and we will proceed with the payment in the shortest of times," the man gave Stark a tablet, and so he did as he was told.


    Soon after, Stark was allowed to leave the reception room and found himself yet again in the lobby of the ''ssifiers Trading Association'', there were still hundreds of people walking around, and several hallways leading to different sections of the giant building.


    [Market Section]


    A sign next to it exined: "Where people can buy/sell/trade items with the help of a middle-man from the association, it can range from armor, weapons, items and equipment."


    [Gambling Section]


    ''Gambling? Seriously?'' Stark had experience in his past life, and he sure as hell wasn''t taking that chance in here either.


    [Party Formation Section]


    ''Self exnatory I guess...''


    After scouring the area for another 30 minutes, Stark decided it was time to leave, plus a notification on his phone alerted him to a deposit of 218,000 rher coins into his ount, bringing a sense of satisfaction to him.


    Exiting the bustling ''ssifiers Trading Association'', he emerged onto the crowded streets, now even more packed due to the "busy hour" rush.


    ''ssifier'' was probably the most dangerous job in this world as you could probably start your day thinking you would gather material inside a dungeon, and nevere out of it, so that''s why many just enjoyed their life of luxury.


    Stark made his way into a nearby clothing shop. Despite his entric taste in fashion, he purchased four sets of decent shirts and pants to rece his now dirtied middle-school uniform, he obviously put them inside the [Spatial Inventory].


    ''I guess that''s it for today,'' he was satisfied, and while navigating the streets of the giant trading district, which went on for kilometers upon kilometers, Stark decided to open his phone and look out for information.


    [Domination Trial] was what he typed in the search bar, but even after many minutes of searching, absolutely no information came out, it was either it was censored, or that no one had ever talked about it online.


    ''...'' this put Stark in a bad situation, after all he had five days before the first domination trial, and having no information with such a thing was suicide.


    He didn''t know how hard it would be, but even his status panel had told him that he would ''suffer''.


    "Ah~ this is gonna be difficult-" not seeing where he was walking because of his focus in his search, Stark bumped into someone, managing to bnce himself not to fall.


    He instinctively looked up, and once he did, he saw a giant man, at least 195cm tall, muscles all over his arms, legs and body, as well as red hair and a beard; there were two women gripping his arms, their breasts pushed against him.


    "Can you not see where you are going, kid?" the man spoke, looking down on Stark.


    "Oh, i''m sorry I wasn''t watching-" Stark was the type to not seek unwanted problems, so he just apologized and began moving on.


    But of course, annoying people will always be annoying.


    "You think you can get away after that?" the man replied, driven by the thought of his pride being hurt and to impress the women in his arms.


    "Yes, I think I can," Stark looked back, he had already apologized, and if someone wanted to cause problems, he sure as hell was gonna retort.


    At this point, many people in the streets stopped to look at whatever was happening: it wasn''t that rare for two ssifiers to disagree and duel, most of the times it would break into a fight that would be recorded and sent all over the inte, the winner of course being praised.


    "Let''s settle this the ''adult'' way, kid," the tall manughed, and the two girls that were holding his arms stepped back, a circle had now formed around them, many other ssifiers holding their phones, filming the scene.


    ''What the fuck is happening?'' Stark, a neutral expression on his face, wondered, he was just walking minding his own business, yet somehow it had turned out like this in less than a minute.


    And suddenly... a crimson panel appeared in front of Stark, one he had already seen before.


    [Duel Request: Aaron]


    [Type: Deathless]


    [Y/N]


    ''...'' Stark smirked, ''I''m going to destroy that guy.''

 Chapter 33: Call from Lana

    <h4>Chapter 33: Call from Lana</h4>


    [Duel Request: Aaron]


    [Type: Deathless]


    [Y/N]


    Stark smirked as he saw such a panel in front of him, it reminded him of his fight against Daniel on his second day in this world.


    But... Stark didn''t want to waste his time on such a matter.


    Without even epting the duel request, he activated [Domination], allowing his crimson aura to surround his body, and dashed toward the man.


    Of course, he had already used [Perception] to analyze his opponent and make sure he could take him.


    ...


    [Name: Aaron Winston]


    [Level: 29]


    [ss: Warrior]


    [HP: 8530]


    [Strength: 271]


    [Speed: 102]


    [Stamina: 321]


    [Defense: 193]


    [Skills: Endure; Strike; Charge; Defensive Stance; Sword Mastery...]


    ...


    Aaron wasn''t able to draw his sword that Stark closed the distance between them, and with his intense speed and power, he managed to smash the man''s chin, sending him flying.


    "-5728!" this number appeared next to the man as he was hit.


    Launched a few feet in the air, the man didn''t know what just happened to him, and soon after the pain came rushing.


    ~CRASH~


    He hit the ground hard, resulting in him falling unconscious without the battle even starting for real.


    "If you set up a duel and put the type as ''deathless'', then you are just a pussy," Stark spoke, taking the man''s sword as his reward and putting it inside his inventory void, and no, this isn''t stealing since no one stopped him.


    This was probably the quickest duel these people had ever seen since it didn''t even start that it ended, but it was enough to cause amotion as many cheered for Stark and his nonchnt attitude.


    "NICE JOB, KID!"


    "Pretty damn nice!"


    They cheered for him, but all Stark wanted was to leave, and so they allowed him that by forming a straight path toward the exit of the trading district.


    ''I''m sure it''s because of the chosen one talent and its perk that this keeps happening...'' he groaned.


    As Stark exited the trading district, he couldn''t help but shake his head at the whole incident. He had learned that people would always look for reasons to stir up trouble, and sometimes, it was hard to avoid such situations.


    He hailed for a taxi and after a short ride, arrived in front of his hotel, where his room was waiting for him.


    Not even bothering to change clothes, he jumped on his bed, plunging his head into his pillow even though it was only around 8am.


    And soon... he fell asleep.


    ***


    By a string of fate, though, Stark found himself in the same space he had first entered when he slept beside the bonfire inside the [City Ruins].


    In his sleep, he saw the infinite void, stretching on and on, and of course, just likest time, the doppelganger of himself could be seen in the distance, standing idle and smiling.


    "Maybe it can help..." he mumbled, approaching it slowly, though he found it hard.


    Panels appeared in front of him each time he got closer to the other him.


    [The Domination Trial starts in 5 days, it is something every person with the ''domination'' ss must go through once they reach the adequate level.]


    ''...''


    [Though these trials are extremely hard, they aren''t impossible: there is always a way to survive, but it depends on the person inside the trial.]


    ''...''


    [These trials are ssified in five categories: Hell, Nightmare, Doom, Godless, Death.]


    [These are based on luck, but are still possible, just much harder.]


    ''Keep pushing,'' he was getting closer and closer to the other Stark, who was still smiling, almost inviting him toe.


    [Those thatplete the domination trials are granted incredible rewards, so be one of them, Stark Heartsouls.]


    He was now right infront of his other self, but as he extanded his arm to touch it, the figure vanished, and the world began to shake again.


    [Good luck, more information will be giventer.]


    And then, Stark woke up.


    ***


    ~Beep, Beep, Beep~


    ''Hm...?'' Stark opened his eyes, hearing the sound of his phone ringing beside him even though he had set no rm.


    He didn''t know how much time had passed, but it was still morning and the sun was in the sky, so it couldn''t have been more than a few hours, right?


    Taking a few seconds to adjust to his surroundings, he grabbed his phone to see who was calling him on this number.


    [Unknown number]


    ''...''


    He didn''t know who it was, maybe someone close to Stark, although he doubted that since no one had called him before and that he wasn''t liked in general.


    Curiosity got the better of him, and he pressed the green button to answer the call.


    "Hello?" he heard an extremely familiar voice on the other side.


    "..." Stark blinked a few times, trying to make sense of it, "Lana...? Is that you?"


    "O-Oh, you found me out! What have you been doing these past two days, i''ve been calling you non-stop yet you weren''t answering at all!"


    "The past two days? What are you talking about-" Stark didn''t know what she was talking about, after all there was no way that...?


    He looked to his right, and he saw a panel that confirmed what she said:


    [The first Domination Trial is in 3 days, good luck.]


    ''Ah shit...''


    He had slept for two entire days, maybe it was because of that weird dream of his, or because he used so much aura inside the rift that he was finally able to rest from all the action.


    In the end, it didn''t matter.


    "How do you even have my phone number? I don''t remember giving it to you," Stark raised an eyebrow, confused as to how the archer got his contact.


    "Huh... surprise...?" on the other end of the call, Lana was lying on her stomach on her bed, swinging her legs back and forth while in her luxurious condo in the capital of Ferburg, "Anyway, it doesn''t matter, I have called you for a job opportunity!"


    "Not interested," he tried to hang up.


    "WAIT! It involves getting stronger, and i''m sure you won''t be going back to the [City Ruins], so it''s a good way to increase your level!"


    "..." Stark wasn''t interested at all, after all he had the domination trial to expect in three days, but... "Okay, just exin."


    "It''s a level 35-50 Hell-Level rift that just appeared, many ssifiers will be there to explore it-"


    "NOW WE''RE TALKING!" Stark nodded.


    "Well, I won''t talk more on the phone, let''s set up a meeting in the capital, and we''ll meet there in one week as I have things to do in the meantimes"


    "..." Stark thought about how long it would take for him to beat the Domination Trial, but not knowing the answer, he still responded positively to her request, "Okay, i''ll try to be there, but not guaranteed."


    And just like that, both of them hang up the call.

 Chapter 34: The Start of the Trial

    <h4>Chapter 34: The Start of the Trial</h4>


    Stark got up from his bed, feeling refreshed and slightly more awake.


    Checking the date on his phone and based on the fact the Domination Trial was now in 3 days, Stark guessed that he had truly slept for two entire days, something no normal person should be doing.


    After taking a shower and changing his clothes into ones he had bought two days ago, he felt extremely hungry, and went outside to eat.


    And so, just like that, Stark passed the time.


    ...


    [The first Domination Trial is in 2 days, good luck.]


    ...


    [The first Domination Trial is in 1 days, good luck.]


    ...


    [The first Domination Trial is in 12 hours, good luck.]


    ...


    Thest days went on smoothly without anything happening, Stark spent them mostly outside exploring Ferburg to familiarize himself and have fun before the big day.


    Lana didn''t contact him anymore either, maybe because she truly had things to do, or because she felt like it would be too obvious she was stalking him if she did that.


    Any how, these days passed peacefully while Stark regained his strenght, now able to confidently fight through another rift if possible.


    Based on the timer shown in his status window, the Domination Trial would start at exactly midnight of the next day, and even though he had no idea how this trial worked and how he would even go there, Stark still waited.


    ***


    On hisst night of sleep, Stark dreamt yet again of that void with the other Stark looking at him, a nk expression on his face


    And surprisingly, he was able to talk.


    "Is this... an obligation?" he asked.


    "Yes," the doppelganger nodded, "Everyone with the ''Domination'' ss that sessfully awakened will go through it, and as you know, those who seed are granted an amazing reward."


    "Okay, and what are my chances of actuallypleting it?"


    "Hm..." he put his hands against his chin, "I would give you a good 1/10000 chance of you getting out of there alive."


    "A 1/10000 chance?" Stark''s eyes widened in disbelief.


    The other Stark simply nodded, a solemn expression on his face.


    "But don''t worry," he continued, "It''s a fair challenge. It''s just that only a small amount of peopleplete it."


    Stark frowned, but he couldn''t help but feel a sense of determination. This trial might be nearly impossible, but he was a ''Domination'' ss fighter. He had to give it his best shot.


    As the doppelganger vanished once more, the world around Stark began to shake violently, and he woke up, his heart pounding in his chest.


    "21:37..." he checked the time on his phone as he decided to sleep the entire day to be in perfect condition.


    [The First Domination Trial is in 2 hours 23 minutes]


    Stark looked out of the window, the streets of Ferburg were starting to fill with the bustling nightlife. He took a deep breath, calming his nerves.


    Tonight, everything would change.


    ...


    [The First Domination Trial is in 1 hours 52 minutes]


    In the two hours leading to the Domination Trial, Stark found himself restlessly pacing around his apartment.


    [The First Domination Trial is in 1 hours 15 minutes]


    The anticipation of the unknown was almost too much to handle, but he couldn''t afford to lose focus now.


    [The First Domination Trial is in 30 minutes]


    No information, nothing but himself and his ss to survive.


    [The First Domination Trial is in 10 minutes]


    Once the ten minutes mark was reached, more panels began to appear around Stark as he kept going back and forth in his room.


    [Upon the timer reaching 0, you will be forcibly put to sleep, in a state of unconsciousness nothing will be able to get you out of: it is either youplete the trial or... be one of ''them'']


    [The level of the trial will be decided the moment you enter it, each trial has a different theme and different challenges, so use your brain]


    It was almost as if the ss in itself was giving him a tutorial to increase his chances of survival.


    ...


    [The First Domination Trial is in 1 minute]


    The timer ticked down to its final seconds, and Stark felt a sudden surge of energy coursing through his veins.


    It was time.


    As thest second struck, the room around Stark dissolved into a swirling vortex of darkness.


    He struggled to keep his eyes opened even though he had slept the entire day, almost as if a curse had been put on him.


    [Do not fight it.]


    ''...''


    Stark''s consciousness faded.


    ***


    And then he opened his eyes again, finding himself in apetely different realm.


    But there was nothing around him, it was just ck void again, almost making him believe if he wasn''t in the dream world again.


    He was soon proven to be wrong as a panel appeared.


    [Information every ssifier gets before the trial! Please read carefully!]


    [Stark Heartsouls; Code Name: "The Chosen"]


    ''...''


    [Your goal: get to the end of the trial alive, do not die (you aren''t affected by hunger and thirst inside)]


    The screen faded away, and Stark was left standing inplete darkness, unsure of what to do or where to go.


    [Good luck, it will be needed.]


    ''Okay,'' he nodded.


    And suddenly, his surroundings began to change, the ck void beginning to be reced by a small clearing, surrounded by imprable walls and flowers everywhere.


    For a second, it almost felt like he was sent somewhere peaceful.


    But the crimson text that appeared afterward brought him back to reality.


    [Domination Trial: ss Purgatory]


    [Difficulty: DEATH]


    ''Ah shit...''


    This was the most difficult category of them all.


    As he stood in the center of the clearing, Stark couldn''t believe what was happening. His surroundings were no longer just a ck void, but now a strange and surrealndscape.


    The ground beneath his feet was made up of gravel and dirt, leading up to towering walls that boxed him in.


    Pirs rose up to the sky, casting long shadows across the area.


    But what caught Stark''s attention even more were the skeletons scattered at the base of each pir, dozens upon dozens of them, their bones bleached white by some unknown force.


    It was an eerie sight.


    And in the middle of it all, there was a giant mirror, reflecting everything around it, its frame made out of human bones.


    Just as he was trying to make sense of it all, Stark heard a voice behind him. Turning around, he saw four figures resting against a pir, their eyes fixed on him.


    "Looks like thest one is here," one of them said, breaking the silence.


    "Hm... Is it time to start the trial then?"


    "I guess so... but don''t be too hasty, it is a ''Death'' difficulty one after all..."


    Stark was confused: why wasn''t he alone.


    And just as he thought of that, a panel appeared.


    [The five most promising new ''Domination'' ss users have been chosen to participate in this trial, have fun =)]


    ''Ah shit...'' Stark looked at the four figures, not trusting them at all as they were just like him: people who would do anything to survive this trial and its challenges.


    And so just like that, the Domination Trial began.

 Chapter 35: Entering the Glass Purgatory

    <h4>Chapter 35: Entering the ss Purgatory</h4>


    Stark stared at the four other ''Domination'' users that were with him in this trial.


    "Seriously? Only guys here...? Man this is gonna be a sausage party...!" a muscle-head with ck hair held his forehead,ughing out loud.


    "Shut up, we aren''t here to have fun," another boy with short white hair replied, he seemed to be of the extroverted type.


    [These are the other participants of the trial, stay together to increase your chances of survival or... go alone (not rmended)]


    "Can we at least introduce ourselves," a green-haired boy adjusted his sses and smiled, "We were waiting for thest one before doing anything after all."


    "Who cares about that, all of us are gonna die anyways, this is a death difficulty trial..." a nervous looking boy finished, he had short red hair and a burn scar on his right cheek.


    Stark raised an eyebrow, this wasn''t what he expected, but it seemed like they were all just like him, although their aura indicated that they weren''t clueless either.


    ''The 5 most promising new ''Domination'' ss users,'' he remembered this panel, meaning that in this small clearing with the mirror in the middle were the domination users with the most potential to be the strongest, maybe some of them were stronger than him...


    Just as he thought of that... a panel appeared above the mirror, and all the guys looked at it.


    [5 minutes to enter the ''ss Purgatory'' before ''Skeleton Revival'']


    "The skeletons are gonna wake up probably," Stark spoke for the first time, pointing at the skeletons at the feet of the pirs, their eyes were shining, giving their owners an unnervingly lifelike appearance.


    "Well then let''s introduce ourselves quickly, code name is Dreamer," the ssed-man spoke, referring to himself with the code name he was given in the void, just like Stark.


    "Oh~ We''re doing that?" the white-haired one spoke, "then my name is Hero!"


    "Chosen," Stark introduced himself too.


    "Orasio..." the nervous boy added.


    "Just so you fuckers know," the muscled man, who was much older than the rest, looking at least twenty-five years of age, talked, "I am not your friend and I will never be, this is just a temporary alliance to get out of this shit-hole, the name''s Boxer by the way."


    [2:38 minutes remaining before the ''Skeleton Revival'']


    The atmosphere in the clearing was tense, all the boys looked at one another.


    [Participants: Chosen, Dreamer, Hero, Orasio, Boxer]


    "Let''s go, then," Dreamer advanced toward the mirror in the middle of the clearing, after all it seemed to be the most obvious way to get inside the ''ss Purgatory''.


    The others followed closely, and after a few seconds, they found themselves in front of the ss that reflected their appearance perfectly.


    But this wasn''t all they saw: in the reflection, a huge doorway leading to a long corridor could be seen, looming over them.


    "What the?" Orasio turned around, but of course, there was nothing behind them.


    It was inside the mirror.


    "I guess that makes sense," Hero put his arm forward and touched the ss, but nothing happened.


    They expected to be able to pass through the ss to begin their descent of the ''ss Purgatory'', but even entering it was a difficult task it seemed.


    [1:32 minutes remaining before the ''Skeleton Revival'']


    They tried many things in thirty seconds, which seemed like hours for them: hitting the ss, rushing toward it, slowly reaching it, activating their aura, but none of it worked.


    Stark stared from afar with a nk expression, he had noticed that even though the boys had activated their aura, they never went as far as to show their powers, probably all cautious as they couldn''t trust anybody.


    "Let me try something," after analyzing for a bit, he decided to act.


    [22 seconds remaining before the ''Skeleton Revival'']


    Making way for him, the others allowed Stark to ce himself in front of the mirror.


    And so he did something illogical: instead of heading toward the mirror, he went backward all the while keeping his eyes on the ss showing the corridor.


    Soon enough, he was engulfed by the walls of the mysterious hallway, entering the ''ss Purgatory''.


    [Only those who observe the world with eyes of ss will find their way into the Purgatory]


    The exnation appeared as soon as the puzzle was solved.


    [7 seconds remaining before the ''Skeleton Revival'']


    "HOLY SHIT," realizing that he was onto something, the others repeated his actions.


    And so just like that, they were able to enter the ''ss Purgatory''.


    [0 seconds remaining before the ''Skeleton Revival'']


    [Skeleton Revival]


    The hundreds of skeletons in the clearing began to stir, their empty eye sockets glowing red as they slowly rose to their feet, their bones creaking and cracking with each movement.


    But luckily for the five participants, they managed to get away from that ce, and so the skeleton monsters were left standing aimlessly as no opponent was in their view.


    Soon enough, they all crumbled back.


    ***


    Back to the five boys, they found themselves inside the corridor they only were able to see from the mirror''s reflection.


    "Nice thinking my guy," Boxer patted Stark''s back.


    "..." Stark didn''t answer, instead just looking ahead, the corridor was long, with torches illuminating the path.


    The torches cast flickering shadows on the walls as the five boys walked cautiously down the corridor.


    Each step echoed ominously, making them acutely aware of the oppressive silence surrounding them.


    Hero kept talking, possibly to enlighten the mood, but it was no use: they all knew they were in the face of death, and only themselves could save their skin.


    Surprisingly enough, they didn''t meet any monsters or horrors for the ten minutes they were inside the hallway, it stretched on endlessly, so nothing surprised them.


    In the distance, they saw a blue light.


    "FINALLY," Hero jumped in joy, "I was getting tired of these stone walls, i''m kind of ustrophobic..."


    "..."


    But as they approached the source of the blue light, their excitement turned into dread.


    [Wee to the ''Colossal Paths'', good luck participants]


    The corridor opened up into a vast chamber, and at the circr center rested an eerie statue under a pir of light.


    There were no walls limiting the room, the darkness ahead made it feel like it went on infinitely.


    But thankfully, at the center of the room, three paths converged: flights of stairs led to three gargantuan ss-faced effigies with massive mirrors under them, inviting the participants to enter.


    These were the ''Colossal Paths''.


    The five boys got out of the hallway and went down the stairs toward the center of the chamber, reaching a statue.


    [The Sphinx]


    Such a name appeared above the statue, almost as if it was informing them of its name, light poured out from the face of the sphinx, a contorted grin visible and a ghastly aura enveloping the stone beast.


    "I guess that''s it," Dreamer advanced to examine the Sphinx, then pointed at the three paths, "Look at the forehead of the effigies."


    And just as he said, there were numbers disyed on them, heading from 1 to 3.


    Which meant...


    "We need toplete all the paths and head back here," he pointed at the Sphinx''s forehead, where three pearls could be seen, meaning that each time theypleted a path, a light would manifest in that pearl.


    And so just like that, the participants understood what they needed to do.


    [5 participants alive]


    But they didn''t know... that only one coulde out alive, since this is how the [Domination] trial works.

 Chapter 36 The First Guardians

    Chapter 36 The First Guardians


    They exchanged determined looks with each other, their expressions a mix of apprehension and resolve.


    The stakes were high, the challenges ahead unknown, but they had absolutely no choice but to move forward.


    "How about just each of us going toward a path and hoping that we allplete it?" Hero smiled.


    "Are you brain dead? This is suicide, who knows what awaits us, this is probably harder than a Death-Level rift in the real world," Boxer shouted at the stupidity, and the remaining three agreed with him.


    Even if somehow one of them managed to beat his path, it didn''t mean the others would too, meaning they would be forced to fight all the other things that awaited them.


    "Fighting together is the safest option," Dreamer spoke while adjusting his sses, "And don''t get me wrong, I am the first to think it is a bad idea to associate with the likes of you."


    "The likes of you?" Boxer took a step toward Dreamer, his fists clenched, centimeters away from his face, "Don''t get ahead of yourself asshole."


    "No need to fight¡­ we need to win after all¡­ killing each other isn''t an option¡­" Orasio put himself between the two, and somehow the atmosphere calmed down after a few seconds.


    "The first thing to do is choose the path we take, after all we are not forced to pick the first one," Stark pointed at the paths and numbers, "Trying to get rid of the easier ones is a good start."


    [Please choose your path.]


    After a moment of tense silence, Hero stepped forward and pointed confidently at the third path, marked with the number 3.


    "How does this even make sense, let''s just get to the first one to see," Boxer sighed, unable to understand why they wouldn''t just follow the order. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "The order is supposed to show the difficulty, isn''t it?" Dreamer spoke, it was just a theory, but a veryprehensible one.


    "Who ever said that? It probably doesn''t even mean anything!" Hero replied.


    Stark watched them argue for a while, after all it was an important choice, taking a difficult path on their first try could end up in all of them dying, while taking an easy one could allow them to gain experience.


    "I''m going for the first," Stark began walking toward the staircases of the effigy with the number 1 engraved on its forehead, and he was soon followed by Boxer, Dreamer, and Orasio.


    "You guys aren''t fun," Hero pouted, but still followed them regardless as it was the group that decides, and he knew deep down trying to clear another path by himself was a bad idea.


    As the group descended the stairs of the effigy marked with the number 1, they felt a sense of foreboding wash over them.


    A massive mirror stood before them, covered in intricate carvings that seemed to shift and move as if alive.


    Stark being the first in the group, he decided to push through, and was able to pass through the mirror.


    [The ss Purgatory is a ce divided between two worlds, floating in an eternal limbo between reality and illusion]


    [Its four guardians are keeping it together, kill the first three, and the path to the ''Greater One'' will open, participants]


    [Once you do, the ''ss Purgatory'' will cease to be what it is and disappear]


    [Good luck]


    This much information was shown to all the boys as they passed, and now they found themselves in yet another giant chamber, illuminated by many torches.


    Strangely enough though, there seemed to be no exit door from this ce, it was giant, bigger than a football stadium, yet there was nothing other than the rocks that formed its walls and floor.


    ''Wait,'' Stark thought, ''Maybe it''s blocked until weplete another path?''


    He decided to turn around, but once he did, instead of facing the mirror that transported them here, he found himself staring at a stone wall.


    [Good luck]


    These panels appeared before everyone, and as soon as they vanished.


    "Hey, there''s actually something in the distance, look closely," Dreamer pointed at the very far end of the room, his sses seemed to be able to zoom.


    And he was right: there was a small door there.


    "I guess that''s our exit path," Hero took a step forward.


    But once he did¡­


    [ss Guardian #1: The Conjoined Siblings]


    [Good luck]


    These panels appeared before everyone, and as soon as they vanished.


    ~FWISH~


    ~BOOM~


    A loud explosion echoed in the distance, and suddenly two figures appeared out of nowhere.


    To the right stood a¡­ creature, dressed in a cloak and holding a scepter. It also wore a pointed hat, giving off a witch-like appearance. The head was disturbing, with two female faces merged together in all directions.


    [The Conjoined Witch lv20], its name appeared above its head.


    Next to it stood a massive skeleton only wearing some small cloak over its head and upper half, the rest was naked, it had a ne with a purple gem in the middle, and was brandishing a sword; just like the other monster though, it had two skeletal heads on its neck.


    [The Conjoined Warrior lv20]


    The first guardians of this trial appeared before the five participants, and immediately all of them got ready to fight.


    [Eliminate the guardians to be able to leave]


    This was all they needed to hear, and they all activated [Domination].


    Stark of course began being enveloped by the crimson aura around his body, but it was the other four that felt new.


    Boxer, just like his name described, was now wearing magic boxing gloves around his hands, ones that gave him power and strength.


    Hero had two floating swords appear in both his sides, and he didn''t even bother grabbing them, instead just crossing his arms and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.


    Dreamer, on the other hand, had a series of floating magical books spinning around him, their content emenating a dark glow.


    Finally, Orasio had a shield materialize on his arm, its surface covered in mysterious runes that seemed to shimmer and shift with energy.


    All of them had the [Domination] skill, yet it seemed to react differently to each of their aura, creating a unique power.


    "Pretty cool, isn''t it," Heroughed, his pupils burning with a white aura.


    "¡­" none of the others replied, too focused on the boss ahead to speak now.


    Stark decided to be smart and use [Perception] on his enemies like he always did.


    ¡­


    [Name: The Conjoined Witch (GUARDIAN)]


    [Level: 20]


    [HP: 75000]


    [Strength: 50]


    [Stamina: 892]


    [Speed: 128]


    [Defense: 927]


    [Skills: Beam, Spark, Buff, Witch''s Domain, ss Attack, Life Share, Heal, Conjoined Bond, Chain Block¡­]


    ¡­


    [Name: The Conjoined Warrior (GUARDIAN)]


    [Level: 20]


    [HP: 75000]


    [Strength: 721]


    [Stamina: 523]


    [Speed: 637]


    [Defense: 398]


    [Skills: Strike, Skeletal Aura, Final Stand, Warrior''s Domain, Conjoined Bond, Split¡­]


    ¡­


    ''Ah shit, these guys are tough, and there''s two of them¡­'' Stark positioned himself forbat like the others.


    And thus, the first fight of the ''Domination'' trial could begin.


    Go check out my other book :D

 Chapter 37 The Conjoined Siblings

    Chapter 37 The Conjoined Siblings


    The chamber was filled with tension as the five participants faced off against the Conjoined Siblings, their unique powers crackling in the air.


    "Just for your information, i''m staying behind and using my books to cast spells," Dreamer was the first to break the silence and initiate what could only be called the start of a strategy.


    "I have swords, but they can head toward enemies, so i''ll be at the mid-range," Hero smiled.


    "I can defend everyone using my shield and also attack¡­ I think i''ll just switch based on the situation," Orasio spoke with his nervous voice.


    And that left¡­


    "Seems like me and Chosen use our fists to fight, so we''ll have to fight head on¡­" Boxer sighed, he knew that this was the most dangerous role, but also the most essential.


    "Just for your information," Stark stretched, ready to attack and avoid, "Each of them have 75k HP, the witch''s strength and speed are low but its defense and stamina are very high, the warrior on the other hand has overall average stats."


    All the participants looked at Stark as if he was talking gibberish, confused as to how he knew all that, but they all knew he wouldn''t try to deceive them in such a situation, so they all nodded.


    [3¡­2¡­1¡­]


    [BATTLE START!]


    The first to attack was Stark as he immediately began running toward the witch and warrior.


    But just like them, the guardians seemed to have gotten ready for the assault, the witch rising her scepter in the air and casting [Beam], while the warrior on the other hand ced himself in front of his sister, his skeletal hands ready to unsheathe his sword if they approached.


    But Stark didn''t care about that.


    "Aura Smash," he focused his aura in his right hand, then punched the air, sending the giant crimson fist toward the two bosses.


    "Fair enough," Dreamer opened ten of the books around him and began casting.


    The Conjoined Warrior immediately tried to cut the attack with his sword, but it was futile, after all you can''t cut ''Domination'' magic.


    "-3427!" on the witch, but it also cancelled her beam spell.


    "-5329!" on the warrior.


    "Hey, that guy''s pretty good," Hero began floating in the air right next to his swords, which were now spinning around him, "But I think it''s time to help."


    "Fair enough," Dreamer opened ten of the books around him and began casting.


    "IT''S SHOW TIME," Boxerughed and dashed at incredible speed toward the guardians, reaching them before Stark did.


    "BOXER SMASH!" he used one of his skills to punch the warrior while he was still disoriented from the crimson fist.


    "-8291!"


    ''Holy¡­ this guy is doing damage,'' Stark thought.


    But they weren''t the only ones that could use skills.


    "Strike!" with a powerful blow, the warrior tried to attack Boxer, who was taken aback not expecting the monster to bnce itself after such a blow.


    ~SLASH~


    ~THUD~


    But a green shield appeared in front of Boxer, allowing him to move away, when he and Stark looked back, they saw that it was Orasio that threw his shield and used [Ally Protection].


    At the same time, Hero threw his two magic swords at the warrior and witch, each slicing the guardians with a very precise and swift sh.


    "-2638!" on the witch.


    "-4182!" on the warrior.


    Immediately, the sword went back to spin around their owner.


    Dreamer''s books emanated a dark aura as they unleashed spells upon the siblings, it was like a machine gun that wouldn''t end no matter what.


    "-327! -251! -425!" the damage was extremely low, but the sheer number was enough to make up for it.


    [Conjoined Witch: 65763/75000]


    [Conjoined Warrior: 51937/75000]


    "We are actually doing decent!" Heroughed while floating mid-air.


    "Greatest team ever?" Orasio dared to add.


    Stark and Boxer had already backed away at this point, ready to attack again in the front lines when they could, but they were confident, after all they had done so much damage in less than a minute.


    It almost seemed¡­ pathetic, maybe they were too strong for the first guardians?


    ''¡­''


    But no¡­ this was just a delusion.


    Of course they weren''t.


    "Heal!" the witch raised her scepter, and a golden light enveloped the warrior.


    "+15000HP!" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Conjoined Warrior let out a fearsome battle cry as his wounds began to heal rapidly, rejuvenating his strength and stamina.


    "Ah shit¡­" Stark mumbled, of course it wouldn''t be easy, "Aura Smash!"


    He sent another crimson fist toward the duo and began rushing toward them, followed closely by Boxer.


    ~BOOM~


    The warrior was able to jump out of the attack''s way, but the witch with her very slow speed wasn''t able to.


    "-3789!"


    [Enemy stunned]


    Immediately as he saw this message, Stark shouted at the others, "THE WITCH IS STUNNED, ATTACK HER NOW!"


    None of them could understand, but they listened regardless: Herounched his swords at the witch, shing her three times, while Orasio threw his shield to create an explosive barrier that dealt enormous damage, Dreamer also cast more spells.


    And in the end¡­


    "-16271!"


    Furious, the warrior rushed toward Stark and Boxer, his sword ready to strike.


    "Strike!" it jumped and struck down, but Stark avoided it, "Strike!" it spinned to try and take out Boxer, but he perfectly blocked using [Parry] and punched the warrior away again.


    "-4728!"


    The warrior stopped himself from being sent too far using his sword, making it scratch the ground and create sparks.


    "Skeletal Aura!"


    "Beam! ss Attack!"


    After being mostly on the receiving end since the beginning, the guardians were finally able to use their attacks.


    And that''s when the participants hoped they could have just continued to stale for damage endlessly.


    The warrior''s hands began glowing with a silver aura, it was as if souls were dancing around him now, and he pointed its sword at Boxer as he was the one that hit him the most.


    The witch on the other hand was able to use two attacks at once, sending not only a giant beam toward Hero, who used his swords to block it and receive 637 points of damage out of his avable pool.


    But it also sent ''ss Attack'' toward Orasio, fortunately enough though, he just used his shield and blocked all the piercing shards that were sent.


    "HAHAHAHAHA~" Hero, blood pouring out from his mouth, wasughing hysterically, confusing everyone.


    But it was only a few secondster that they all understood.


    "The Hero''s Resolve!" he smiled while activating this skill and grabbed the two magic swords in his hand.


    He dashed toward the warrior, closing the distance between them in a fraction of a second.


    ~SLASH, SLASH, SLASH¡­~


    He kept on attacking and attacking, and although the warrior at first tried to shield himself from the relentless assault, he was soon enough overwhelmed.


    "-8271!"


    "-10172!"


    "-9381!"


    After hitting three incredible attacks on him, Hero calmed down and backed away.


    "Phew~" he feel to his knees, seemingly exhausted after using such a powerful skill, "I''m gonna be out for a bit, I hope what I did is enough¡­"


    But it wasn''t.


    "Life Share," the witch''s scepter began glowing with a green light, and suddenly¡­


    "-20000!" she dealt a massive amount of damage to herself.


    And¡­


    "+20000!" she gave it to her brother.


    ''These things are fucking annoying if they can keep on healing each other¡­'' Stark groaned.


    They needed to find a solution to kill them both, and fast.

 Chapter 38 The Witch/Warrior Domain

    Chapter 38 The Witch/Warrior Domain


    [Conjoined Witch HP: 25703/75000]


    [Conjoined Warrior HP: 54385/75000]


    "The witch lost two thirds of her life," Dreamer spoke while adjusting his sses, the books around him still spinning, "We should focus on killing her, then the warrior will be defenseless."


    Boxer, Hero and Orasio nodded as they heard Dreamer speak, but Stark wasn''t convinced.


    ''Why would there be two of them if they could die like this¡­ they are named the ''Conjoined Siblings'' after all¡­'' he thought, he was much more analytical than even Dreamer, so he wouldn''t let any detail go unseen.


    He examined their status window again while Boxer was stalling for damage.


    And that''s when he saw it: a skill that the two monsters both shared for some reason.


    [Conjoined Bond] was the skill.


    Right afterward, he tried to do something he had never done before: use [Perception] to check a skill''s description.


    He focused his aura not on the monsters, but on their status window and specifically the skills panel.


    Seeing that Stark was thinking of something, Hero decided to take his ce as a close-ranged fighter and began flying toward the guardians with his swords in hand, he had mostly recovered from his frenzy.


    "Ally Protection," Orasio summoned the green shield around Boxer when the witch tried to use [Spark] on him, which created a massive explosion at the edge of her scepter, enough to insta-kill any of them.


    And that''s when Stark saw it.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Conjoined Bond]


    [Description:] The siblings share both their power, aura, and fate, if one of them is killed while the other is still alive, then the dead one will be revived at half health within a minute.


    ¡­


    "HOLY SHIT!" he shouted, taking everyone aback as they all stepped back.


    "What the hell is happening?" Hero used his swords and shed the warrior once again.


    "-4526!"


    Stark didn''t beat around the bush, "We need to kill them both within a minute of each other or else they get revived."


    Everyone froze for a moment, processing the new information, they didn''t understand how Stark knew, but there was no way he would say something like that out of nowhere.


    Stark, Hero, and Boxer immediately dashed toward the warrior again, they needed to lower his HP to match the witch''s as it was extremely low.


    "Strike!" he tried to attack, but Hero used his swords to block and give an opportunity for the others to deal damage.


    "BOXER SMASH!" Boxer used his skill again, and hit the skeleton in one of its head, making it crack a little.


    "-10281!"


    It was sent flying far away, but Stark didn''t waste and also activated "Aura Smash" to send a crimson fist toward the warrior.


    "-6372!"


    Orasio and Dreamer on the other hand used their attacks to upy the witch and stop her from protecting her brother.


    "-271! -362! - 316!" she was getting shot by dozens of Dreamer''s spell, and was hit with Orasio''s explosive shield, which exploded upon impact with her.


    "-9281!"


    They weren''t speaking while this was happening, but there was a mutual understanding: they were doing pretty good as a team.


    "Heal!" the witch during a single second where the assault stopped used her healing magic.


    "+15000!" she used it on herself.


    "Buff!" she redirected her scepter toward the warrior, who was able to gain lots of speed and strength, enough to overpower the three boys that were attacking him.


    They all backed away after that as they felt that the warrior was too strong.


    The Conjoined Siblings were also back next to each other, their empty eyesockets burning with an intense aura.


    "Seems like we can kill them both if we continue like this," Dreamer smirked.


    "HAHA~ No wonder we are the most promising, look just how we are destroying these guardians!" Heroughed, his magic swords spinning around him.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    But that was their biggest mistake.


    As someone said: confidence is good, but don''t be confident against the wrong opponents.


    [Conjoined Witch HP: 28603/75000]


    [Conjoined Warrior HP: 33206/75000]


    Both the guardians had now around one third of their life left, meaning that killing them both at the same time wasn''t far fetched anymore if they managed their damage enough.


    But of course, the guardians also had an ace up their sleeves.


    Both their sword and scepter began to glow with an eerie aura, and suddenly¡­


    "THE WITCH/WARRIOR DOMAIN!" they both used their ultimate skills, and directed it toward two persons from the group.


    It was an attack impossible to avoid no matter what, so all they needed to do was hope they weren''t chosen.


    And the unlucky ones were¡­


    "ARGH~" Boxer screamed as he was hit, and suddenly vanished from their view alongside the warrior.


    "WHAT THE?" Hero jumped, surprised.


    And the second¡­


    [Talent: Chosen One, activated] n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ''Huh?'' Stark was confused.


    The second attack was heading toward Orasio after all, so why¡­


    ~TURN~


    The ray of the attack changed from Orasio''s direction to Stark''s out of nowhere, almost as if an unknown entity had changed its target.


    "¡­" this was the power of the chosen one''s second perk.


    [#2 Amidst your journey, your talent will bring forth many events, both good and bad.]


    ''You gotta be kidding me.''


    "ARGH~" Stark was hit by the attack, and suddenly also vanished from the other three''s view alongside the witch.


    ***


    The world around Stark shifted as he felt himself being transported to a different realm.


    Once his eyes adjusted, he immediately got up and positioned his fists to fight.


    Checking his surroundings, he noticed that he wasn''t in the other chamber with stone walls and torch everywhere, instead he was in a smaller room where the floor was made out of human bones.


    There was no wall or ceiling, the rest wasplete darkness.


    And the most horrifying things of all¡­ was the giant figure staring at them from above, its eyes gleaming with malice.


    ''Probably thest guardian of this shit hole¡­'' Stark mumbled then looked to his right to see that Boxer was also looking around, he still had his boxing gloves equipped.


    "Looks like those fuckers isted us to have a greater chance of killing us," he spoke, trying to act tough, although the drops of sweat on his forehead and his expression betrayed fear.


    "Then let''s kill them," Stark looked ahead with a nk expression, and as expected, the warrior and witch were around ten meters in front of them.


    "Skeletel Aura!" the warrior''s sword began glowing with a silver aura that had faces on it: the souls of those he killed.


    "Chain Block!" the witch also lifted her scepter and pointed it toward Stark.


    And for the first time ever¡­ Stark didn''t have the time to react.


    "Huh?" chains came out of the ground and quickly wrapped around Stark, immobilizing him.


    He struggled to break free but the chains were too strong.


    Boxer, noticing that his only other help in this space was restrained, he tried to punch the chains, but there were just too many of them.


    And instead, he decided to rush toward the witch at full speed to break her scepter, it was the only way to stop the attack after all.


    Stark appreciated the help from the stranger.


    But it was toote¡­


    "STRIKE!" with the souls aura still around his sword, the warrior dashed toward Stark before Boxer could do anything.


    And then¡­


    "-4627!" he was hit by an attack that dealt three times his HP.


    [HP: 0/1450]


    Stark''s eyes became lifeless and the chains that bound him disappeared, resulting in him falling to the ground.


    "SHIT!" Boxer shouted as he punched the witch.


    "6428!"


    But it was no use anymore now: Stark was killed.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Or was he?


    [Talent: Chosen One, activated]

 Chapter 39 The First Death in the Trial

    Chapter 39 The First Death in the Trial


    [When the user receives critical damage, enough to kill him in one singr attack, he can use his talent and willpower to keep going, setting his HP to 1.]


    Which meant¡­


    [HP: 1/1450]


    Stark wasn''t dead, just injured and on the verge of dying, the warrior could honestly breath in his direction and he would die.


    "BOXER SMASH!"


    "-8371!" Boxer hit the witch in full force again, thinking that her spell had actually killed Stark.


    It didn''t look like it, but Boxer seemed to be the type that respected his teammates, even if they were strangers he met twenty minutes ago.


    Plus¡­ this was supposed to be a two versus two, so if it became a 1v2, his chances of victory were slim.


    Stark got up from the ground as the chains had disappeared, then activated [Aura Smash], sending a crimson fist toward the warrior who wasn''t paying attention at Stark anymore.


    "6371!"


    [Enemy stunned!]


    ''Bingo,'' Stark smirked and dashed toward the warrior under Boxer''s bewildered gaze.


    "YOU''RE NOT DEAD? HOW MUCH HP DO YOU HAVE?"


    "¡­" Stark didn''t reply, instead he focused on his target and punched it three times.


    "-19281!"


    The warrior was able to move after receiving this much damage, and tried to use [Strike] on Stark, who just stepped back to avoid it.


    ¡­


    [Conjoined Witch HP: 13804/75000]


    [Conjoined Warrior HP: 7554/75000]


    Both the guardians were now head-to-head with Stark and Boxer.


    Their HP was extremely low, and so it officially became a true 2V2, where the strongest would win.


    "Fucking hell, these things just won''t die," Boxer smirked, his hands trembling a bit.


    "¡­"


    But of course, there was onest thing that could screw them¡­


    "Buff!" the witch used a buff spell on her brother.


    And¡­


    "FINAL STAND!" the warrior used his most powerful skill other than domain, which was only here to put the enemies at a disadvantage.


    The aura around the warriorpletely changed now: the ne with the purple gem around was glowing immensely, and in return his entire skeletal body was emitting that same purple aura.


    It was as if he was using everything he had in this final attempt to kill the intruders.


    Stark immediately ran toward the witch, not wasting time as he needed to get rid of her first before she could heal or transfer some of her life to him.


    The warrior on the other hand went for Boxer, it was as if he had some unknown grudge against him since the first "Boxer Smash".


    "Ah shit¡­" Boxer readied his gloves and fists, he wouldn''t go down that easily.


    [Boxer HP: 1700/1700]


    Back to Stark, he rushed at the witch, and surprisingly, it didn''t seem like she was looking at him at all.


    He closed the distance, now in front of her, and saw her scepter glow with an eerie aura.


    Thinking she was gonna unleash an attack on him, he got ready to dodge¡­


    But that attack never came.


    "-4728!" he hit her, which made her stumble. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    But once she looked at his face again, he could see that both of her merged heads were smiling.


    "What the?" he looked back, and to his horror¡­


    Boxer was restrained by chains around his legs, all the while the warrior was only a few meters away from him now.


    "Clone Frenzy!" Stark tried to summon his clone in front of Boxer to block the attack, but it was too far, only resulting in the clone appearing next to him, ready to fight.


    This was the witch''s goal: act as if she was fighting Stark, but instead help her brother by restraining the other human.


    "FUCK!" Stark shouted and began running toward Boxer, he couldn''t afford to lose a teammate in this hell hole, they still had three more guardians after this, so losing someone so soon wasn''t an option.


    Also, he remembered Boxer''s face when he thought Stark was killed, and although he didn''t feel much, he still respected him for going as far as feeling angry for his death.


    "WAIT A DAMN SECOND," Stark shouted to the warrior, but the skeletal guardian didn''t even budge.


    Stark wasn''t able to reach Boxer on time.


    "-17263!" he was decapitated in a swift blow that dealt massive damage.


    "¡­"


    "Heal!" the witch used her spell on her brother.


    "+15000!"


    "¡­"


    Stark was angry, he was absolutely mad.


    He didn''t know Boxer at all, but for some unknown reason¡­ all he could see was red.


    "RAAAAAAAHHHHH" it wasn''t him that screamed, but his clone.


    That scream brought him back to reality, and Stark''s aura at that time was so overwhelming even the guardians could sense it.


    "You''re dead," he whispered to the warrior before dashing at him, closing the distance in a fraction of a second.


    "-10389!"


    [Conjoined Warrior HP: 12165/75000]


    The impact was so strong that one of the warrior''s heads broke.


    Stark then ordered his clone to attack the witch, and it listened immediately.


    The witch tried to cast a spell to restrain Stark, but¡­


    "¡­" the clone grabbed the scepter from her hands and broke it in half, rendering her defenseless.


    "Aura Smash!" it sent a crimson fist at her.


    [Enemy stunned]


    And what came afterward¡­


    "-2262! -2626! -2918!"


    It was a one-sided beatdown, and the witch could do nothing.


    "-3261!"


    [Conjoined Witch HP: 0/75000]


    Her HP reached 0 and she fell to the ground.


    But of course, Stark didn''t forget about the [Conjoined Bond] skill, and so as he faced the warrior, who was holding his broken head, he also used [Aura Smash].


    "-7381!"


    The skeleton guardian was sent flying, and Stark immediately catched up to him.


    ~CRACK~


    "-3251!"


    He broke the arm that was holding the sword in half, and sent it away, rendering the warrior weaponless and with no means to defend himself.


    "Skeletal Aura," he tried to use one of his skills to deal just a bit of damage, enough to kill Stark.


    But of course, he didn''t let him.


    [Conjoined Warrior HP: 1533/75000]


    "Goodbye," Stark looked at the monster with pure hatred in his eyes.


    And at that moment, even the guardian thought that that kid was¡­ a monster.


    "-13172!"


    Stark broke his headpletely, and it died.


    Now¡­ the two siblings were dead.


    [Dealt massive damage and killing blow to GUARDIANS, regaining 837HP!]


    And just as fast as he came in this domain, the world around Stark shifted¡­ and he was transported back.


    ***


    "Prepare yourselves, we''re gonna have to fight," Dreamer adjusted his sses and spoke to Hero and Orasio.


    "Why is that?" Hero raised his eyebrow.


    "Because the monsters will be back in a short amount of time, and we''re gonna have to finish them off."


    "W-what about Chosen and Boxer," Orasio mumbled.


    "Sorry to break your expectations, but I do not believe they will survive this encounter, I think they will put them at low HP, just enough for the rest of us to survive, but it is unlikely that they will live through it," Dreamer was logical, it wasn''t that he hoped they died, it was just logic, no one could defeat such beasts in a 2V2.


    Or at least¡­ that''s what he believed.


    [ss Guardians #1: Conjoined Siblings, DEFEATED]


    It was the moment this panel announced their victory that Stark appeared in the middle of the chamber, a nk expression on his face.

 Chapter 40 The Second Path

    40 The Second Path


    "I''ve finished them," Stark said in a monotone voice as he walked toward the three other participants, "They''re all dead now."


    "What did you say about them not winning," Hero smirked at Dreamer, who was actually bewildered that Stark was able toe out on top.


    But no¡­ this wasn''t just Stark, there was someone missing¡­


    "Where is Boxer?" Orasio was the first to remark that, "Wasn''t he with you?"


    "You perfectly know why he isn''t with me, let''s just move on," Stark, with the nkest of expressions, pointed at the door at the end of the chamber.


    All of them immediately understood as he spoke: Boxer was dead, killed by the guardians, meaning that Stark had to finish the job by himself.


    "Oh well¡­ I guess it''s fine, we still have two more paths," Hero sighed and then headed toward the door.


    "Seems like we really need to be more careful," Dreamer rubbed his chin, after all the people who were transported to the domain were based on luck, and he couldn''t let such a factor decide whether he would live or not.


    "Fuck¡­" Orasio gritted his teeth.


    Hero''s swords, Dreamer''s books, and Orasio''s shield disappeared as they deactivated [Domination], no need to keep using it now that the battle ended.


    "Alright, let''s just focus on the task ahead," Stark said.


    The group made their way to the exit, their pace slower than usual, there were five of them when they entered, and now only four remained.


    Once they passed the door at the far end of the chamber, they found themselves in a room with five small oval mirrors hang against the wall.


    [Each participant needs to destroy a mirror to be transported back to the ''Colossal Paths'']


    Hero examined the mirrors, "The mirrors are probably holding our consciousness. We destroy one, we''re sent back."


    Dreamer nodded, "Sounds about right. Let''s get going then."


    One by one, they each approached a mirror, shattered it with a strike of their weapon or a burst of their magic.


    Once they''d done so, the world around them began to change and they found themselves transported back to the ''Colossal Paths.''


    Back at the center of therge chamber, multiple panels suddenly appeared in front of Stark.


    [You have in "Conjoined Witch lv20 (GUARDIAN)", gained 100000EXP!]


    [You have in "Conjoined Warrior lv20 (GUARDIAN)", gained 100000EXP!]


    [First path cleared, two remain]


    And of course, getting this incredible amount of experience meant that he was enveloped by the golden glow again.


    [Your level has increased to level 12, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 102617/125000]


    But he wasn''t the only one: just like him, all the others were enveloped by the golden glow that announced the fact they leveled up.


    "Seems like we do get experience in here, I was wondering why it didn''t appear," Heroughed.


    "I did most of the work, so I was kind of hoping you would get nothing, or at least not much," Stark shrugged.


    "That''s rude, we were all fighting!" he replied.


    They then noticed that one of the pearls on the Sphinx''s forehead was now glowing with a deep silver aura, and two remained unlit.


    "Let''s take a break before going, you guys can sleep," Dreamer sat on the cold ground, seemingly tired.


    And the others couldn''t say they weren''t either, plus their skill had a cooldown, [The Hero''s Resolve] and [Clone Frenzy] needed 30 minutes to be used again, so they waited.


    ***


    (1 hourter)


    The thirty minutes turned into an hour as they chatted about all and nothing, getting to know each other was futile in such a ce, but it still felt good to know you weren''t alone, plus every single one of them made sure not to reveal information about their powers.


    "Let''s go, then," Stark pointed at the effigy with the number 2 engraved on its forehead, and the rest nodded.


    There was no leader in the group as each took their initiatives, but based on everything that happened so far, it was safe to say that Stark was the head.


    ''Oh wait¡­ I think I haven''t used my skill points yet¡­'' he remembered the message, and so all the while walking down the stairs to the mirrors, he checked his status.


    [Skill Points: 3 Avable]


    ''I don''t even know why I kept them, I haven''t used any since level 10¡­'' he sighed, and soon enough he arrived in front of the mirror to the second path.


    "Yeah," and all of them replied, traversing the mirror just like the first time.


    ~SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH~


    As soon as they passed through the doorway to the second guardian, they heard sshing noise, and saw that below them was water¡­ although not the usual blue color, but ck¡­


    "ck water?" Hero tilted his head in confusion.


    It wasn''t that deep, only reaching up to their knees, but it was still a weird environment to be in.


    They could see sky above them, and a crimson moon could be seen, no stars present in the sky, its darkness looming all over them.


    The ck water also seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions, trapping them in here as long as they didn''t beat the guardian.


    "Where''s the exit door? We could see it before¡­" Orasio spoke.


    "I don''t know, I guess we have to beat it¡­?" Dreamer replied, although unsure, he didn''t like the atmosphere, and none of them could see very far because of the darkness.


    Meaning¡­ that the guardian could be anywhere, ready to ambush and kill them all.


    While the rest of the participants looked around in confusion, Stark was currently upgrading his skills.


    [You have upgraded ''Aura Smash'' to level 5!]


    [You have upgraded ''Focus'' to level 4!]


    [You have upgraded ''Focus'' to level 5!]


    He used his three skill points to upgrade both of his skills to level 5, and that meant¡­


    ¡­


    [Skill: Aura Smash lv5]


    [New Perk: Thanks to upgrading this skill to level 5, you are now able to use both of your hands and send two crimson fists at the same time, dealing more damage and increasing the chance of stunning.]


    ¡­


    [Skill: Focus lv5]


    [New Perk: Thanks to upgrading this skill to level 5, you now gain a significant boost to your agility and reaction time, allowing you to dodge and counterattack with ease, time seems to advantage you even more.]


    ¡­


    With these new perks, Stark felt more confident in his abilities.


    "Alright, let''s search this ce. We need to find the guardian and beat it," he said after finishing his business, his eyes scanning the dark water as he stepped forward.


    But just likest time, the moment one of them took a step forward¡­


    ~SPLASH~


    ~BOOM~


    Another explosion echoed behind them, and once they turned their heads to see what it was.


    They saw it.


    [ss Guardian #2: The ck Water Devourer]


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!Creation is hard, cheer me up! VOTE for me!Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.


    EndKun


    Creator''s Thought


    Go check out my other book :D n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 41 The Black Water Devourer

    41 The ck Water Devourer


    The ck Water Devourer''s body is reminiscent of a giant eel, with sleek, ck scales that glisten under the dim light of the crimson moon. Its razor-sharp teeth and multiple rows of fins give it a menacing and predatory appearance, and its eyes were like ck holes, sucking in everything around it.


    And that very monster now stood in front of the four participants, looking at them.


    They were in its territory, giving them a massive disadvantage, and yet none of them backed away.


    "Domination!" they all activated their powers and got ready for battle.


    [3¡­2¡­1¡­]


    [FIGHT!]


    The water was shaking because of the Devourer''s appearance, but it still remained fairly possible to navigate.


    "How is this thing even fitting inside the water if it only reaches our knees, it''s literally giant," Dreamer wondered, and it was a very good question.


    "Don''t think too much about it, trial magic I guess¡­" Hero shrugged, his nonchnt attitude never went away.


    Dreamer was right though, the eel-looking guardian was at least fifteen meters tall.


    In the end, Stark shook his head, and like he always did at the start of any fight, he activated [Perception] to analyze his enemy.


    ¡­


    [Name: ck Water Devourer (GUARDIAN)]


    [Level: 25]


    [HP: 120000]


    [Strength: 738]


    [Stamina: 1271]


    [Speed: 1128]


    [Defense: 213]


    [Skills: Tail Whip, Bite, Absorb, Reject, Toxic Coating, Reinforce, Evolution, Water Bending, ck Storm, Tidal Wave¡­]


    ¡­


    Hero, Dreamer and Orasio looked at Stark as he analyzed the monster, waiting for him to speak like he did the first time. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "¡­?" after a few seconds, he turned his head and saw them staring.


    "120000HP, it has high strength and extremely high stamina and speed, but a very low defense, we should focus on killing it as fast as we can dealing damage," he gave them the information they wanted all the while adding a strategy.


    Everyone nodded as they prepared for the battle.


    The devourer''s ck eyes glinted, and the boys could see themselves in the reflection.


    "Tail Whip!"


    The fight began as the ck Water Devourer lunged at them with its tail, sending a session of attacks. They all dove to avoid the attack except for Orasio who used his shield to block the tail.


    "Just how strong is your shield?" Dreamer wondered, he was able to take on so many attacks and receive zero damage.


    "Haha¡­ I don''t know¡­" Orasio shrugged, clearly hiding something.


    "Bite!" seeing that its attacks were doing nothing, the devourer used another one of its skills and jumped from the water, at least ten meters in the air in Stark''s direction.


    "Focus!" like always, he activated the skill that helped him see the attacks before they even hit.


    But this time, it seemed different: he was able to see more, and the afterimage of the devourer was more clear than ever before.


    ~SPLASH~


    The guardian opened its mouth as it was about to snatch Stark, but the boy jumped out of the way at the perfect moment.


    However, the eel-like guardian swiftly changed its strategy and lunged at Dreamer, its massive tail cutting through the ck water towards him. He tried to dodge, but the tail''s momentum proved too strong, and he took a direct hit.


    "Argh!" Dreamer cried out, the pain radiating through his body. Even with his magic, he wasn''t invulnerable to such attacks.


    "-1251!" he was injured, but quickly got up and used some of his books to cast [Healing Prayer] on himself.


    "+1000!" he regained most of his HP.


    ''Interesting¡­'' Stark observed from afar, gaining information on the other participants was always a plus.


    In response, Dreamer got angry and started using his most basic skill [Spell Fury], and all the books around him began to cast spells at the devourer, who was unable to avoid them all.


    "-462! 449! -536!" it was hit at least a dozen times.


    "Aura Smash!" Stark didn''t waste time either and used his skill, and this time it wasn''t only his right fist that was surrounded by that aura, but his left one too.


    "-8371! -7263!"


    [Enemy stunned!]


    [Dealt massive damage to GUARDIAN, regaining 271HP!]


    The ck Water Devourer fell into a brief stupor, unable to move its body around the water anymore.


    "It''s stunned!" Stark shouted again, and immediately all of them took advantage.


    Hero shed the guardian with his swords three times.


    "-18387!"


    Orasio used his most powerful skill (that Stark knew off), [Explosive Shield], andunched it at the devourer.


    "-16283!"


    Dreamer''s [Spell Fury] had a cooldown, so he wasn''t able to do anything butunch simple spells.


    "-3634!"


    After that, the devourer was able to move, but injuries could already been seen on its body as it received a massive amount of damage.


    "Stunning enemies sure is convenient," Dreamer sighed.


    [ck Water Devourer HP: 58432/120000]


    ''My god, it''s already down to half of its health.''


    It seemed like the devourer really had nothing on them, the fact that it was alone also made it much easier to hunt.


    Maybe the order of the paths really meant nothing, huh?


    ¡­


    "ABSORB!" The devourer roared and used this skill, putting its head inside the water and absorbing some of it.


    And after a few seconds¡­


    "REJECT!" it used a follow-up skill, and a ray of ck water came rushing toward the four boys, almost as if it was following them.


    Hero cut the water using his swords, Orasio used his shield, Stark kept avoiding the rays as he saw them before they even came close.


    But Dreamer¡­ it seemed like LUCK wasn''t on his side.


    "FUCKING HELL," he shouted, forced to use hisst skill to save himself, "BARRIER!"


    All the books around him ced themselves in front of the ray, blocking all the damage.


    Information was important in this ce as there was no saying when any of them could betray each other, so hiding a skill or two was essential, yet now he had been forced to use all his tricks because that stupid guardian was targetting him.


    "Tidal Wave!" not giving them any rest, the devourer disappeared into the water.


    After the eel-like guardian disappeared, a giant wave could be seening in the distance.


    "A tsunami?" Hero questionned.


    The wave was at least twenty meters tall, and was sure to hit all of them if they didn''t do anything.


    "Come close to me," Orasio suddenly spoke, the nervousness in his voice disappearing.


    All the participants listened, and suddenly, Orasio lifted his shield in the air and activated [Ally Protection].


    A giant green sphere surrounded them all, and when the wave came crashing¡­


    ~SPLASH~


    ~CRACK~


    The shield cracked, but it survived the attack.


    "Thanks buddy," Hero patted Orasio, without him they would have probably all died.


    "¡­" Orasio didn''t answer.


    "Aura Smash!" Stark sent two crimson fists at the devourer, who came out of the water after using its skill.


    "-7382!" but only one hit as it avoided the second.


    [Dealt massive damage to GUARDIAN, regaining 129HP!]


    The devourer was at half HP, and the boys a bit exhausted.


    But that''s when it decided to use its ultimate skills.


    "EVOLUTION! REINFORCE! TOXIC COATING!"


    And suddenly, the devourer''s appearance began to shift.


    Go check out my other book :D

 Chapter 42 Death of the Devourer

    42 Death of the Devourer


    The devourer grew in size, bing much more menacing and powerful looking. It had evolved and had reinforced its body, making it even more resilient to their attacks. To top it off, it had covered itself in a thick, toxic coating that would harm anyone who came into direct contact with it.


    ''Is that the second phase?'' Stark wondered.


    Anyway, Stark now knew that attacking with his fists wasn''t an option anymore.


    [HP: 1238/1800]


    Thanks to the ne that gave him back life every time he hit an enemy and to his level upgrade, his HP was still fairly good, but he still didn''t want to risk it.


    He would need to keep using Aura Smash, and hope that the others attacked more than he did since all of them relied on weapons and long-ranged damage.


    Everyone watched the devourer in awe, choosing to stand still and assess the situation. The transformation was a clear indication that the guardian was preparing for an all-out attack.


    "BLACK STORM!"


    The sky above became darker than it was before, and clouds appeared, lightninging out from them.


    The ck Water also became much more agitated than before, making it harder for them to move, even Hero and Stark, who had the highest speed of the group, struggled. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Aura Smash!" Stark sent two fists of aura again, and the monster didn''t even bother to avoid it, too focused on controlling the storm.


    "-4312! -3927!"


    ''Holy shit, it can actually tank damage now¡­''


    [Enemy stunned]


    ''YES!'' Stark almost shouted to the others, but¡­


    [Enemy is immune to status effect: "Stun"]


    ''¡­''


    [Dealt damage to GUARDIAN, regaining 91HP!]


    "It can tank attacks now, we should really focus on taking it down as fast as we can, that thing looks pissed," Hero wasn''t smiling anymore.


    [ck Water Devourer HP: 42811/120000]


    ~ZAP~


    Lightning hit the water close to Stark, but avoided it.


    "It''s too focused on controling the water, kill it!" Stark shouted.


    "FINALLY SOME FUN," Hero activated [Hero''s Resolve], his two swords glowing with a silver aura as he dashed toward the devourer again.


    It seems like the [Hero''s Resolve] was a skill that boosted Hero''s abilities and damage output, but afterward he would be exhausted.


    High risk, high reward.


    ~SLASH, SLASH, SLASH~


    He attacked the devourer over and over and over¡­


    It wa surviving his blows because of the [Evolution] and [Reinforcement], but he was still dealing damage.


    And in the end¡­


    "17382!"


    "THAT''S WHAT YOU GET," Hero stepped back beside Orasio, counting on him to defend him so that he can recover.


    "Ally Protection!" the cracked sphere appeared around them, meaning that only Stark and Dreamer remained to deal damage to that monster.


    The situation didn''t seem to be that bad though as each avoided the guardian''s attacks while dealing damage.


    "SPELL FURY," Dreamer''s book sent dozens of spells at the devourer, who''s speed had decreased since the evolution.


    "-126! -182! -158!" it wasn''t much, but there were so many it made a difference.


    "Bite! Tail Whip! Absorb! Reject!" the guardian was using everything in its power to kill them, but Dreamer would use his barrier and Stark just avoided.


    "Aura Smash!" he sent two crimson fists at the beast again.


    "-4621! -4427!"


    And after a few minutes of that¡­


    [ck Water Devourer HP: 12660/120000]


    The devourer looked extremely injured, and its attacks were now so jagged that they weren''t even precise enough to hit any of the targets.


    Hero also finally recovered, and with his two swords in hand, he began approaching the devourer again.


    It was the end for it: Dreamer was ready to fire more spells, Stark had his aura smash, Hero was spinning his swords in the air, and Orasio was going to activate [Explosive Shield].


    There was no way it could win.


    And it knew it.


    Which is why, when it saw Stark throw his crimson fists, Hero his magic swords, and Orasio his shield¡­


    It used one final skill.


    "WATER BENDING!"


    The water around Dreamer began to shake, and suddenly¡­


    ~CLANG~


    A cage of water surrounded him, trapping him within.


    "Huh?" Dreamer was surprised, but it couldn''t be that bad, right?


    ~ZAP!~


    A lightning strike came rushing from the sky and hit the cage with Dreamer inside of it.


    "NOOOOOOO!"


    "-3628!" the damage was enough to kill Dreamer, and he fell to the ground afterward.


    In the mean time¡­


    "-3526! -4315! -2371! -7462!"


    The devourer received the damage of all the other attacks.


    [ck Water Devourer HP: 0/120000]


    There was a moment of silence as the team watched in horror, realizing what had just happened. Dreamery motionless on the ground, and the devourer was defeated.


    "Ah shit¡­ we lost another one," Hero shook his head, "I really believed we could all get out alive too¡­"


    "¡­" Orasio was staring at Dreamer''s body with a nk expression.


    "Well, let''s go," Stark, not showing any emotions, pointed at a door that appeared beside the Devourer''s body.


    They began walking toward the door, and soon enough passed through it.


    Yet again, they found themselves in a chamber with stone walls and at the end were four small oval mirrors hanged against the wall.


    And for the second time, each of them approached a mirror and broke it, which resulted in them being transported back to the ''Colossal Paths''.


    And of course, the panels appeared soon after.


    [3 participants alive]


    [You have in "ck Water Devourer (GUARDIAN)", gained 250000EXP!]


    [Second path cleared, one remains]


    ''Damn, this much EXP¡­''


    [Your level has increased to level 13, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    But surprisingly enough, he wasn''t enveloped just once with the golden glow¡­ but twice!


    [Your level has increased to level 14, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 77617/180000]


    [HP: 2500/2500]


    After checking their level and status windows, the three participants of the trial pointed at the statue of the Sphinx.


    The second pearl on its forehead was now glowing with a deep blue color, and only one was unlit now.


    "We take a break and then we finish this, I really want to get away from this ce," Hero spoke and sat on the ground.


    And so just like that, only one guardian remained before they could meet the ''Greater One''.


    Dreamer had died out nowhere in front of their eyes, but it served as a lesson: don''t be confident until the enemy is actually dead, or else you might just die.


    This was a Death-Level trial, one of the hardest ever, so they would need to be warry of anything that could kill them.


    ''I made it this far, I really want that reward now,'' Stark smirked.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!Creation is hard, cheer me up! VOTE for me!Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.


    EndKun

 Chapter 43 The Creeping Shadows

    43 The Creeping Shadows


    After not an hour, not two, but FIVE, Stark opened his eyes as he had decided to take a break and sleep.


    Five meters away from him were Orasio and Hero, and he woke thetter up.


    "Hm~ what?" Hero opened his eyes and rubbed them, confused about his surroundings for a minute since he was still in a daze, "Oh yeah, we need to kill thest guardian¡­"


    Orasio on the other hand hadnt slept at all, instead he was inspecting his shield, just waiting for the others to wake up but not wanting to disturb them.


    "Finally," he sighed then pointed at thest path, the one with the number 3 engraved on the effigy''s forehead, "Let''s go."


    The other two nodded, and this time it was the shield user that took the lead toward the mirror down the stairs.


    They approached the mirror door, and passed through it without saying anything to one another.


    ~CRACK~


    After their eyes adjusted to the feeling of passing through the mirror, they found themselves in arge, enclosed chamber with hundreds of mirror around.


    ''What the fuck?'' it wasn''t just the walls that were filled with mirrors, but the floor and ceiling too.


    In all directions they could stare at themselves, which made the atmosphere of this room feel very eerie.


    "Hm~ really feels like the final chamber before the big boss, doesn''t it," Hero smiled.


    "Well, it probably also means it''s the hardest guardian, doesn''t it, so watch out," Stark replied while looking around.


    Each of them took a step forward¡­


    And then¡­


    ~SLASH~


    ~FWISH~


    ~CLANG~


    Three sounds resonated not in the distance, but behind the boys.


    Right as they took a step toward the center of the mirror chamber, three shadows appeared behind each of them, ressembling the three participants.


    And so what had to happen happened.


    Stark''s shadow didn''t have any weapon, but it tried to punch and kill him regardless, unfortunately for it though, Stark saw iting thanks to "Focus", and swiftly avoided the attack.


    Orasio''s shadow had a shield, just like him, and tried to use [Explosive Shield] on him, but right as it was about to attack, a barrier former around the red-haired boy and protected him from the assault, it was almost as if he knew what was about to happen, or maybe there was always such a barrier to protect him at all times?


    And as for Hero¡­


    "-8738!" he was cut in half by his shadow as he didn''t have his swords in hand and no way to really know they wereing.


    And just like that, his life ended.


    [2 participants remain]


    Hero''s shadow immediately disappeared after killing its owner.


    "WHAT THE FUCK?" Stark stepped back as he saw Hero''s body fall to the ground, "God damn it!"


    A true ssifier should always be ready in case of an attack, and this surprise one served this purpose: those unable to react ordingly would be killed.


    Safe to say that even if Boxer and Dreamer had reached this room alive, they wouldn''t have been able to defend themselves and died anyway.


    Only the strongest will escape the trial, after all.


    "Hm~ This room is filled with mirrors, and these shadows look just like us," Orasio scratched his chin while thinking, "I guess they are shadows of ourselves, we''re gonna have to fight them."


    [ss Guardian #3: Creeping Shadows]


    [They are shadows of yourselves, defeat them to continue or sumb to your own powers]


    "I guess that''s why it''s called ss purgatory?" he shrugged.


    Orasio and Stark had backed away from them, but they were now able to see them clearly: their entire bodies were formed of some ck aura, except for the eyes and mouth which were red, they looked exactly like them, and also used the same weapons/skills.


    Basically¡­ they were fighting mirrors of themselves.


    Stark in the mean time activated [Domination] and [Perception] to analyze the two shadow before them.


    ¡­


    [Name: Creeping Shadow - Stark (GUARDIAN)]


    [Level: 20]


    [Stamina: ???]


    [Speed: ???]


    [Defense: ???]


    [Skills: Perception, Domination, Focus, Aura Smash, Clone Frenzy¡­]


    ¡­


    [Name: Creeping Shadow - Orasion (GUARDIAN)]


    [Level: 20]


    [HP: 10000]


    [Strength: ???]


    [Stamina: ???]


    [Speed: ???]


    [Defense: ???]


    [Skills: Domination, Swing, Ally Protection, All-Time Barrier, Explosive Shield, Block¡­]


    ¡­


    "They are both level 20, I don''t know about the stats but probably the same as us, also they have our skills and have 10k HP each," Stark informed Orasio.


    "If they were shadows of ourselves, they shouldn''t have this much HP," he shrugged while smiling, "Looks like that trial really wants us dead, it''s basically us but stronger."


    "Yeah well, since we know ourselves best, you take care of your shadow and I take care of mine, alright?"


    Orasio nodded, then summoned his shield and engaged with his shadow head on.


    Stark rushed forward, attempting to engage the shadow of himself as well.


    "Aura smash," his fists began glowing with that crimson aura, and he sent two attacks at his shadow.


    But¡­


    "AuRa SmASh~" the shadow mimicked him, and the two crimson fists collided with one another, resulting in no damage being dealt to either party.


    "Alright, I see how it is now¡­" Stark smirked.


    Orasio, too, had faced the same situation and was trying and failing to hit his shadow copy with his shield.


    ~SLAM, SLAM, SLAM~


    Stark approached his shadow and attempted to punch it, but it only ended in both of their fists shing with one another. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "-1! -1!"


    The damage they were receiving was almost non existant, but if they kept going like this, they would surely lose.


    [HP: 2492/2500] while the shadow had 10000, it wasn''t fair to begin with.


    And so after a few minutes of constant fighting from the two participants, they backed away as their shadows just weren''t receiving any sort of damage.


    "This isn''t working," Orasio remarked.


    "No shit, sherlock, they are us but better, you are the one that said it, they keep copying us but have more HP so if this keeps going we''re just gonna die," Stark rolled his eyes, he didn''t expect this to be the most annoying battle.


    "I have a solution then, a risky one but surely we can manage," Orasio smirked.


    "I think I already know what you wanna do," Stark sighed, but knew deep down this was the only solution.


    "Well then, let''s do it!" Orasioughed, it was almost as if Hero hadn''t just died in front of them minutes ago that they already moved on.


    Stark and Orasio switched positions, meaning that Stark was in front of Orasio''s shadow while Orasio was with Stark''s.


    They switched shadows, it was more risky, but the only way to truly win.


    "Let''s do this, fake Orasio," Stark positioned his fists toward the shield wearing shadow, and it smiled at him in return.


    Of course, fighting each other''s shadows meant they would both need to defeat a better version of theirpanion, which almost seemed counter intuitive, but oh well, who cares.


    [3¡­2¡­1]


    [FIGHT!]


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!Creation is hard, cheer me up! VOTE for me!Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.


    EndKun

 Chapter 44 Shadows VS Owners

    44 Shadows VS Owners


    Fighting each other''s shadows was much more risky than anything else for one simple reason: if for example Orasio died while fighting Stark''s shadow, his shadow would die, resulting in Stark having to fight his shadow who still had much more HP than he had.


    Basically¡­ if one of them died before they could finish them, it was game over for both.


    "COME AT ME, FAKE ORASIO," he shouted again and dashed toward the red-haired boy''s shadow, it had his shield in hand, ready to block all the attacks.


    "ALl-TImE BArRRiEr" it mimicked one of Orasio''s skills, and when Stark tried to punch the guardian, he was met with a green sphere that took his attacks.


    ~PUNCH, PUNCH, PUNCH~ n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ~CRACK~


    In the momentum of his punches, a crack started forming around the sphere, meaning that he was in the right path to kill Orasio''s shadow.


    But of course, these things weren''t dumb.


    ~FWISH~


    The fake Orasio dashed at Stark while he was about to punch again, and¡­


    "SWING!" it swung its shield at Stark, hitting him in the stomach, luckily for him though, he saw iting thanks to focus and used his aura to protect the area that was targetted.


    "-736!" it didn''t do much damage since a shield couldn''t do that much, but it still hurt.


    Not wanting to give it a break though, Stark dashed at it again.


    ~CRACK~


    The sphere was mosly cracked now, only a few more punches and it would bepletely shattered.


    But then something unexpected happened.


    As Stark was about to deliver the finishing blow, Orasio''s shadow deactivated [All-Time Protection].


    ''¡­?'' Stark punched ,his fist full of aura.


    "BLOCK!" The shadow raised its shield and ced it in front of Stark''s attack.


    Not seeing any reason to stop, Stark continued in his momentum.


    ~CLANG~


    He hit the shield in full force, and of course it resulted in no damage being dealt to the shadow.


    "OUCH!" Stark''s arm burned as he came in contact with the shield.


    "-361!" he was damaged for some reason.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Block]


    [Description:] Deflects any type of attacks as long as the user has the level and aura to, in response to physical attacks, it absorbs the damage and deals 10% of the absorbed damage back to the attacker.


    ¡­


    ''This shit is fucking OP?'' Stark used perception to check out why he had been hit, but he couldn''t have imagined such a skill existed.


    Not only was Orasio''s defense incredible, but if you tried to attack him physically, he could stall for enough damage to kill you.


    Basically: he was the worst kind of opponent Stark could meet as he had only physical attacks other than ''Aura Smash'' which had a cooldown and would be blocked.


    The shadow stood there, shield up, waiting for the next attack, it wasn''t engaging inbat, just waiting for Stark to make the move as it knew there was no reason for it to attack.


    ''These things are smart¡­ probably mimicking their owner''s intelligence as well¡­''


    Stark dashed again, he would not be dominated by such a thing, they both had the domination ss after all, so it meant that the winner was the one that dominated the battle the most.


    "AURA SMASH!"


    He needed to act, and quick¡­ It wasn''t about outsmarting a shadow anymore, but Orasio himself since they had the same skills and thought process.


    ''Let''s do this,'' he breath in and out, then opened his eyes, his pupils burning with that same crimson aura that enveloped him.


    ~FWISH~


    He punched the air once in the shadow''s direction, which just got ready to absorb the attack, a wide grin on its face.


    ~FWISH~


    He punched it again to send the second crimson fist, not toward the shadow though, but beside it.


    "Block!" the shadow blocked the first fist easily, dealing not damage.


    But this wasn''t what Stark wanted to do¡­ instead he focused on the second crimson fist, the hand he used to send it stretched and his palm open in its direction.


    ''COME ON,'' he tried to do something he didn''t even know was possible, all he wanted to do was try.


    With determination glowing in his eyes, he closed his hand while thinking of the fist''s trajectory, and then¡­


    ~FWISH~


    The fist, which was behind the shadow since Stark had sent it beside it, suddenly changed directions and came back toward him, essentially aimed at the fake Orasio''s back.


    ''GOTCHA!''


    The shadow sensed the fist, and so it turned to block the attack, absorbing all the damage.


    And as he turned again to face Stark¡­ it saw that his fist was right in front of its face.


    ~SLAM~


    He punched it in the face with an extremely powerful attack, sending it flying against one of the mirror walls, and destroying at least a dozen of them.


    "-4728!" Stark thought that this attack would be enough to kill it, but it seemed like it wasn''t just Orasio''s style that was based on defense, his defense stat was also extremely high to begin with.


    ''Alright, I only need to outsmart it once or twice more,'' Stark sighed while grinning.


    Knowing that Orasio''s shadow wouldn''t attack, he decided to observe how the red-hair was doing against himself.


    Orasio was having a tough time, too.


    Stark''s shadow inparison to Orasio''s was actually the one initiating the attacks, perfectly copying hisbat style.


    Orasio used his shield to cast [All-Time Protection], but it would soon enough crack under the pressure of the punches.


    And right when he used [Block], the skill the real Stark struggled against¡­


    "-362! -436! - 572! -421! -479" Stark''s shadow even though it received damage kept attacking, not caring as its HP was fairly high.


    And of course, Orasio couldn''t block forever, so in the end he had to remove his shield, and that''s when he was punched.


    "-2718!"


    He was sent flying against one of the mirror walls, and many were destroyed again.


    [Orasio HP: 482/3200]


    Safe to say he was one hit away from being killed, Stark''s shadow was just too aggresive for him.


    "Ah shit¡­" Orasio fell to his knees, breathing hard as even though his HP hadn''t dropped to zero, the damage was still a lot, "Didn''t know Chosen could punch this hard¡­"


    "Aura Smash!" in response, Stark''s shadow punched the air twice in Orasio''s direction, sending two crimson fists at him as it thought he wouldn''t be able to block anymore.


    But that was a big mistake, and it was one the real Stark would have never made, making obvious it was just a mere mimic.


    "EXPLOSIVE SHIELD," Orasio threw his shield with so much force at the shadow Stark while it was using its skill that it didn''t have time to dodge.


    The shield burned with a bright fire and aura while it was flying toward the fake Stark in mid-air.


    And then¡­


    ~BOOM~


    "-8362!"


    [Shadow Stark HP: 58/10000]


    ''It''s my win,'' Orasio smiled.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!


    Creation is hard, cheer me up!


    Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.


    EndKun


    Creator''s Thought


    Go check out my other book :D

 Chapter 45 The Final Pearl

    45 The Final Pearl


    "That guy''s doing fine," Stark was relieved, if Orasio had died, then he would have had to fight the fake Stark, which was a game over, yet now there was no way he could lose since he could just use [Block] forever.


    But Stark failed to take something into ount: that the shadow was smart enough to know that too.


    And so sensing that it was about to lose, it did something they hadn''t expected: it rushed at Stark, abandoning its fight with Orasio.


    "Huh?" Stark saw iting thanks to the upgraded [Focus] and was able to block the attack by crossing his arms.


    "-321!" he received minimal damage, and then he kicked the air in the creeping shadow''s direction, but it just backed away.


    Stark was surrounded by the two shadows now, behind was Orasio''s, which just had its shield positioned to block, and on the other hand was Stark''s, its eyes burning with an extremely familiar determination.


    It was almost as if the shadow was a real being.


    "EXPLOSIVE SHIELD"


    "AURA SMASH!"


    And suddenly, from both directions, he was attacked.


    A shield strong enough to destroy him, and two crimson fists strong enough not only to kill him, but also stun him, were bothing his way.


    "Ah shit¡­"


    But Stark didn''t even feel the need to dodge, and the reason was obvious.


    "Ally Protection," Orasio, who was free from both shadows, used his shield to create a barrier around Stark.


    ~BOOM, SLAM, SLAM~


    The shield and the two fists hit the barrier, which shattered it, but in the end Stark had been saved from taking any damage.


    And he decided to take advantage of that opportunity.


    "Aura Smash!" he sent two crimson fists at Orasio''s shadow, which was essentially defenseless since it was forced to send its shield away to use [Explosive Shield].


    The first fist hit the [All-Time Barrier] as it was still activate at all times, but it was immediately shattered as Stark had done too much damage to it.


    And so the second hit it in full force.


    ~BOOM~


    "-4961!"


    But that wasn''t all¡­


    [Enemy Stunned]


    The shadow found itself unable to move any of its shadowy limbs, and it fell to its knees.


    [Shadow Orasio: 311/10000]


    [Shadow Stark: 58/10000]


    "You take care of your shadow," Stark shouted while smiling, and Orasio grinned while dashing toward the stunned guardian.


    Meanwhile, Stark charged at the imposter version of himself, pinning it against a wall. The fake Stark''s HP were low, and it would surely lose if they yed the long game.


    "GOODBYE," Stark dered confidently as he delivered a final blow to the fake with a powerful attack, and it didn''t even defend itself or dodge.


    "-12182!" it received its entire life in that single attack, and it immediately vanished into thin air before their eyes.


    Orasio had reached his own shadow by then, and with swift precision, unleashed a powerful swing upon it.


    "-472!" The damage was not significant, but it was enough to finish off the shadow and make it disappear like its counterpart.


    And just like that, the two participants had sessfully defeated thest guardians.


    But their victory was short-lived as suddenly¡­


    ~CRACK, SMASH~


    All the mirrors shattered into pieces, except for two that hung on the far wall away from them.


    There was a golden aura around those mirrors, almost inviting them to shatter them.


    "We did it," Orasio sighed while approaching the mirror to the left, "We fucking DID IT!"


    "Not yet," Stark shock his head while walking toward the mirror on his right, "The ''Greater One'' is still there."


    "¡­" Orasio didn''t say anything and immediately used his shield to destroy the mirror, resulting in him vanishing before Stark''s eyes.


    "Phew~" Stark looked back at the mirror chamber, it waspletely destroyed, "One more¡­"


    And he used his fist to destroy his mirror too.


    ***


    The two of them were back at the ''Colossal Paths''.


    [2 participants alive]


    [You have in "Creeping Shadows (GUARDIAN)", gained 150000EXP!]


    [All paths cleared, please proceed.]


    Stark had yet again gotten a ton of EXP, which meant¡­


    [Your level has increased to level 15, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Level 15 Reached: please pick a skill card]


    Three purple cards appeared in front of him, and just likest time there was no way for him to check their content no matter how hard he tried.


    "Choosing a skill?" Orasio suddenly said as he had been observing Stark, he had also leveled up and reached level 15 just now, meaning that he had picked a skill too, "I got a new one too, I think it''s pretty good!"


    "Hm¡­" Stark scratched his chin, and in the end picked the purple card on his right, "Let''s see¡­"


    He took the card and flipped it, and there he saw a drawing of a figure doing a roll.


    ¡­


    [Name: Invincible Dodge]


    [Type: Epic]


    [Level: 1]


    [Description: A unique skill that grants the user temporary invincibility during a dodge maneuver, when the user uses this skill at the perfect moment, they have invincibility frames that can stop them from receiving damage/status effect, no matter how strong the skill is, cooldown of one minute between each use]


    [Note: if the user uses this skill with the wrong timing (it is extremely short), then it will not work]


    ¡­


    ''Doesn''t that mean even if some level 999 guy tries to kill me, but I roll, i''ll be able to avoid damage?'' to Stark, this sounded too good to be true, but he understood upon reading the note that he had to have good timing to use it.


    After checking both of their skills out, the two boys instinctively looked at the statue in the middle: The Sphinx.


    It''s third and final pearl was now glowing with a dark aura, meaning that all of them were lit up.


    And suddenly¡­


    ~BRRRRRR~


    The entire ''Colossal Paths'' chamber began to tremble, echoing with a loud humming noise that seemed toe from the very stone walls themselves. Stark and Orasio exchanged a quick nce, their hearts beating in anticipation of what was toe next. The ground beneath their feet cracked open, revealing a blinding light that enveloped the chamber.


    And as the light faded and their adjusted, they noticed that in the location the satue was in stood a massive staircase that led down the abyss of the chamber.


    This was the staircase to the ''Greater One'', the final trial of the domination trial before they could fianlly get out of this hell hole where no one escapes from.


    "Let''s take a break, and then let''s face that little shit," Stark sat on the ground beside the staircase.


    "Alright, partner," Orasio smiled andy down too. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    And so just like that, they were getting ready to face whatever awaited them down there.


    Down the deepest pits of the ''ss Purgatory''.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!


    Creation is hard, cheer me up!


    Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.


    EndKun


    Creator''s Thought


    Go check out my other book :D

 Chapter 46 A Sacrifice is Needed

    46 A Sacrifice is Needed


    The staircase loomed ominously before them, each step leading closer to the unknown. Stark and Orasio shared a silent moment of determination, a steely resolve shining in their eyes as they stood up from their brief rest.


    Without uttering a single word, they began their descent down the grand staircase, the air growing colder with each step they took.


    The darkness began more overwhelming each second they descended, the tform and ''colossal paths'' quickly getting further and further from them.


    Soon enough, they couldn''t even the chamber while looking up.


    "Five at the start, now only two remain," Orasio suddenly said without even looking back at Stark, "Do you think we will survive this?"


    "¡­" Stark didn''t answer, he knew that most people would of died already while fighting the guardians, and less than 1% of domination ss users would reach the ''Greater One'', but it didn''t matter, "We are here now, whatever happens happens, even if one of us dies."


    As they reached the bottom, they found themselves in a vast chamber shrouded in darkness.


    They were in the deepest parts of the ''ss Purgatory''.


    And just to make them understand how fucked they were, the staircase that led them down there disappeared too.


    [Good luck.]


    They began walking toward the center of the chamber, their footsteps echoing ominously in the darkness. Suddenly, a faint light flickered in the distance, illuminating a weird structure.


    It was set against a wall, and there seemed to be nothing else around it.


    When they reached the structure, which looked like a massive, ancient door, Stark and Orasio exchanged a nce filled with uncertainty. The door was covered in intricate carvings of unknown symbols that seemed to shift and writhe in the dim light.


    And as they approached¡­ a panel appeared before them.


    [Only one participant is allowed to meet the ''Greater One'']


    [One sacrifice is needed to continue]


    Without hesitation, Stark turned to Orasio, a solemn expression on his face. Orasio met his gaze with understanding, knowing what had to be done.


    There was no emotions on their faces as they both activated ''Domination'' and faced one another.


    "Of course that shitty trial would only let one person win," Orasioughed, his shield in hand, ready to block Stark''s attacks.


    But in contrast to Orasio, Stark didn''t activate his aura to fight the red-haired boy, instead, he decided to try something.


    "If it doesn''t work, then we''ll have to fight," Stark smiled, "But until then¡­"


    "CLONE FRENZY!" he hadn''t activated that skill even during the fight against the shadows both because he didn''t want his shadow to also use it, but also because he wanted it as a trump card in case anything happened.


    Stark''s aura seeped out of him and created an exact copy of himself.


    [One sacrifice is needed, if you want to be the sacrifice, please approach the altar (door) and put your palm against it for three seconds, you will receive 99999+ damage instantly]


    ''Go, other me,'' Stark ordered his clone to do exactly what that thing wanted it to do.


    It was a futile attempt in most situations, but he didn''t feel like fighting his teammate for now.


    Of course¡­ if the skill failed¡­ then he would be forced to, but that is another story: he was already putting himself at a disadvantage by using one of his most powerful skills, but he really wanted to catch onto that small hope.


    The clone followed Stark''s orders without hesitation, walking up to the ancient door and pressing its palm against the surface. A blinding light engulfed the clone, causing it to disintegrate into nothingness.


    "-99999" it received so much damage not even a level 100 ssifier could be able to withstand that, luckily it only had one hp.


    Stark and Orasio watched in tense silence, unsure of what would happen next.


    Suddenly, the symbols on the door began to glow brightly, and a low rumble filled the chamber. The intricate carvings shifted and rearranged themselves until they formed a new message:


    [Participant, step forward and face the Greater One.]


    "YOU FUCKING TRICKED IT!" Orasio was astonished it actually worked, meaning that it wasn''t just one of them that would face the Greater One, but two!


    The ancient door opened, and beyond it was another chamber, although this time they could see light pouring out from it.


    Stark and Orasio exchanged a surprised nce before stepping through the door into the illuminated chamber.


    They were in a clearing with towering pirs and walls around them¡­ it almost felt like¡­ they were back at the beginning!?


    But no, it was different, since there were no skeletons, and also the mirror in the middle wasn''t present either.


    But at the far end of that clearing¡­ was a giant mirror, and on the reflection could be seen a giant figure shrouded in darkness, it was turning its back to them.


    "Good job, participant, you have reached the end of this trial-" it turned around, then stopped talking, "What the¡­"


    It tilted its head in confusion, its red eyes squinted, almost as if it was making sure it was seeing things right.


    "How are there two of you¡­ it doesn''t make sense¡­" even though it was the king of this ce, it looked like it wasn''t able to predict everything.


    "Aura Smash!" Stark punched the air in the giant mirror''s direction, and the crimson fist came hurtling toward it, shattering it upon impact.


    "Damn, you didn''t even let it finish¡­" Orasio sighed.


    And suddenly¡­


    ~BOOM~


    The figure that was previously in the mirror''s reflection suddenly materialized in front of it, its feet touching the green grass.


    "Annoying bugs¡­" it sneered, pulling out some sort of ss fragment from its cloak.


    It was wearing a dark cloak, and its face was covered by a ss mask emanating a dark aura that didn''t allow them to see its face, the only thing visible was its eyes and mouth.


    "You are alone, three of you already died, no one has everpleted a death-level trial, so WHY, WHY DO YOU STILL FIGHT!" it shouted, almost angry that Stark and Orasio made it this far.


    Stark and Orasio stood their ground, undeterred by the intimidating presence before them.


    It was the final thing that was stopping them from leaving this ce, and they would make sure to shut it up.


    Stark''s fists glowed with an aura brighter than ever before, while Orasio''s shield was ready to block all the attacks that were sent at it.


    [Greater One: The Mirror Master]


    [3¡­2¡­1]


    [FIGHT!]


    And so thest fight began inside that weird clearing.


    Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.


    EndKun n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 47: The Mirror Master

    [Last Guardian: The Mirror Master]


    [It is the final obstacle, participants, good luck]


    "Welp, let''s get out of there," Stark breach in and out before positioning himself against the mirror master.


    "You think you can stop me? NO ONE CAN DEFEAT ME, ITS MY WORLD, NOT YOURS!"


    The mirror master was one of the rare monsters able to speak humannguage tomunicate, a skill extremely rare for monsters, but it wasn''t surprising as he was supposed to be the king of this ce.


    "Perception!" Stark used his skill to analyze the big boss.


    ¡­


    [Name: The Mirror Master (BOSS)]


    [Level: 30]


    [HP: 160000]


    [Strength: 1329]


    [Stamina: 1151]


    [Speed: 927]


    [Defense: 428]


    [Skills: ss Rain, All-Area Strike, World''s Reflection, Multiply, The Master of Mirrors, Shard Throw¡­]


    ¡­


    "Extremely strong," that''s all Stark said to Orasio for him to understand they were facing a whole other level of monsters, it could probably take on the three other guardians simultaneously, "And 160000HP, although defense is low."


    "Well then, let''s destroy it before it can do anything!" Orasio smiled, his shield ready.


    The first one to attack was the master since he was furious not only had two of them managed to enter this ce while it was only supposed to be only one, but they also destroyed his mirror before he could finish his amazing speech he learned perfectly for this asion.


    "Shard Throw¡­!"


    The Mirror Master let out a roar and raised his hand, shards of ss forming around him before shooting towards Stark and Orasio like deadly arrows.


    Stark swiftly dodged to the side while Orasio held up his shield, the ss shards bouncing harmlessly off the sturdy surface.


    "Aura Smash," he still had one crimson fist avable, and so he sent it at the master while he was using his skill.


    "-9382!" he was hit by the attack, but only flinched, not even backing away and not stopping his barrage of shards.


    Stark used that opportunity to close the distance between them, and although it became more dangerous the closer he got, he still was able to dodge thanks to his speed, which was greatly enhanced by his aura.


    Seeing that, the master focused all his shards on the ck-haired boy,pletely ignoring Orasio.


    "Explosive Shield!"


    Orasio saw an opening in the Mirror Master''s defenses and seized the chance to strike.


    He threw his shield at the big boss, and hit him in full force, creating an explosion that enveloped him.


    "-21728!" the damage was insane.


    And also¡­


    [Enemy burned!]


    [Enemy will receive 200 points of damage every second for 60 seconds!]


    ''¡­?'' Stark was baffled, he didn''t know this skill could do that?


    "It''s only a 10 percent chance, which is why it never happened until now," Orasio scratched his head before summoning his shield again.


    The master''s cloak was burning, but it didn''t seem like he cared, his fury pushing him to keep attacking.


    "YOU WANNA PLAY THIS GAME? THEN LETS PLAY!" the master stretched his arms in both directions, and that same crystal shard that appeared before floating in front of his chest, "WORLD''S REFLECTION!"


    He spinned the crystal, and suddenly¡­


    ~FWISH~


    The gravity switched, sending Stark and Orasio hurtling towards the sky as the world had turned upside down.


    ~CRASH~


    Luckily for them, the sky was fake, and so they crashed onto the fake ceiling.


    "-212! -147!" they received a bit of damage, and below they could see the mirror master grinning for a few seconds before suddenly dropping to the ceiling (now ground?), almost as if he wasn''t affected by gravity, but just following its rules regardless.


    "Multiply!" not even letting them breath, the master activated another one of his skills.


    And suddenly, hundreds of mirrors appeared all around the boys, their surfaces reflecting the image of the Mirror Master back a thousandfold.


    It was like an army of twisted, dark versions of himself stood ready to attack, it was basically like ''Clone Frenzy'', except the clones were harmless and couldn''t attack, mostly serving the purpose of confusing the enemy.


    And of course, the master hid among them as they began spinning around the boys, making it impossible to discern where he was.


    At least, that''s what he believed, because Stark had ''Perception'', and so he focused into each of the images of the master one by one, until eventually his status window appeared, allowing Stark to know who and where he was.


    "Aura Smash!" he punched the air twice not in the master''s direction, but toward another one of the fakes.


    And the reason was obvious: the master''s speed stat was high enough for him to avoid both of these attacks if he wasn''t actively using a skill.


    So he decided to use the new perk he learned during his fight against the shadows: change the fist''s trajectory.


    He raised both his arms toward the fists, and then closed his palms while imagining them heading toward the real Mirror Master.


    And just as expected, the crimson fists both changed direction and headed toward the unsuspecting boss.


    ~BOOM~


    "-9372! -10218!"


    [Enemy stunned!]


    "GET HIM!" all the fake images of the boss disappeared the moment he was hit, allowing Orasio to see him clearly.


    And so the red-haired boy decided to use the new skill he had just acquired.


    "SHIELD CRUSH!"


    He threw his shield in the air right above the Mirror Master''s head, unable to move since he was stunned.


    And right as the shield reached above the monster''s head.


    ~WFINK, FWINK!~


    It grew at least fifty times its original size, and with an incredible force came crashing down, it was almost as if it had locked onto its target.


    ~BOOM~


    The shield crashed onto the Mirror Master''s head with a deafening impact, sending shockwaves through the area.


    The monster let out a bloodcurdling scream as he was crushed under the immense force of the shield. Bits of ss shards flew in all directions as the Mirror Master''s body was smashed into the ground, creating a small crater upon impact.


    "-38271!" the damage was beyond anything both Stark and Orasio had seen, and even thetter was shocked.


    The only problem was that this skill had a ten minute cooldown, and if he fought against too many enemies, Orasio would be overwhelmed since he was forced to throw his shield to use this skill.


    And to add to the insane damage, Stark didn''t hesitate to rush at the Mirror Master and hit him three times.


    "-6572! -7391! -6958!"


    "WORLD''S REFLECTION," he immediately used that skill again once able to move and yet again, Stark and Orasio came crashing back onto the ground.


    But this time they didn''t receive any damage since Orasio used his shield to block the damage by cing it under him, and Stark used his aura.


    [Mirror Master HP: 38108/160000]


    ''Holy SHIT, aren''t we doing too much damage to it?'' Stark was baffled.


    "THIS IS MY WORLD, NOT YOUUUURRRRSSS!" the master repeated, he was in a state close to berserk, and absolutely speachless those puny humans were able to deal so much damage to him in less than five minutes, ''JUST HOW STRONG ARE THEY¡­''


    All he could see were Stark and Orasio''s figures, with both their eyes burning with aura, they weren''t the most promising domination users for no reason it seemed.


    "THE MASTER OF MIRRORS," he activated his ultimate skill, and suddenly the area they were in changed.

 Chapter 48: The Unavoidable Attack

    "THE MASTER OF MIRRORS!"


    The once dimly lit clearing was now transformed into a vibrant, kaleidoscopic arena filled with mirrors of all shapes and sizes, it waspletely different from anything they had seen before.


    The sky was gone, the pirs had crumbled, the grass was nowhere to be seen, and all the walls disappeared to be reced by giant mirrors.


    Stark and Orasio were in the Mirror Master''s domain now, giving them a massive disadvantage, much like when Boxer and Stark were fighting the Witch and Warrior.


    The Mirror Master stood at the center, his cloak tattered and his expression twisted with rage and determination, only his eyes and mouth visible beyond his ss mask, but it was enough to recognize that he was angry.


    Stark and Orasio exchanged a quick nce, silentlymunicating their next move as they braced themselves for the final showdown.


    [Mirror Master HP: 38108/160000]


    One more push and it would be over¡­ they wouldplete what nobody else had ever done in this world: beat the Death-Level domination trial.


    As the Mirror Master raised his hands, shards of ss began to materialize around him, forming a barrier that seemed imprable.


    And then¡­


    "ss Rain!"


    Shards of ss began to rain down from the ceiling, glinting in the ever-changing lights reflected by the mirrors surrounding them.


    "Ally Protection! All-Time Barrier!"


    Orasio activated both these skills on himself and Stark, creating a green sphere that protected them both from the hundreds of shards that were dropping, it would honeslty be impossible to avoid them all, so Stark felt relieved he kept Orasio around, he was an excellent support.


    "Aura Smash," he tried to calcte the trajectory to send it toward the mirror master, but¡­


    "World''s Reflection," the boss suddenly raised his arms upwards alongside the shard that he used to summon his powers, then turned it.


    ~FWISH~


    The gravity changed again, and Stark came crashing against a mirror.


    "-326!" Orasio on the otherhand protected himself using his shield.


    But of course, that wasn''t the end of it.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    Like a madman, the Mirror Master began changing the gravity of his domain over and over, resulting in Stark hitting almost every mirror in the area where he was, and blood pouring out from his body.


    [HP: 732/2800] he wasn''t able to recover his HP thanks to his ne because it was previously full, and so now he really needed some.


    Changing the gravity of the room also resulted in Stark being unable to aim his crimson fist.


    But of course, that wouldn''t stop him.


    After thirty second, he used his skill again.


    "Aura Smash!" he tried to aim and punched in the master''s direction, but the gravity changed yet again, "NOT THIS TIME!"


    But he switched the trajectory using his willpower, and although it was harder than usual since he was constantly moving¡­


    ~BOOM~


    "-7462!" the master was hit.


    [Dealt massive damage to Mirror Master, regaining 135HP!]


    "DON''T GET COCKY," he was getting more and more angry, "SHARD THROW¡­"


    His anger pushed him to focus his attacks on Stark, who had to keep avoiding more and more.


    And of course, that was a mistake since¡­


    "Explosive Shield," he was yet again hit by Orasio''s shield, which exploded upon contact with his body.


    "-18273!"


    [Mirror Master HP: 12373/160000]


    "You¡­ annoying¡­ PIECE OF SHITS," he was actively bleeding now, the injuries he had received until now finally taking a toll on him, "I- I will¡­"


    He couldn''t understand how he was defeated by Orasio and Stark, not matter how strong they were, it was not possible they could dominate him this easily.


    All the other ''promising'' domination ss users that had been sent to a Death-Level trial had all sumbed up until now, so WHY, WHY WERE THEY ACTUALLY WINNING?


    "OK, NOW LET''S END THIS," he shouted, his eyes burning with aura, and the crystal shard between his hand emanating a weird power.


    He used his final and most powerful skill.


    "ALL-AREA STRIKE!"


    ''¡­?'' both Orasio and Stark were confused.


    But what they hadn''t realized yet was that [All-Area Strike]¡­ was an unavoidable attack in the Master''s domain.


    The shard the master was carrying began floating above his head, a dark energy surrounding it.


    "GOODBYE, PARTICIPANTS!"


    And so he unleashed his skill: a giant dark fire mixed with ss shards appeared over them, on the room''s ceiling.


    Unavoidable attacks are notmon at all, some might as well say most people will encounter one in their lifetime because of the sheer stupidity of those things.


    After all, it was in the name: an unavoidable attack is truly impossible to avoid, no matter your speed, especially in closed off areas.


    And right now¡­ Orasio and Stark were experiencing an extremely powerful one.


    ~FWISH~


    The dark fire grew and grew, until eventually taking up the entire ceiling.


    And that''s when it came crashing down on the participants: it was impossible for them to avoid it since it was taking the entire space.


    ''Oh wow,'' Stark looked up, ''I think I get why no onepletes that shit now,'' he shrugged.


    But he wasn''t scared for a good reason: he had [Invincible Dodge], his newly acquired skill.


    He would need the right timing while never using it before, but it was all or nothing, being hit by that thing was game over after all.


    As the dark mes were at the half-way point of the room, Orasio activated all his defensive skills, [All-Time Protection], [Ally Protection], [Block], then kneeled down while looking up to the mes.


    Stark on the other hand crouched a bit while observing the attack go down at an rming speed: he was analyzing it to use [Invincible Dodge] at the perfect time.


    Time seemed to slow down as the dark fire and ss shards drew closer, the heat bing unbearable, and the threat of being pierced by countless sharp edges loomed over them.


    "IT''S THE END FOR YOU TWO," The Masterughed.


    ~CRASH~


    The dark fire and ss shards descended upon Stark and Orasio, enveloping them in a searing ze and piercing shards. The Master''s maniacalughter echoed through the chamber as the mes consumed everything in their path.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!"


    Right as the attack was about to hit him, Starkbined [Focus] with his new skill to activate it at the perfect time.


    And so as the mes were millimeters above him, he rolled ahead, giving him the invincibility frames he needed to avoid the attack while the unsuspecting Mirror Master thought he had won.


    "AURA SMASH!" he punched the air twice in the boss''s direction, sending two crimson fists that hit him directly.


    "-12127! -13129!"


    The damage was insane, a proof of Stark''s constant growth.


    And so the mirror master fell to the ground, his HP having reached 0.


    "I-IMPOSSIBLE, I-I CANNOT LOSE TO YOU¡­" he looked up to see Stark in front of him, a wide grin on his face.


    "Seems like we won," Stark smirked, provoking the Mirror Master as it was his undeniable defeat.


    But¡­


    The Mirror Master grinned too for some reason, "At least¡­ only one of you will escape this ce," and right as he said that, hey on the ground, his body now lifeless.


    "What do you mean-" Stark turned toward Orasio''s direction, and that''s when he saw it: the red-haired boy was covered by those dark mes, burning his entire body to crisps.


    "¡­"


    [Mirror Master Defeated]


    [One participant alive]

 Chapter 49: The Rewards of The Trial

    Stark stood frozen, unable to believe what had just happened. The Mirror Master''s words echoed in his mind: "At least... only one of you will escape this ce."


    Before him was Orasio''s burning figure.


    [Orasio HP: 0/4300]


    He tried to move, to help Orasio, but there was no point: he was already dead.


    All he could do was watch as Orasio''s body was consumed by the dark mes, and soon enough ,his aura vanished, then his body turned to dust as the mes were extremely powerful.


    "¡­" Stark looked at the remains of hispanion''s body with a nk expression, "I guess¡­ sigh¡­ anyways."


    Orasio had indeed activated all his skills, but the sheer pressure of the mes were enough to shatter his barrier, and so without any back-up n, thinking that his barrier would be enough, he was consumed by the mes and killed.


    Stark would have suffered the same fate without his [Invincible Dodge] skill, but there was no reason to think too much about it.


    [Congrattions, CHOSEN ONE, you havepleted the Death-Level domination trial: ''ss Purgatory'']


    The world around Stark began to change, and soon enough he found himself in the clearing he and the others were in since they appeared inside that trial, there were five of them at the beginning, all of them smiling, and now, only one was allowed out.


    The towering pirs were still there, and the skeletons were back to their original spot, and the path to the mirror with the frame made out of bones was still proudly standing in the middle of that clearing.


    [You are the first person to ever clear a Death-Level domination trial, good job!]


    Stark began walking toward the mirror where it all started, he didn''t know why, but there was something in him telling him it was the right thing to do.


    He took his first step, and more panels appeared.


    [You have in "Mirror Master lv30 (TRIAL BOSS)", gained 340000 EXP!]


    He was enveloped by the golden glow again, it had be familiar for him to level up after defeating each of the guardians now because of the sheer amount of EXP they gave.


    Any normal person would be able to shoot from level 1 to at least 7-10 with this amount, and yet¡­


    [Your level has increased to level 16, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 187617/225000]


    ''¡­'' Stark kept walking.


    [You havepleted the ''ss Purgatory'', granting INCREDIBLE rewards]


    [+1 LEGENDARY Skill, +4 Equipment Pieces, +3000 HP]


    While heading toward the mirror that would be his exit from this hell, he saw the figures of Boxer, Dreamer, Hero, and finally, Orasio, staring at him.


    They were transparent, but it was obvious it was them from their aura and appearance, and by their expressions, it didn''t seem like they were mad.


    Instead, Dreamer and Boxer were nodding their heads in approval, while Hero and Orasio were smiling bitter sweetly, pping their hands to apud for his victory.


    [You have proven your worth, Stark Heartsouls, now leave]


    And right as this panel appeared, Stark found himself in front of the mirror, the reflection showing his hotel room.


    ''Sigh, let''s get this over with,'' he looked at the mirror while stepping backward, just like how they did it to enter the purgatory in the first ce.


    And soon enough, he passed the portal and was sent back to reality.


    [Domination trial: ss Purgatory¡­ CLEARED]


    ***


    "HWAHHH~" Stark opened his eyes, he had been lying on the ground when he copsed and was sent to the ss Purgatory, and he found himself in that exact position when he woke up.


    Stark stood in his hotel room, still rtively shaken by the experience he''d just went through.


    He was d he was able toplete the trial, but in exchange all the others had to die: he was the sole survivor.


    Even the most promising and powerful domination users at their level died, so he could only wonder how any of the other folks could dream of defeating even the first guardian.


    But the answer was obvious: they wouldn''t be able to, even a level 40 ssifier would struggle.


    Then he immediately remembered about the reason he had gone through everything in the first ce: those damn rewards.


    [+1 LEGENDARY Skill]


    [+4 Equipment Pieces]


    [+3000 HP]


    [Click to unlock!]


    These four golden panels appeared in front of him.


    Without hesitation, Stark clicked on the HP one, and as soon as he did so, a green aura enveloped his body.


    [Gained 3000HP!]


    [Health:6100/6100]


    His health was extremely high now, especially for his level, meaning he could tank more and do more risky things.


    ''Nice¡­''


    He turned his eyes toward the second panel, the one with the four pieces of equipment, and he clicked on it without much thought.


    As soon as he did, two rings, a piece of clothing, and the crystal shard the Mirror Master was using appeared in front of him, dropping to the ground.


    ''Let''s check it out I guess¡­''


    "PERCEPTION!"


    He analyzed the two rings, the first had a ck me burning in the spot where a gem is supposed to be, while the second had a blue gem that emanated a beautiful aura.


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] The Purgatory Shadows


    [Type:] Ring


    [ss:] Domination


    [Tier:] Epic


    [Required Level:] 15


    [Quality:] Perfect


    [Attributes:] +100 speed


    [Special Perk:] When receiving a hit, a shadow of yourself appears to take the hit in your ce, whether it is 1 point of damage or 10000.


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] The Devourer''s Ring


    [Type:] Ring


    [ss:] Magus/Domination


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Required Level:] 20


    [Quality:] Good


    [Attributes:] +500MP


    [Special Perk:] Your resistance to water type magic increases by 100%, and your water type damage increases by 200%.


    ¡­


    ''I don''t have water type skills, so it doesn''t matter to me, but it seems like every single one of those items is linked to one of the guardians¡­''


    The first ring was linked to the Creeping Shadows, while the second to the ck Water Devourer.


    And that left two items on the ground: the clothing, which was basically just a weird cloak, and the crystal shard.


    Stark picked up the cloak, feeling its texture against his fingers.


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] Conjoined Warrior''s Cloak


    [Type:] Cloak


    [ss:] All


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Required Level:] 15


    [Quality:] Good


    [Attributes:] +150 strength, +100 speed


    [Special Perk:] Wearing this cloak while fighting will result in the chance of inflicting a critical hit on your opponent (dealing massive damage), the chance is only 5%.


    ¡­


    ''It''s the same one that warrior skeleton was wearing¡­ no items from the witch I guess.''


    Finally, he picked up the crystal shard, wondering what it could be.


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] Mirror Master''s Crystal Shard


    [Type:] Cast


    [ss:] Domination


    [Tier:] Legendary


    [Required Level:] 20


    [Quality:] Exquisite


    [Attributes:] It is a caste item so no stat boost


    [Special Perk:] You can use this crystal to cast a giant ss shard that deals incredible damage to one enemy, there is a cooldown of ten minutes between each use, and it is rmended to infuse the shard into a ring for better use.


    ¡­


    The rewards weren''t disappointing, at least for now.


    After all¡­ he still had one more golden panel in front of him.


    [+1 LEGENDARY Skill]


    And so he clicked it, expecting something incredible, something that was worth the other four''s deaths, something that would help him conquer everything.

 Chapter 50: The Calamity-Level Monsters

    As soon as Stark clicked on the golden panel with the legendary skill, he was surrounded by a golden aura that made all of his body tingle slightly.


    Even his eyes and pupils were zing with that same golden aura, a proof that what he was getting was truly a LEGENDARY skill.


    Legendary skills are only the 5th type out of the 8 avable, but they were still incredible, and nobody that was only level 16 could even dream of having one as it would take either reaching a high level, buying a skill scroll, or getting lucky inside of a rift.


    In all cases, most ssifiers Stark''s age wouldn''t get one any time soon.


    Soon enough, the panel that exined the skill appeared before him, and Stark could only read in excitement.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Double Assault]


    [Type: Legendary]


    [Level: 1]


    [Description: Upon activating this skill, all of your stats double in numbers, making you a beast in the battlefield, it onlysts ten seconds, but it should be enough to make both people and monsters fear you, cooldown is 20 minutes.]


    ¡­


    "Holy¡­" Stark smiled, this was an incredibly interesting skill, and although it onlysted ten seconds, it was still a fair amount of time in a battle to deal damage and reverse the tides.


    Maybe if he had such a skill in hand before, then Orasio wouldn''t have died¡­


    ''No,'' Stark shook his head, ''What had to happen happened, now I need to live.''


    [Onest question]


    A transparent panel appeared, different than the ones with the rewards.


    ''¡­?''


    [Were these rewards worth the death of the others?]


    Stark read the panel a few times before looking at the new skill he had acquired, his now giant HP pool, and the items on the bed.


    He grinned, "Yeah, it was pretty damn worth it."


    [Interesting =)]


    And so it disappeared afterward.


    "Spatial Inventory," he called out the name of his extremely convenient skill, and the void appeared beside him, he put every single item on his bed except for the [The Purgatory Shadows] ring as it was useful and he could wear it currently with his level.


    He also pulled out the [Crystalheart Band] from it, he had kept it inside his void since the required level was 15, but now that he leveled up, he was able to wear it.


    ¡­


    [Item:] Crystalheart Band


    [Type:] Ring


    [ss:] Domination


    [Tier:] Epic


    [Required Level:] 15


    [Quality:] Excellent


    [Attributes:] +50 Health, +40 Mind, +10 to all other stats


    [Special Perks:] Grants the wearer a shield that absorbs 10% of iing damage.


    [Note:] This ring is a passive so the damage you receive is reduced by 10% the moment you wear it.


    ¡­


    He wore the two rings on two of his fingers, allowing them to link with him and for their perks to be active.


    ''That''s done for at least,'' he jumped on his bed, fighting four (more if you considered that there were two shadows and the conjoined siblings?) bosses in a row was exhausting.


    Immediately, he grabbed his phone to check the time.


    Bur right as he started it up¡­


    "WARNING, WARNING!"


    A red screen appeared on it, and a woman''s panicked voice shouted.


    "We just have reported the appearance of a cmity-level monster inside of Ferburg!"


    "There have been three other cases in the world these past few hours, if you are in Ferburg, please refrain from going outside and seek refuge!"


    "It has been reported that the amount of casualties is already in the thousands, and experts are actively trying to kill those beasts, as well as find their origins, but it has been years since they have been appearing, yet no one seems to know how."


    Stark''s eyes immediately widened as he heard the message and saw the pictures of the beasts in question: a giant, humanoid creature with glowing red eyes, horns, and a terrifying scowl, it had giant dark wings, and it used them to fly wherever it wanted at incredible speed, as well as a giant crimson shield.


    But there was one single thing that allowed Stark to confirm what he feared: the monster in Ferburg had a burn mark on its face at the exact same spot of Orasio''s.


    And that''s when he remembered those words.


    [It is either youplete the trial or¡­ be one of ''them'']


    Notpleting the trial didn''t cause death, instead you turned into one of these cmity-level beasts that caused havoc in the city/country.


    Monsters in this world were spread across ten categories: Fodder, Weak, Normal, Strong, Elite, Boss, Cmity, Immortal, Universal, Divine.


    And now, all four participants of the trial except for Stark, had turned into one of these things, and their appearances were widely different from one another.


    "¡­" Stark''s face was cold as he turned on his television and saw the reports of whatever was going on, the pictures of ssifiers fighting the beasts across the screen, all the world watching in terror.


    And with that, Stark had realized that time inside the trial moved just like in real life, meaning that he hadn''t been gone for more than ten hours that such a disaster ured.


    All the others cmity monsters had been taken care of by now, except for Orasio, who relentlessly blocked all the attacks using his shield, he was avoiding conflict and using his wings to fly somewhere nobody knew off.


    Nobody¡­ except for Stark, because deep down, he knew that Orasio wasing for him.


    ~FWISH~


    An arrow came hurtling toward the transformed Orasio''s head, and he sumbed to the attack.


    Lana''s father, the Archer King, was the one responsible for getting rid of the monster after being called, and he had done his job.


    But before falling to the ground, Orasio used hisst bit of willpower to scream something iprehensible to most.


    "CHOOOOSEEEEENNNNN!!!!"


    There was fury in his eyes, but soon enough he fell.


    It was Stark''s code name in the trial, and all he could do was watch with a nk expression as hispanion died.


    "It seems like all the monsters were taken care of for now, but professionals will be on the look-out for any sign of another attack, stay safe!"


    The reporter ended the diffusion, and Stark shut down his TV afterward.


    "Only the strongest will survive," Stark quoted while remembering hispanion''s scream, it was probably the transformation that pushed him to try and find Stark, but it didn''t matter.


    "Anyways, less than ten hours since the trial started, meaning that ill be able to go to the meeting with Lana about that Hell-Level rift¡­" Stark made sense of time, he thought that days would have passed after he woke up, but luckily not.


    And so Starky down on his bed and closed his eyes, he would need to sell some of the items he acquired that he didn''t need to make money, and also get ready for whatever awaited him.


    During that nap he took, Stark had a nightmare.

 Chapter 51: Before the Meeting

    Six days have passed since the end of the domination trial for Stark.


    He had checked his phone daily since that day to check for any news as he realized that it was extremely important in this world.


    The entire world was shaken by the appearance of those cmity monsters, and although they appeared only once in a while (when someone failed a domination trial), they were still feared by many.


    And what made this new case even stranger was the fact one of the monsters had spoken for the first time.


    The name ''Chosen'' was analyzed by experts all over the world, yet couldn''t find anyone, all they knew was that ''Chosen'' was rted to the appearance of these monsters.


    Stark had also taken a good break after everything he went through, spending thest days justzing around, only going outside to eat or to grab groceries.


    Soon enough though, he realized that tomorrow was the supposed meeting with Lana at the capital, and so he needed to get everything in order before that.


    He hailed for a taxi yet again, then went to the ssifier trading district of Ferburg.


    Instead of going in the morning like his first time, he went at 4pm, which was pretty much the busy hour as thousands upon thousands of people were navigating the streets.


    ''ssifiers Trading Association''


    He arrived in front of the massive building and entered it, yet again greeted by a receptionist who guided him toward a room where he could appraise and sell his items.


    His appraiser this time was a white-haired beautiful woman that looked to be in her early thirties.


    She was smoking a cigarette while waiting for the next customer, and she gently smiled upon seeing Stark.


    "Let''s get started, boy," she immediately asked for his items, and Stark didn''t waste time either.


    He wanted to sell two things: the sword he took from that guy before, and the [Devourer''s Ring] since it was useless for him.


    In the end, after a bit of negociating, he managed to sell the sword for 220,000 Rher coins, and the ring for 440,000, giving him a fair amount of money on his ount.


    "Those rings on your finger look fabulous, mind if I take a look at them too~" the woman seductively said, she had keen eyes, able to spot that these rings wee much more valuable.


    "I would rather not," Stark shook his head and left the reception room.


    With these new sales, Stark had reached over 800,000 Rher coins in his ount, and his assets probably ranged around 2 millions because of the unsold items.


    It wasn''t much for now, but going from 0 to this was already phenomenal.


    [Market Section]


    He then moved to the market section, many signs indicating where it was, and it also had the highest amount of people.


    There were severals halls and elevators inside the market itself, as it was seperated into multiple categories: low-level items, middle-level items, high-level items¡­ and much more.


    He took an elevator to the sixth floor, and there a sign informed him he was indeed in the [Low-Level Items] section of the market.


    There were hundreds of people roaming the halls, looking for the items they wanted.


    The area wasvishly decorated, and hundreds of disy cases were neatly arranged in a way for everything to be visible.


    [Items], [Skill Scrolls], [Weapons], [Staffs]¡­


    There was everything rted to any and every ss, ranging from Beast Tamer to even Alchemist.


    Everything¡­ except for Domination.


    He searched for a good ten minutes, but there was no such thing as even a single domination item.


    ''Fucking hell¡­ this makes it even harder¡­''


    He approached the [Skill Scrolls], which were all disyed in cases, and there were even screens with the thousands of items avable for people to scroll and find them easily.


    ¡­


    [Item:] Skill Scroll


    [Skill:] Animal Spirits


    [ss:] Beast Tamer


    [Tier:] Umon


    [Price:] 350,000


    ¡­


    [Item:] Skill Scroll


    [Skill:] Stealth


    [ss:] Assassin, Warrior


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Price:] 780,000


    ¡­


    [Item:] Skill Scroll


    [Skill:] Curved Arrow


    [ss:] Archer


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Price:] 560,000


    ¡­


    All these things were avable for people who had money, yet there were no ''Domination'' skills.


    ''I knew it would be useless¡­'' he left the market section without buying anything.


    But this visit had just served to confirm what he mostly suspected: with his current ss, there was no way to get an advantage using money except for wearable items such as rings¡­


    He left the ''ssifiers Trading Association'' shortly after, and found himself in the bustling streets again.


    ''I guess i''ll just eat then go back home, need to get ready for tomorrow¡­''


    But while walking to the restaurant, Stark decided to check his status window as he hadn''t done it in a while.


    ¡­


    [Level:] 16


    [Health:] 6150/6150


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [ss:] Domination


    [Domination Trialpleted,e backter for more information¡­]


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    [Attributes:] Strength 346; Speed 412; Mind/Soul 827; Stamina 531; Defense 473


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv5; Focus lv5; Aura Smash lv5; Clone Frenzy lv2; Invincible Dodge lv1; Double Assault lv1¡­


    ¡­


    [Skill Points: 5 Avable]


    ''Holy¡­ I keep forgetting about them!'' Stark smacked his own head, resulting in some people giving him weird looks, he hadn''t used any since level 12 after all¡­


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 6!]


    [You have upgraded ''Clone Frenzy'' to level 5!]


    [You have upgraded ''Invincible Dodge'' to level 2!]


    And of course, the moment ''Clone Frenzy'' reached level 5, it unlocked a new perk, much like every other skill so far.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Clone Frenzy]


    [New Perk: You are allowed to summon two clones, their HP is still one though]


    ¡­


    ''Holy shit¡­ this is incredible,'' Clone Frenzy was one of his most powerful skills, and as long as the clone itself was able to dodge attacks, then it was basically like a slightly weaker Stark with his own thoughts.


    After grinning for a few minutes, and attracting the attention of more ssifiers, Stark entered a luxurious restaurant (it was to reward himself for working so hard, otherwise he would never do that) and went back home after an hour.


    He could hear talks about the cmity-level monsters around him, and the name ''Chosen'' escaped the mouths of others dozens of times.


    None of them could imagine that the responsible was right here, but honestly he preferred it that way, of course, Stark still loved to be praised, but in this situation, it would be mostly be threats rather than praises.


    Soon enough, he called out for a taxi and went back to his hotel room, spending the next few hours scrolling around on his phone before sleeping.


    Tomorrow would be his meeting with Lana, one where they would discuss the level 35-50 Hell-Level rift that was gonna open soon around Ferburg, attracting hundreds of powerful ssifiers.

 Chapter 52: Triple Succubus Problem...

    Meanwhile, in the noble district of Ferburg, near the capital, within a luxurious mansion, Daniel stood on the balcony, observing the whole city.


    Despite only being 15, he had a ss of wine in his hands, after all, the rules of this world were extremely different than from Stark''s previous one.


    "It has been confirmed, sir, the Hell-Level rift located near Feburg will open in exactly three days, and there are already hundreds of Elite ssifiers that are nning to participate in the raid," One of Daniel''s right hands, a level 127 ssifier from the Alchemist ss named Alphis, spoke.


    "Hm¡­ seems like this is bing bigger of an issue than we thought, do they know?" Daniel asked, looking at Alphis.


    "Many do not seem to know about the presence of ''that'' yet, giving us the utmost advantage," Alphis replied, his face nk.


    Alphis was a renown researcher and also a very powerful ssifier, making him an incredible ally to the Pridel family.


    "I did hear about the fact the Moonless family will participate," Daniel smiled as he mentioned the ''Moonless'' name.


    "That is true, but it is not surprising, such a rift appearing is a rare urrence, which is why so many people are gathering, lots of them are confident this could be linked to the ''Godless Demon'' as well as the ''ck Sun''¡­" these unexinable beings are always there, watching, but no one knew about their ns.


    It was also extremely rare, if not impossible, for these two to acknowledge anybody, although it had been proven to be possible.


    "Very well," Daniel nodded while sipping into his wine, "I won''t be able to participate this time, but make sure to send some of the Pride Family warriors to make sure they know we are present, I need to score points with Lana and her family."


    Daniel''s obsession with Lana would never go away, no matter what, he wanted her, and he wouldn''t let anybody take her away from him.


    "Stark," he suddenly said, fury in his eyes, as he remembered Lana take that loser away.


    "¡­?" Alphis tilted his head in confusion, he knew of ''Stark Heartsouls'', but he didn''t seem to be a very important person.


    "I want that fucker gone¡­ he got lucky once, and the second time he was saved by Lana, but the next time I see him¡­" he broke the ss with his hands.


    "Do not fret, Daniel, it is impossible for someone to enter the rift without the major ssifier families to allow them to, so we should be fine."


    This brought a smile to Daniel''s face.


    "Make sure to send our finest warriors there, I want everyone to know and fear the Pridel family name."


    Whether it was House Potter, House Sunny, House Moonless and many more, all of them would send their most talented young lings to that rift, and the winner would be the one who defeats the boss or brings the most materials.


    And so just like that, their n was set in motion.


    ***


    ~BEEP, BEEP, BEEP~


    Stark''s rm rang, but he ignored it for a few seconds, before suddenly realizing he had a meeting with Lana.


    He took his phone to check the time¡­ and¡­


    "11:28AM? THE MEETING IS SUPPOSED TO BE AT 12, FUCK!" he would undeniably bete at this rate, and he didn''t dare to offend a person such as Lana, even more so after checking on the inte and realizing the scale they were at.


    Even though Ferburg was one of the less remarkable countries in the world, there were still many powerful houses there, and there has also been a surge of interest recently because of that Hell-Level Rift.


    Taking a quick shower, then wearing the most average of clothes, Stark left his hotel room in a hurry.


    He had to take yet another taxi, taking him 30 minutes to reach the capital of Ferburg since it was close to the ''ssifier Trading District''.


    The atmosphere was extremely joyful, and thousands were roaming around, enjoying their peaceful lives outside the rifts.


    ''Altar Restaurant¡­'' Stark repeated the name of the meeting ce while looking at his phone for the location.


    He was alreadyte by fifteen minutes, and he could already sense Lana''s gaze on him.


    On his way to the restaurant, he had to pass through what they called the ''Fun District'', which was basically the ce where most of the popr love hotels, bars, and people who wanted to have intercourse were.


    Of course, the most wanted people in that district were those with the ''Subus/Incubus'' ss.


    Stark ran for a good five minutes, but as he turned thest corner before reaching the restaurant¡­


    ~THUMP~


    He bumped into someone, and looking up, he found himself staring into the lustful eyes of a young woman with shiny ck hair that seemed to shimmer in the sunlight.


    Beside her were two other girls, just as beautiful as the first.


    [ss:] Subus


    "Hey~" she stared at Stark, but the only thing the boy was interested in was the restaurant as he could clearly see it from behind their figures.


    They were just as tall as he was (roughly 1,75cm), and so not allowing him to leave.


    "Not interested," Stark immediately said, trying to avoid them, but the girls stopped him regardless.


    "You''re pretty cute, wanna have fun~?" a blonde-haired one right next to the first smiled, an aura was in her eyes, almost as if she was undressing him.


    "I already said it once, not interested," Stark''s tone became more aggressive, and yet again he tried to pass.


    But the girl''s subus tails entangled themselves around his arms and legs, "Ohe on~ We love virgins like you, let''s just have fun for a few minutes¡­"


    ''I swear to god¡­ these people do not give up,'' now actually angry, he activated his aura and used it to remove the tails around his body.


    "I wouldn''t let a SLUT take my virginity," he looked at the three girls as if they were mere objects, surprising them, they hadn''t expected that guy to be so¡­ dominating?


    But when he tried to leave¡­


    "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He heard a feminine voicee from his front, and he saw Lana run at them, an angry look on her face.


    ''Great job, assholes,'' he groaned at the subus for wasting his time.


    But which surprised Stark the most was that Lana wasn''t angry at him, instead she ced herself in front of the three girls, and shouted at them, "Get out of here, and don''t approach him anymore if you know what''s best for you¡­"


    Lana hated to use her influence for such things, but she had already done it for the second time with Stark.


    "Holy¡­ that''s Lana¡­" one of the girls said, sweat pouring out from her forehead, "Haha¡­ w-we were just joking, you know¡­?"


    "I don''t care, GET OUT!"


    And all three walked away, not expecting the boy they stopped to be with such an important person.


    "Fucking hell¡­" Lana cursed, her eyes on the girls until they turned around a corner, "I was wondering why you werete, and that''s because you were entertaining these¡­ subi?"


    "Um¡­ no, they just stopped me thirty seconds ago," Stark shrugged.


    "Oh well¡­ it doesn''t matter, we''ll talk inside the restaurant, I reserved a seat for two after all¡­"


    They began walking toward ''Altar Restaurant'', but it was once taking the first few steps that Stark realized something:


    "Wait¡­ WAS I GETTING HIT ON?"


    He quickly recovered though, ''Heh, who cares...''


    He wasn''t interested in woman for now.

 Chapter 53: The Secret Rift Meeting

    In opposition to Stark, who was wearing the most average clothes, and had overall the appearance of a guy nobody would pay attention to normally, Lana waspletely different.


    She was wearing an elegant dress that hugged her curves in all the right ces, her long blond hair reaching her waist, and not even needing makeup to be beautiful.


    Even during the few seconds it took them to reach the restaurant, dozens of people stopped to observe her beauty (some males attracting the angry gaze of theirpanions).


    She exuded confidence and poise, a true representation of the Heiress of House Moonless, although she did lose her cool when Stark was being hit on for some reason.


    As they entered the restaurant, the staff greeted them warmly, and Lana led Stark to their reserved table in a cozy corner.


    Stark nced around the restaurant, taking in the lively atmosphere and the hustle and bustle of the people.


    "As you know, I organized this date- I mean meeting to discuss the Hell-Level right that appeared recently," she spoke, and Stark looked at her with the nkest of expressions.


    "We have little to no information about it, but all that we know is that it is gonna open in two days, outside of Ferburg," she tapped on her phone to show the location to Stark, "It is reserved for powerful houses and conglomerates, but there will be hundreds of people, so you should watch out¡­"


    "Ok."


    Suddenly, Lana pped both of her hands, and one of the waiters came to their table with a suitcase, cing it in front of Stark.


    "You have to wear this attire and mask when outside and inside the rift, after all, your presence is supposed to be a secret."


    Stark opened the suitcase, and just as she said, there was a smoking, alongside a bunny mask that covered only the upper half of his face.


    "Why are you doing this to me? This seems a bit too good¡­" Stark asked, looking into Lana''s beautiful eyes.


    "I will be frank with you, I think you are extremely powerful, and that you will be useful to me in the future, also this is a great opportunity for you to level up," she smiled for the first time, a genuine one.


    "Ok, but I have one simple request."


    "Yes?"


    Most ssifiers would dream of entering a Hell-Level Secret Rift, yet here he was, asking her for a request, anyone watching this would consider him crazy.


    Plus, Secret Rifts were basically a treasure trove since no one had explored them before, allowing dozens upon dozens of equipment to be avable for grabs.


    High risk, high reward, basically.


    "I want to be allowed to roam around the rift alone."


    Lana raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised by his request, but she just nodded.


    "Very well, but you''ll have to act as if you are part of the ''Crimson Moon Squad'', it is our team that is participating in the raid of the rift."


    "Okay," Stark didn''t care, he was probably out of ce among all those powerful ssifiers, but he still believed in himself, after all he was sure none of them would have been able toplete that Domination Trial.


    He had already experienced Hell once, so there was no way he would be scared.


    Stark didn''t know how to talk to women, but he somehow held up a decent conversation with Lana as they were eating.


    "Did you see those cmity-level beasts that appeared-" she tried to initiate again after a few minutes of silence.


    "No, I don''t know," he immediately replied, not wanting to talk about his previouspanions transforming into these beasts.


    "Oh well¡­ okay."


    Soon enough, they finished eating, and said goodbye to each other.


    Time passed quickly, and before he knew, two days went by.


    Stark woke up early in the morning, before dawn.


    "¡­" he knew it was time to leave.


    The Secret Rift was very far, so Lana had requested for him toe to an underground base the ''Crimson Moon Squad'' used to meet the members, and also to go there.


    In contrary to what he believed though, ''Crimson Moon Squad'' wasn''t truly part of the Moonless family, instead it was more like a group of powerful ssifiers they had formed for such asions, and Lana was only a member too.


    It was her father that was the leader (although when he wasn''t present, Vex took his ce), and so he asked her to join them for experience, but surprisingly enough also allowed him to be part of it for this expedition.


    Stark grabbed the suitcase he had been given in the restaurant and pulled out its contents.


    He wore the ck and purplish smoking, one that went extremely well with him for some reason.


    And as for the white bunny mask, he ced it on his face, covering the upper half. He looked in the mirror, at his transformed appearance, and a strange smile yed on his lips.


    ¡­


    [Item:] Crimson Moon Bunny Mask


    [Type:] Mask


    [Quality:] Good


    [Perk:] Hides your face perfectly, nobody that doesn''t know about your identity will recognize you.


    ¡­


    There were two other things inside the suitcase though: a red badge adorned with a half-moon on it, it was the ''Crimson Moon Squad'' logo.


    ¡­


    [Item:] Crimson Moon Communication Device


    [Type:] Badge


    [Quality:] Good


    [Perk:] Allows all ''Crimson Moon Squad'' members who wear this badge tomunicate with one another using a powerful ''Telepathy'' and ''Voice Transmission'' spell.


    ¡­


    And the final item was a weird potion in a ss, the liquid inside was green.


    ¡­


    [Item:] Max Health Potion


    [Type:] Consummable


    [Quality:] Perfect


    [Perk:] Heals to full health, and removes any status effect as well as exhaustion.


    ¡­


    ''Thank you, Lana,'' she was surprisingly considerate even though he had believed she was just a girl who used her family''s money to get what she wanted.


    Wearing his two rings, his ne, the bunny mask, and the ''Crimson Mood Squad'' uniform, Stark finally set out for the base.


    The sun was rising in the east when he arrived in front of an empty bar near the Capital.


    "Crimson Light Bar" was the name, and Stark could only guess it was the right location with the name.


    It was still mostly night, and the street he was in was mostly empty, so he knocked twice at the wooden door of the bar.


    And after a few seconds, it magically opened.


    ''Great, another group who tries to seem mysterious,'' he groaned as nobody was behind when the door opened.


    And so he entered the bar, the wooden door closing behind as if it was controlled by an unknown force.


    After marching through the hall for a few seconds, he arrived in the main area with the bar, tables, and drinks.


    And in there, seven people could be seen, three women and four man.


    They were the ''Crimson Moon Squad''.

 Chapter 54: The Crimson Moon Squad

    The first person he noticed, sitting on a wooden chair, was Lana.


    She was looking at him with anticipation, her gaze filled with trust and expectation.


    She was one of the two woman in the ''Crimson Moon Squad'', and so except for her, Stark knew nobody else.


    Stark then switched her gaze to the other members, analyzing them all in the process.


    There was a man with silver hair and pale skin, dressed in a neat suit, and a staff in his hands, he immediately got up from his seat once Stark''s eyes fell on him.


    [ss: Magus]


    [Level: 109]


    "Wee, Stark. I''m d you could make it. My name is Lance, I heard lots of things about you from our little Lana here," he nodded in approval.


    "Shut up, old man, don''t say anything else if you know what''s best for you¡­" Lana groaned, a fierce expression on her face.


    "Haha~ sure sure, wouldn''t wanna put off your crus-"


    An arrow came flying toward Lance,nding right next to his head.


    Of course, Lance was a powerful Magus, so such an attack wouldn''t hard him, plus he would have had the time to cast several spells, but he still let it go since it was Lana.


    Stark nodded politely, returning the smile.


    Next, he noticed a tall, muscr man with short, curly ck hair. He wore a leather vest and had a gruff look on his face.


    [ss: Warrior]


    [Level: 97]


    "I''m Thorn, the muscle of the team. Nice to meet you," he grunted, giving Stark a firm handshake.


    Stark replied, but immediately as he did so, he felt Thorn''s pressure on his hand, almost as if he wanted to crush it.


    "¡­?" Stark looked at him with a nk expression, not hurt at all since he had immediatly activated [Domination] and put the entirety of his aura around that hand.


    "Hm¡­" Thorn was confused, he had the idea of hurting Stark a bit to show him it would be difficult, but he didn''t seem affected at all, "Good strength kid, I approve," he finally let go, finally giving him a smirk.


    Stark continued to scan the room, his eyes falling on a woman with long, flowing red hair and striking green eyes, she had sses and seemed to be focused on some potions that were ced on her table.


    "Hehe~ almost done," she giggled, not even acknowledging Stark and his arrival, but still telling him her name, "Olivia!"


    [ss: Alchemist]


    [Level: 116]


    The next person that caught his attention was a man, draped in a cloak that seemed to meld with the shadows of the room. His eyes glinted with a keen intelligence as he met Stark''s gaze.


    [ss: Assassin]


    [Level: 105]


    "Max¡­" that''s all he said, and Stark nodded.


    He then turned his attention to a woman with long, golden hair that cascaded down her back like a waterfall. She wore a simple white dress and had an ethereal quality about her.


    [ss: Exorcist]


    [Level: 112]


    "Ste!'' they were stars shining in her eyes, and anybody who saw her from afar could guess that she was a saint, "Nice to meet you!" she grabbed both of Stark''s hands with hers, and smiled.


    Finally, his gaze settled on a man who exuded a dark aura, his eyes glinting with mischief and power.


    He had a green heart with a hat on top of it pulsating in his right hand, and he seemed to be ying with it.


    [ss: Soul Wielder]


    [Level: 124]


    He had white hair and wore an intricate suit that hinted at his agility and skill inbat, fairly simr to the one Stark was wearing.


    "Well, well, if it isn''t the new recruit," he smirked, crossing his arms over his chest confidently, "Call me Vex."


    Vex seemed to be the leader of this small squad, both because his aura was the most powerful, but also because of his level.


    "Stark Heartsouls," Stark replied while staring at all the people in the room.


    "Wee, Stark," Vex''s voice was smooth andmanding, "We''ve been expecting you." He gestured for Stark to take a seat at the table where the squad was gathered.


    As Stark settled in, Vex continued, "No need forme exnations, all you need to know is that the Secret Rift opens in exactly 7 hours from now on, so we need to be going there soon."


    "Very well, any information I need to know?" he replied.


    "You requested to be alone, so all you need to do is seperate yourself from us at the start, that rift is Hell-Level so it is so big we might not see each other until we leave¡­"


    Stark nodded in understanding, mentally preparing himself for the uing challenge.


    The atmosphere in the bar became tense as each member of the Crimson Moon Squad geared up for the mission ahead.


    Lana''s eyes sparkled with determination, Thorn cracked his knuckles, and Max''s gaze sharpened even more.


    After the rest of them (except for Stark) sipped into their wine, which he clearly found to be dumb since what would happen to you if you were drunk inside a dangerous rift, all of them left the bar.


    Stark had been given some information along with that alcohol break: dozens of organizations woukd participate in this it was a perfect moment to conquer a powerful rift and attract the media and also gather materials.


    Whether it was several powerful houses from other countries, military groups, conglomerates, and even solo ssifiers, all would be there.


    As they exited the bar, there were a ck limousine-like cars waiting for them.


    It hadn''t been there when Stark had arrived, but looks like these guys were prepared.


    "Good luck, let''s hope you aren''t toote," Vex smiled as Stark and Lana entered the car.


    "You aren''ting?" Stark was confused, why were they the only one that needed to take that car?


    It didn''t take more than a few seconds for him understand.


    Vex, using his ''Wielder Heart'', began flying in the air, shooting in to the sky with a magnificent green sh.


    Max, the assassin, also just hid in the shadows and disappeared out nowhere.


    Thorn, the burly man, jumped on a building and dashed toward the location of the secret Rift at an incredible speed.


    Lance used some sort of spell and teleported away.


    And as for the two women on the group that didn''t go inside the car: Olivia, the achemist, just drank a potion and turned into a bird before flying into the horizon.


    "What the fuck?" Stark was astonished.


    And as for Ste, the exorcist, she summoned a giant golden cross and got on top of it before also flying, like she was on a magic carpet.


    "We aren''t that strong¡­ are we not?" Stark awkwardlyughed.


    "Maybe not¡­" Lana shrugged, "But i''m sure we''ll reach that level some day."


    Stark was honestly confident in his speed, he could of course always focus all his aura around his legs and be way faster than the car, but he decided to be prioritize rest over showing off as it was useless.


    Six hours passed after they got inside of the car, and soon enough, they left Ferburg.


    They were now in a giant in with green grass, and in front of them were dozens of other cars, as well as hundreds of people, some still arriving from the sky or even ground.


    "That''s our stop," Lana nodded, and the two got off the car.


    Everyone was there was one simple thing: the Secret Rift that was bound to open soon.

 Chapter 55: Opening of the Secret Rift

    As Stark and Lana stepped out of the car, they were immediately greeted by the sight of numerous fellow ssifiers, each huddled in their respective groups, discussing strategies and final preparations.


    In front of them all was a weird monument, and a crimson closed off portal that looked like a shut-eye from afar in the center.


    The Crimson Moon Squad had already reached the location before Lana and Stark, a proof that their travelling method was way more effective.


    They soon enough found the leader, Vex, and from there regrouped all the members one by one.


    "Only 20 more minutes," Vex spoke while pointing at the closed portal, "Then let''s prove to all those fuckers that we''re the stronger ones¡­!"


    This was apetition between all factions, and every single one of them was looking at one another, the sole purpose would be toe out of this shitty ce alive while conquering it.


    Whatever there was inside, they would need to face it.


    Not even ten minutester, they heard a voiceing from their left.


    "HAHAHA VEX, YOU LOOK DESPERATE!" a burly man with a brown heart in his handsughed, he seemed to be another ''Soul Wielder''.


    "Jack¡­ you never get tired of doing shit like this, do you?" Crimson Moon''s leader sighed.


    "You have a reached a new low it seems," his eyes were burning with an aura the same color of his heart, "Inviting two newbies to such a rift is basically suicide!"


    By this point, many people were looking at themotion.


    "I do understand Lana since she is extremely talented and you will actively make sure she is fine, but him?" he pointed at Stark, a wide grin on his face, "You are begging for him to be eaten or what? Plus what is that stupid mask?"


    It was obvious from all the different powerful people in this space that Lana and Stark were some of the weakest ones, plus their auras were also lower (although on Stark''s part it was only because he hadn''t activated Domination, otherwise it would be just as much as all the others)


    "Stop caring about my members so much, Jack, maybe it''s because you don''t focus on your team that you all have been cking offtely," Vex retorted, and many peopleughed, enjoying the show.


    "¡­" Jack was furious, "Well¡­ let''s see if your little newbie will survive inside that rift¡­" he groaned, "A LEVEL 16 PARTICIPATING IN A LEVEL 35-50 HELL-LEVEL RIFT IS CRAZY," he shouted thatst part on purpose for everyone to hear.


    And immediately, all eyes fell on the masked Stark.


    "Is Crimson Moon crazy, did they hire a level 16 newbie?"


    "And look at that ugly mask, pfft~ that guy is as good as dead¡­"


    "This is suicide, does he have a death wish?"


    Murmurs spread across all the groups of ssifiers.


    "¡­" Stark was just looking at everything unfolding with a nk expression on his face though since he didn''t care about any of these people and their opinions.


    Plus, what good would it be for him to get mad over such petty things.


    "You are a grown adult, and i''m a kid, so please act like one," Stark smiled while responding to Jack, and yet again another row ofughter echoed.


    "You little¡­" Jack gritted his teeth, but a white-haired woman, probably his teammate, grabbed his shoulder and asked him to let it go, so he went back to his group.


    As the tension in the air eased slightly, Vex turned to Lana and Stark with a reassuring smile,"Don''t worry about Jack, he''s all bark and no bite," he said, patting Stark on the back, "You''ll prove them all wrong once we enter that rift."


    But almost all the Crimson Moon Squad members were thinking like the others: Stark is pushing his luck with that rift, and he is surely gonna die inside, although they weren''t saying it and acted friendly.


    They had no bad intentions, but logic was their priority, and it didn''t make sense for someone that is level 16 to attempt that.


    Well¡­ every member except for Vex that is, since he could sense Stark''s aura and determination, and without any doubt they were some of the strongest he had seen.


    Stark felt a surge of determination coursing through him as he stood before the closed portal, the hushed whispers and doubtful gazes of the other ssifiers fading into background noise.


    He adjusted his bunny mask, the intricate design seeming to gleam with an inner light as he focused on the challenge ahead.


    Vex gathered the team together, his voice cutting through the tension in the air. "We''re not here to back down from a challenge. We''re here to show what we''re capable of. No matter what lies beyond that portal, we face it together, well except for Stark since¡­ you know¡­"


    The countdown began, marking the final moments before the portal would open. As the numbers dwindled, a sense of anticipation hung heavy in the air.


    Stark could feel the energy crackling around them, a mixture of fear and excitement swirling within everyone.


    And then, with a resounding hum, the portal slowly creaked open, revealing a swirling mass of dark energy pulsing within.


    [PORTAL OPENED]


    The crimson portal was now avable for everyone to use, and so people rushed inside, wanting to be the firsts to explore that ce.


    "Nobody is allowed to leave a Secret Rift before it ispleted, so watch out, especially you, Stark," he patted the ck-haired boy''s back and headed toward the portal alongside the other members.


    "Are you sure you wanna go alone?" Lana stayed back for a few seconds to confirm with Stark, and he simply nodded, so she went alongside the others.


    ''Welp,'' he stretched while grinning, still sensing the gaze of those that were still outside on him, it seemed like he had be a target to many in such a short amount of time, ''Let''s just¡­ level up¡­''


    And so he entered as well, ready to reach level 25 and spin the [ss Wheel] again, and maybe, just maybe,plete that rift and get all the rewards too¡­?


    As he stepped inside the portal, the world around Stark blurred and twisted, the once familiar scenery dissolving into a whirl of colors.


    A rush of wind tugged at his clothes, and his heart pounded in his chest as he was pulled deeper into the unknown.


    It was apletely different sensation from the one he had when getting inside the [City Ruins], but it was just to remind him that this rift was on a whole other level.


    ''No¡­ it can''t be worse than this¡­'' he remembered the Domination Trial and the hellish bosses he had to defeat, inparison, this would be NOTHING.


    And so he entered.


    [Level 35-50 Hell-Level Rift: The Valley of Shadows]


    [Good luck!]

 Chapter 56: The Mountain Challenge

    Stark emerged from the other side of the portal, his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the dim lighting of The Valley of Shadows.


    The air was thick with an eerie stillness, broken only by the distant echoes of unknown creatures.


    He was currently standing on the grass of a giant in, and beside him were hundreds of people like him, all looking in front of them without saying a word.


    Even the other members of the Crimson Moon Squad were looking, bewildered.


    And that''s when Stark decided to check out what awaited him.


    The sky was red, and three moons hung high above, casting an otherworldly glow on thendscape.


    But upon further inspection, he realized that these ''moons'' were actually much more terrifying as there was a giant eye on each of them, staring down on the world below.


    They were currently on t ground with no monsters in sight, but right in front of them stood a mountain, a giant door at its surface, inviting them all to enter.


    As Stark gazed up at the foreboding entrance to the mountain, a chill ran down his spine. The other participants shuffled nervously around him, whispering among themselves in hushed tones.


    But he knew he shouldn''t waste time, and so while all the others waited for their teammates or got ready to strategize¡­


    "DOMINATION!" he activated his skill, and his crimson aura surrounded by feet.


    ~DASH~


    He began running toward the entrance with incredible speed, surprising all the others.


    "Already going? The fuck"


    "Holy shit¡­ isn''t that the level 16 guy?"


    "Yeah he is definitely going to die¡­"


    The mountain was extremely tall, even reaching the dark clouds with lightning that decorated the red sky.


    "Even high level rifts have low-levels monster in some location, try to find one and gain experience there," was what Vex told him, and that''s exactly what Stark nned to do.


    Going head to head with several level 35 monsters was absolutely suicide when he thought about it, even with his upgraded health and incredible stats.


    Many people followed after Stark after he began rushing toward the real start of the rift, these grass ins were in fact only the ''safe'' area, the real challenge beginning when you entered the valley.


    The entrance of the mountain was akin to some sort of cave, except there was no way to check inside, a ck fog stopping anyone from seeing past it.


    [Once you enter the level 35 area: "Mountain Challenge", you will not be able to return until at least reaching the Valley of Shadows, so be careful =)]


    ''Why is it called the valley if it''s inside a mountain...'' Stark pondered, but he guessed that it was because this was only the beginning: meaning that the rift was just testing them, only those able to pass the Mountain Challenge would be allowed to traverse.


    The darkness of the cave enveloped Stark as he stepped through the threshold, the ck fog swirling around him like shadowse to life.


    Uponing out of the other side, he found himself in abyrinth-like area inside the mountain, all walls were made of the same texture as the mountain.


    And so he began walking.


    [You are the first to enter the ''Mountain Challenge'', how BRAVE!]


    And of course, what would be his reward for being so brave? Well¡­


    A monster! Of course!


    As he rounded a corner, a pair of glowing eyes pierced the shadows, fixating on him with predatory intent.


    The creature emerged from the darkness - a massive beast with sleek brown fur and razor-sharp ws.


    But of course, it wasn''t alone, and behind it, another three pairs of eyes appeared, and then these monsters emerged too.


    They looked like wolves.


    ¡­


    [Name: Mountain Wolf]


    [Level: 30]


    [HP: 37000]


    [Strength: 938]


    [Stamina: 738]


    [Speed: 1103]


    [Defense: 492]


    [Skills: Ferocious Bite, Shadow Pounce, Pack Tactics¡­]


    ¡­


    [WARNING! Your level is low (16), do not attempt to fight, run!]


    ''Nah, i''d win,'' Stark positioned his fists in front of his face, ready to take on the four wolves, who somehow almost had as much HP as the boss of the [City Ruins].


    "AURA SMASH!" he sent two of his crimson fists toward the wolves, but two of them avoided them, while the other two were hit.


    "-19231! -20271!" and just like that, the two wolves had died since they both received this incredible amount of damage.


    ''Huh¡­?'' Stark was confused, but he didn''t have the time for that since the other wolves that had avoided his attack were already on their way to attack him.


    "Ferocious Bite!"


    He dodged the first wolf''s attack, feeling the rush of wind as its teeth snapped shut just inches from his arm.


    The second wolf lunged at him from the side, but Stark was quick to react, nting a firm kick into its chest and sending it tumbling backward.


    "-7261!" even his kick dealt massive damage, but not enough to truly injure it.


    With two wolves down and two remaining, Stark knew he had to act fast. The remaining beasts circled him, their eyes glinting with hunger as they closed in for another attack.


    As one of the wolves lunged towards him, Stark made a split-second decision. Instead of dodging, he grabbed the beast by its fur mid-air and used its momentum to swing it into the other wolf, knocking them both off bnce.


    Taking advantage of the momentary confusion, Stark unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks, each strike hitting with precision and strength.


    "-13622! -14361! -12838!"


    And so, all the wolves were dead, their defense was low, so hit attacks damaged them greatly, only taking him three hits for each of them to send them back to the shadow realm.


    [Experience: 187617/225000]


    [You have in two "Mountain Wolves lv30", gained 38751EXP!]


    [You have in two "Mountain Wolves lv30", gained 39817EXP!]


    And so immediately, the influx of experience headed toward Stark''s body, and he was enveloped by that golden aura again.


    ¡­


    [Your level has increased to level 17, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 41185/268000]


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 7!]


    ''Yeah¡­ the amount of experience needed is really getting out of hand¡­''


    But he didn''t really have the time to think about it that he heard more noise behind and in front of him.


    [Name: Sneaky Mole lv32]


    [Name: Sound Bat lv31]


    [Name: Rock Golem Lv30]


    ''Ah shit¡­ here we go again¡­'' Stark got ready to fight them all, after all, nobody woulde to save him in this ce, especially since he had made himself a target for others, plus they wouldn''t benefit from it.


    And so he dashed forward, toward one of the many monsters, and punched it as hard as he could.


    "-15472!"


    "LET''S DO THIS, MY EXPERIENCE POINTS," heughed before going on a rampage.

 Chapter 57: Out of the First Area

    The Sneaky Mole dug underground, aiming to surprise Stark from behind, but he anticipated its move. As the mole popped up right behind him, Stark spun around and delivered a swift kick that sent the creature flying back into the dirt.


    "-17837!"


    Then he sent a crimson fist from ''Aura Smash'' inside that hole, killing the mole.


    "-21263!"


    Next, the Sound Bat swooped down from above, screeching loudly in an attempt to disorient Stark. However, he remained focused and timed his jump perfectly, meeting the bat mid-air with two powerful uppercuts that silenced it for good.


    "-18263! -17702!"


    The Rock Golem lumbered towards Stark, its massive stone fists raised to crush him. Stark knew he wouldn''t be able to take this monster down with just brute force. Instead, he dodged its first strike and aimed for the gem embedded in its chest - the source of its power.


    With a calcted move, Stark dashed around the golem, avoiding its heavy attacks and striking precisely at the gem. As his fist connected with the crystal, a blinding light burst forth, causing the golem to shudder and crumble into a pile of rubble.


    "-37162!"


    This was the most amount of damage he had dealt to an opponent, but it seems like aiming for an enemy''s weak point caused more damage, just like in video games.


    [You have in one "Sneaky Mole lv32", gained 21627EXP!]


    [You have in one "Sound Bat lv31", gained 19880EXP!]


    [You have in one "Rock Golem lv34", gained 23726EXP!]


    ''Fair,'' he cracked his bones and kept going, after all this was only the starting area, and he didn''t want to stay there too long although it was a perfect opportunity to farm levels.


    He continued his journey deeper into the heart of the mountain, each step echoing in the dimly lit cavern.


    The path ahead twisted and turned, leading him further away from the entrance and into the unknown depths.


    Along the way, he encountered more formidable foes - giant spiders with dripping fangs, elemental spirits crackling with power, and even a towering golem made of pure iron.


    But in the end¡­


    [You have in one "Silky Spider lv33", gained 23182EXP!]


    Not a single one of those monsters¡­


    [You have in one "Mountain Spirit lv31", gained 22619EXP!]


    Put a dent on him.


    [You have in one "Iron Golem lv32", gained 24271EXP!]


    ¡­


    [Your level has increased to level 18, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    ¡­


    [Your level has increased to level 19, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    ¡­


    [Experience: 8261/310000]


    By the time he reached the end of the level 35 area, which took quite a while since he had been lost and also struggled to fight some of the monsters, he was already level 19.


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 8!]


    [You have upgraded ''Aura Smash'' to level 6!]


    In front of him was yet another ck fog, the same as the one as the entrance, making him unable to see anything past it.


    He took a deep breath and stepped forward, unsure of whaty ahead. The darkness of the fog enveloped him, and a strange sensation washed over him.


    As his eyes adjusted to theck of light, he could see faint wisps of energy surrounding him, a message appeared before him:


    [You have entered Level 40 area: The Valley''s Forest]


    He emerged from the other side, and then found himself outside again, except it waspletely different.


    He was now surrounded by trees, and much like the area''s name described, he was inside of a forest.


    The sky was still a crimson red, and the three moons were still looking down at¡­ him?


    ''Almost feels like these things are looking at only me¡­'' Stark didn''t like it, but he couldn''t do anything about it.


    Surrounding him were not only trees, but giant mountains in all directions, blocking anyone from leaving this ce.


    And his objective? Well¡­ the rift itself showed it to him.


    [You are the first person to reach the ''Valley''s Forest'', granting you information!]


    The message turned into a sparkling light, and hurtled toward a giant mountain in front of him like a shining star, one he could hardly see because of the tree leaves.


    Observing closely, Stark could see that there was some sort of structure on that mountain, and a flight of stairs were leading up to it, but it was extremely far.


    ''Welp, need to keep going¡­''


    Stark took a few steps forward and then suddenly hear a weird noise.


    ~BEEP, BEEP, BEEP~


    It didn''t take him more than a few seconds to look down and see that the "Crimson Moon Communication Device" he was wearing was glowing repeatedly.


    [Please click on the badge to answer the call!]


    Stark hesitated for a moment, debating whether to answer the call or ignore it and continue his journey into the Valley''s Forest. Curiosity got the better of him, and he tapped on the badge, activating themunication device.


    And as soon as he did, Vex''s voice rang in his ears, even though he wasn''t wearing earphones or anything of the sort.


    "Yo, Stark, everyone received a message that someone just entered the level 40 area, are you doing good on your end?"


    All the ''Crimson Moon Squad'' members could hear or engage in their discussion, but they preferred to listen.


    "Yeah¡­ I just entered it, I guess¡­" Stark answered nonchntly.


    "WAIT WHAT?" Thorns intervened, "IT''S YOU?"


    "¡­?" Stark was confused, after all wasn''t the reason they called him because they knew?


    But unbeknownst to him, Secret Rifts were different from normal ones since they were never explored before.


    Everytime someone entered a new area or defeated an elite/mini-boss/boss, everyone inside the rift would be notified (it was the same in the ''City Ruins'' except only for mini-bosses and bosses).


    Basically, everyone had received this message.


    [Someone has reached the level 40 area, hurry up!]


    Vex had indeed called to check on Stark, but he hadn''t expected him to be the one to reach it.


    "You really are stronger than you look, you know?" the leader praised him.


    "I hear that often," Stark smiled.


    "Well, i''ll let you go, we need to make sure not to let any of the other factions take the lead!"


    And just like that, the call was ended.


    The shadows of the trees ahead of him and the overall atmosphere of this forest were very eerie, but Stark didn''t care.


    ''Level 25¡­'' he mumbled over and over, he wanted to find a good spot to farm experience, and he believed that this rift would be perfect for it.


    But of course, just as he was about to head deeper inside the forest, he heard noise behind him, from the ''Mountain Challenge''s'' exit, and¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Four people came out from the ck fog.


    "Haha~ this isn''t hard at all, let''s just beat the boss and get this over with!"


    Instinctively, Stark hid behind a tree, he didn''t know whether these people were aggresive or not, and he didn''t want to risk it.


    Even more so knowing there was the possibility of their level being way higher than his.


    In such a rift, where nobody would question what happened, it is kill or be killed, and no one will know the truth even if you were murdered.


    "We can also just loot the guy that already came here, he musn''t be far since the message appeared three minutes ago¡­"


    "Good idea, let''s kill that fucker and take his equipment!"


    ''¡­'' he had gotten his answer.

 Chapter 58: The Valleys Forest

    ''¡­'' while still behind a tree, Stark listened to the conversation of the four ssifiers that emerged from the Mountain Challenge''s area exit, and his pupils were burning with a bright crimson aura as he realized their ill intentions.


    But it wasn''t just them, every single one of the ssifiers in here had mostly bad intentions and feelings with the others.


    After all, it was apetition, and the strongest group would be the winner.


    The group of ssifiers passed right next to Stark, unaware of his presence, and headed deeper inside the woods.


    ''No reason to fight people stronger than me for now¡­'' Stark mumbled before heading to the left, which was opposite to where they had gone.


    [Watch out for the three guardians of the Valley''s Forest]


    Such a warning appeared out of nowhere, almost informing Stark about a danger he didn''t know of.


    The crimson moons cast an eerie glow on the twisted branches and gnarled roots that seemed to reach out for him with every step.


    Shadows danced around him, whispering secrets that he couldn''t quite make out.


    And then¡­


    ~FWASH~


    A branch shed through the air toward Stark, who avoided it at thest second using his quick movements.


    ''What the fuck?'' he wondered while looking around, but saw no enemies.


    But it was at that very moment that he realized what was happening: the trees were alive.


    Five of the trees that surrounded him suddenly sprang to life, their branches twisting and turning menacingly, ready to strike at any moment, plus a crimson eyeball had appeared within the knots of their bark, all fixated on him.


    ''This is bad¡­'' Stark thought, preparing himself to face these unexpected foes. He had never encountered living trees before, let alone ones with a malevolent intent.


    ¡­


    [Name: Fake Trees]


    [Level: 38]


    [HP: 48500]


    [Strength: 1782]


    [Stamina: 966]


    [Speed: 102]


    [Defense: 736]


    [Skills: Branch Strike, Root entangle, Life drain, Fakeout¡­]


    ¡­


    Stark quickly assessed the situation and knew he had to act fast. With a deep breath, he activated [Domination] and focused his energy.


    The Fake Trees began to advance slowly, their branches creaking as they moved closer to him.


    They were extremely slow as they were basically using their roots to move slowly, but their reach and strength were on a whole other level, and he felt like even one attack would kill him.


    "CLONE FRENZY!" he decided to summon one of his clones beside him to increase his odds since fighting such opponents alone could never be good.


    Stark''s clone appeared by his side, mirroring his every move as they faced off against the menacing Fake Trees.


    The Fake Trees, sensing the increased threat from the appearance of the clone, moved more aggressively towards Stark and his doppelganger. Branchesshed out with incredible speed, aiming to strike them down with brute force.


    Stark and his clone leaped and dodged with expert agility, narrowly avoiding the deadly strikes of the Fake Trees. They worked in tandem, coordinating their movements to confuse and outmaneuver their wooden adversaries.


    And thanks to that, the clone was able to reach one of the trees before Stark did so.


    "AURA SMASH!" it jumped in the air and threw its two crimson fists toward one of the trees'' eyeball.


    "-25918! -24277!"


    ''Holy, the damage is insane even for the clone¡­'' Stark thought after seeing that first tree fall to the ground, meaning that their weaknesses was indeed that vulnerable eyeball.


    Stark knew that he needed to exploit this weakness to defeat the Fake Trees. With determination in his eyes, he focused his energy and dashed towards another tree, his movements quick and precise.


    As he approached the towering wooden creature, branches swiped at him viciously, but Stark anticipated the attacks and ducked, narrowly avoiding them.


    With a burst of speed, Stark leaped up high and aimed two powerful crimson fists toward the eyeballs of two other ''Fake Trees''.


    ~BOOM, BOOM!~


    "-39272! -38128!" both of them were hit, and put on one HP.


    [Enemy stunned]


    And in addition to that, one was stunned, allowing Stark''s clone to punch the two trees and kill them both.


    "Root Entangle!" but he didn''t have much more time to do anything else that roots came out of the ground beneath his clone and grabbed it, mming it to the ground while restraining its movements.


    "-5623!" the damage was insane, and of course the clone died since it only had one point of health.


    Stark didn''t want to summon his second clone either as there could be a risk of losing it, so he decided to face off thest two alone.


    Stark stood alone against the remaining two Fake Trees, their crimson eyeballs fixed on him with malice.


    He took a deep breath, then began running toward the two trees as they were both right next to one another.


    But of course, even monsters had brains.


    "ROOT ENTANGLE!" seeing that their branch strikes were all avoided by Stark, they decided to ambush him by summoning hundreds of roots from the ground, making it almost impossible for Stark to avoid them all.


    That is¡­ if he didn''t have ''THAT'' skill.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," at the perfect timing, he rolled forward and passed right through the attack using his invincibility frames.


    And so he found himself right in front of the monsters, a wide grin on his face as he knew that it was over.


    "CHECKMATE," heughed as he activated [Aura Smash] and sent the two fists at each of the trees.


    "-42718! -43772!" and then he followed through with two punches while they were recovering from that.


    ~CRACK, CRUNCH!~


    The two Fake Trees crumbled to the ground, defeated by Stark''s strategic prowess and powerful attacks.


    [HP:7650/7650]


    Stark observed that with each level hepleted, his HP would increase significantly more than it did in the previous level, which was why he was already at 7650 while being only level 19.


    [You have in one "Fake Tree lv38", gained 32619EXP!]


    [You have in one "Fake Tree lv38", gained 31993EXP!]


    [You have in one "Fake Tree lv38", gained 32182EXP!]


    ¡­


    He had gotten over 150000 experience points in this singr battle, and although he had almost died many times, it was still worth it to him.


    And so he kept going inside the ''Valley''s Forest'', fighting his way through the monsters he would encounter.


    ¡­


    [You have in one "Forest Spirit lv37", gained 30736EXP!]


    [You have in one "Grass Wolf lv39", gained 34012EXP!]


    [You have in one "Fire Bear lv36", gained 29824EXP!]


    ¡­


    And so soon enough, he reached level 20.


    [Your level has increased to level 20, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Level 20 Reached: please pick a skill card]


    Three red cards appeared in front of him just like the previous times, and Stark took the one in the middle since he didn''t really have the time to decide in this dangerous environment.


    He took the card and flipped it, and there he saw the drawing of a crimson spear.


    ''¡­?'' he immediately read the name of the skill.

 Chapter 59: The Fire Fox

    [Skill: Crimson Spears]


    [Type: Rare]


    [Level: 1]


    [Description: A skill that allows the user to summon three powerful crimson spears with incredible piercing capabilities. The spears can be thrown at enemies from a distance, impaling them with devastating force, 30 seconds cooldown between each spear (meaning 1m30 to recover them all)]


    ¡­


    ''Interesting¡­'' Stark was satisfied, after all it was always good to get more skills that were long-ranged since he always needed to be in contact with an enemy to deal damage normally.


    [Experience: 12617/340000]


    Stark gathered his newfound strength and continued his journey through the treacherous Valley''s Forest.


    The path ahead was shrouded in darkness, with twisted trees looming overhead like silent sentinels.


    It had been thirty minutes since he had entered the Valley''s Forest, and now most people that were inside the Secret Rift were going through the ''Mountain''s Challenge'' area, with only a few ssifiers inside the forest.


    The air grew colder as Stark ventured deeper into the heart of the Valley''s Forest.


    And suddenly¡­


    He felt a chill run down his spine, and sensing danger, he stepped back.


    ~BOOM~


    A fireball came crashing in the ce he had been just moments ago.


    But it wasn''t a human that sent this spell, instead¡­


    "ROOOAR~" a giant fox, at least four meters in size,appeared before him, its eyes gleaming with a fierce intelligence.


    The creature''s fur zed a vibrant orange, flickering with mes as it slowly inched closer to Stark. Its deep growls echoed through the air, its eyes locked onto him as if he were its next meal.


    The heat radiating from the fiery fur was intense, and Stark could feel his skin prickle with sweat.


    Every step it took sent sparks flying, illuminating its sharp ws and menacing teeth. This was no ordinary animal; it was a living inferno, ready to consume anything in its path.


    And of course, Stark immediately realized this couldn''t be a normal monster either.


    ¡­


    [Name: Fire Fox (ELITE - FOREST GUARDIAN)]


    [Level: 40]


    [HP: 140000]


    [Strength: 1281]


    [Stamina: 2351]


    [Speed: 1928]


    [Defense: 636]


    [Skills: zing Inferno, w Swipe, me Burst, Heatwave, Fireball, Fire Shield, Call of the Forest¡­]


    ¡­


    [Note:ing in contact with its fire fur will cause the ''burn'' effect]


    ''Great¡­'' Stark groaned, he was essentially fighting an enemy that countered his fighting style perfectly, meaning he would need to focus on using [Aura Smash] and [Crimson Spears] if he ever hoped to have a chance of winning this.


    "CLAW SWIPE," the fox didn''t waste time and immediately jumped toward Stark with its ws poised to strike.


    Stark managed to dodge to the side just in time, feeling the rush of heat as the Fire Fox''s ws sliced through the air beside him.


    Thinking quickly, Stark decided to summon his Crimson Spears to test them out.


    And suddenly, his aura started pouring out in the air behind him, and three crismon spears appeared out of thin air, each gleaming with an otherworldly light.


    He could control them using his mere thoughts, making it much easier to use.


    Without hesitation and while the Fox was recovering from the sudden attack, Starkunched the three spears towards the Fire Fox.


    The spears flew through the air, leaving trails of crimson energy in their wake as they closed in on their target.


    The Fire Fox, caught off guard by the sudden attack, attempted to dodge the iing assault, but one of the spears found its mark, impaling the creature''s hind leg with devastating force.


    "-19261!"


    A pained howl echoed through the forest as the Fire Fox stumbled, its movements momentarily slowed by the wound.


    "AURA SMASH!" seizing the opportunity, Stark unleashed his skill and sent two crimson fists toward the slowed fox.


    "-26716! -28172!" the damage was insane, and in addition to that¡­


    [Enemy stunned]


    Stark couldn''t approach the fox since going hand to hand with it would cause him to receive an immense amount of damage and the [Burn] effect, but he stayed focused.


    "zing Inferno!" but even though the fox was supposed to be stunned, it still somehow was able to slightly move and use a skill.


    The Fire Fox unleashed a tornado of mes toward Stark, who was taken aback by the sudden attack.


    All the trees around them were now burning, and he couldn''t help but think that this forest would be in mes before their battle ended, who even had the idea to put a fire monster in a mmable environment?


    Stark couldn''t dodge the toranod since it was too big and too close to him, so he decided to focus¡­


    He closed his eyes while sensing the heat of the attacke closer and closer¡­


    And when it was millimeters away from him, he opened his eyes and used [Invincible Dodge] to roll forward, basically passing right through thr tornado without receiving damage.


    "¡­?" even the fox was confused, but it quickly jumped back on its feet as the stun effect had ended.


    "Aura Smash!" Stark sent two crimson fists toward it again, but the fox jumped in the air and dodged them both.


    "FIREBALL! FLAME BURST!" it activated both these skills, the first to summon many fire balls to send toward Stark, and the second to enhance these attacks to make them stronger and faster.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    And suddenly, the Fire Fox began sending dozens of fire balls from its mouth.


    ''SHIT!'' Stark summoned his [Crimson Spears] beside him and began running to avoid the balls of fire, each of them crashing against a nearby tree and making it copse in mes.


    The forest around them was rapidly turning into a zing inferno, the heat bing almost unbearable as the Fire Fox relentlessly pursued Stark with its fiery attacks.


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    The fire rate of the fire balls wasn''t stopping, forcing Stark ot keep moving.


    ~FWISH~


    He sent one of his spears toward the fox, but it just avoided it.


    He knew he couldn''t keep this up forever, so he decided to do something crazy: attack the fox up front, after all¡­


    He looked down to his right hand, where the two rings he had were, and noticed that he had [The Purgatory Shadows] with him.


    ''OK, LET''S END THIS FIGHT,'' he suddenly dashed toward the fox.


    "CLONE FRENZY!" he summoned one of his clones to aid him, and both of them were now only a few meters away from the guardian, who was still sending attacks at them both.


    Both him and the clone jumped in the air, looking down at the fox who was seemingly confused as to why Stark changed his approach.


    And then, the original one dived at the Fire Fox, actually ready to fight it from close range.


    "w Swipe!" but the guardian wouldn''t sit there and take it, so of course it raised its ws, ready to cut Stark in half.


    And so¡­ the two powerful beings shed.

 Chapter 60: The Three Forest Guardians

    "w Swipe!" the fox aimed for Stark as he dived toward it, shing its ws at the boy.


    But¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" while still in mid-air, Stark did a roll and passed right through the attack, unharmed thanks to the invincibility frames.


    "AURA SMASH!" the clone that was also jumping sent two crimson fists toward the fox, who was unable to dodge because it was too focused on attacking Stark.


    "-13252! -12726!"


    [Enemy stunned!]


    "HAHA," With a maniacalugh, he brought his hands together and mmed them down on the fox''s head, the mes from the fox''s back licking at his fingers.


    "-24626!" the attack was deadly, but Stark also received some damage¡­


    Or did he now?


    [The Purgatory Shadow took the hit in your ce]


    A shadow of himself appeared as the mes were about to hurt him and blocked them, it was the perk of one of the rings he was wearing, and it was extremely useful.


    In addition to that, he used the fox''s back asunching pad and jumped back in the air.


    "AURA SMASH, CRIMSON SPEARS" he sent two crimson fists and three spears at the already stunned wolf, ready to end the fight.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, SLASH~


    But¡­


    "FIRE SHIELD," the fox used its fire and aura to create an orange sphere that stopped all the attacks from hitting it.


    [Fire Fox (GUARDIAN) HP: 15247/140000]


    It was extremely injured, and Stark backed away along with his clone once he noticed that it was getting up.


    ''¡­'' he was ready to fight it up close, now that its HP were reduced so much, he could even go as far as send his clone to finish it off even though it would disappear.


    But honestly, he had wished he did that.


    "CALL OF THE FOREST!" the Fire Fox suddenly began roaring with fierce urgency several times, over and over, making the leaves of the trees that were still fairly intact tremble.


    ''¡­?'' Stark was taken aback, his confusion quickly turning into unease.


    The injured fox was on the brink of death, what could it possibly do to save itself?


    And then, as if in response to his thoughts, a feeling stirred within him. It was a deep instinct, almost primal in nature, urging him to move and dodge ''it''.


    Dodge what? He didn''t know, but in his mind, a message appeared.


    [Above you]


    His pupils burning with aura, he dived forward at thest second.


    ~BOOM~


    Something came crashing at the spot he was at before.


    "-27182!" the clone had been hit and died, the aura that formed it seeping back into his body.


    "FUCKING HELL!" he shouted, then positioned himself.


    As the smoke from the sudden attack cleared, he could finally make out the figure in front of him: a towering green gori with vines sprouting from its back.


    The creature''s powerful arms mmed into the ground, leaving behind a massive crater.


    ¡­


    [Name: Vine Gori (ELITE - FOREST GUARDIAN)]


    [Level: 40]


    [HP: 120000]


    [Strength: 2182]


    [Stamina: 627]


    [Speed: 736]


    [Defense: 1595]


    [Skills: Vine Whip, Vine Grapple, Earthquake, Leap Strike, Earth Force, Muscle Enforcement, Vine Shield¡­]


    ¡­


    "TWO OF THEM?" Stark didn''t like that, but he still had a neutral expression on his face, he hadn''t expected the ''Call of the Forest'' skill to be used to summon another one of the guardians.


    That panel when he appeared in this area had informed him there were three of them, and he honestly didn''t want to find out what would happen if all three came to him.


    "VINE WHIP," dozens of the vines that came from the Gori''s back suddenly rushed toward Stark, and he swiftly avoided them all.


    "AURA SMASH!" he answered with sending a crimson fist toward the Gori, and another at the Fire Fox.


    "-12372!" it hit the gori since its speed was low, but the guardian didn''t even look bothered by his attack.


    "FIREBALLS!" the Fire Fox obviously didn''t stay put and dodged the crimson fist all the while beginning to send another barrage of fire balls at him.


    ''Fucking hell¡­'' Stark began running in the opposite direction.


    "VINE GRAPPLE," vines came hurtling from the ground around Stark, catching his leg as he didn''t expect it.


    "SHIT," he saw a fire balling, and with the right timing used [Invincible Dodge] to save himself before cutting off the vines with his aura-infused palm.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," Stark knew that the fox would just avoid them all, but he summoned back his spears and threw at the gori, who didn''t even bother avoiding them either.


    "Muscle Reinforcement," The gori flexed its muscles and its chest began shining.


    ~PAF, PAF, PAF~


    The spears had indeed reached their target, but¡­


    "-0! -0! -0!"


    They just bounced off the gori''s chest like they were made out of stic.


    The guardian smirked at Stark afterward, taunting him.


    ''I''ll sell your fur at the market when i''m done with you¡­'' Stark groaned, but he was too preupied with avoiding the vines and fireballs that came from all directions to say it out loud.


    ''This isn''t working¡­'' he thought, he knew he couldn''t hit the fox this way since it would avoid all his attacks, and the gori would tank everything.


    He also didn''t want to use another clone or [Double Assault] yet since they could be neededter.


    So he did the next best thing: run.


    But of course, the point of running wasn''t to cowardly escape the fight, in contrary: he wanted to outsmart the two monsters while they were chasing him, and if they didn''t, then who cares.


    Stark sprinted through the forest, dodging the vines and the constant barrage of fireballs. He kept ncing behind him, making sure he could see both the gori and the Fox following him.


    He could hear the gori''s heavy footsteps behind him as it tried its hardest to keep up with Stark''s and the Fox''s incredible speed.


    The fox easily catched up to Stark several times and tried to sh him with its ws, but of course, the boy would just avoid the attacks and force the Fire Fox to back away.


    And after a few minutes of that, where none of his [Aura Smash] fists dealt any damage, and where his [Crimson Spears] were all avoided or blocked, he heard something in the distance: the sound of people fighting.


    "BINGO!" if they were a higher level than he was, then they could definitely assist him in defeating these monsters.


    And so he rushed toward the sounds.


    But once he got close enough¡­ the noises suddenly stopped.


    "GRRAAAAWWWRRR~" and a massive roar echoed from the location of the sounds.


    "What the hell?" Stark kept going, and soon enough he reached the ce he had heard the noise from.


    And that''s when he saw it: the bodies of four ssifiers were on the ground, all mutted or decapitated.


    The responsible was the creature that roared: a giant blue bear that was standing up on its two legs, a fierce blue aura in its eyes.


    [Water Bear lv40 (ELITE - FOREST GUARDIAN)]


    Right behind Stark were the Fire Fox and Vine Gori, and in front of him was the Water Bear.


    He was surrounded by the three guardians, and the people he believed could help him were already dead.


    ''Life is terrible,'' he sighed.

 Chapter 61: One Down, Two to Go

    The four ssifiers that were on the ground, all dead upon meeting with one of the forest guardians, the Water Bear, were the ones that had entered the rift shortly after Stark and talked about looting him if they came close.


    He couldn''t say they didn''t deserve such a fate for trying to kill and steal from others, but they were supposed to help him get out of this situation.


    And now¡­


    "GRAWWWR!" the bear roared again, now getting on its four feets, slowly approaching Stark.


    "OOUUOUUUHHH!" the gori was hitting its chest repeatedly.


    "¡­" and the fox just walked around Stark, the fire on its back still powerful.


    He was surrounded by the three most powerful beings of this forest, ones even supposed ''powerful'' groups had died to.


    "No more running, you little shits," he wouldn''t get any help, and he wouldn''t be able to out run the fox, so there was no use in running again.


    He directed his gaze to the Water Bear to check out its status window using [Perception].


    ¡­


    [Name: Water Bear (ELITE - FOREST GUARDIAN)]


    [Level: 40]


    [HP: 100000]


    [Strength: 1261]


    [Stamina: 371]


    [Speed: 1182]


    [Defense: 1892]


    [Skills: Water Cannon, Nimble Steps, Deep Freeze, Aqua Strike, Aqua Shield, Intimidating Roar, w Strike¡­]


    ¡­


    "FUCK ME¡­" Stark wasn''t in a good spot. Three high-level guardians were on their way to deal with him, and he waspletely outmatched.


    He had no choice but to react and adapt to the situation at hand. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself for the uing fight.


    "AURA SMASH!" he shouted, aiming his fist at the Water Bear.


    "Aqua Shield!" a wall appeared before the crimson fist and stopped it before it could reach the bear.


    '':I'' Stark looked at it with the nkest of expressions.


    From all three directions now, the guardians were slowly but surely approaching him.


    "Fireballs!" the fox began powering up his attacks.


    "Water Cannon,'' a blue sphere appeared above the bear''s head, its eyes still burning with that same watery aura.


    "Vipe Whip," dozens of the vines came from the gori''s back and hurtled toward Stark.


    ~FWISH, BAM, BOOM~


    The water jett from the canon came rushing toward him, several fire balls wereunched in his direction, and all the vines hurtled to attack.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" he counted the seconds perfectly and avoided all the attacks using perfect timing.


    Then without wasting time¡­


    "CRIMSON SPEAR," he began running toward the fox while summoning his spears andunching them at the other two guardians.


    The gori just took two of them by himself using his durable chest, but the bear¡­


    "-7269!" the spear actually hit him, but it wasn''t enough to do massive damage because of his high defense.


    [Fire Fox (GUARDIAN) HP: 15247/140000]


    [Vine Gori (GUARDIAN) HP: 107628/120000]


    [Water Bear (GUARDIAN) HP: 92731/100000]


    The point of those spears wasn''t to hurt the other two guardians, but to stale for him.


    After all, Stark noticed that the Fire Fox was the one with the least amount of HP, and one or two attacks from him would be enough to kill it: if he wanted to increase his odds of survival, he would need to get rid of at least one of them, and the fox was the best option.


    Stark moved left to right to avoid both the fireballs, the water jet that was following him, and the several vines.


    But he was getting closer.


    "-1726!" a vine shed his leg, but he didn''t falter, his speed not decreasing at all.


    "-1891!" the water jet hit him for a split second in his back, and it was enough to cause a third of life, but still, Stark didn''t stop.


    "I GOT YOU!" he jumped in the air above the fox, who was stillunching fire balls and all sorts of attacks at him.


    "w Swipe, me Burst, FIRE SHIELD!" feeling its impending doom, the fox tried everything in its powers to stop the boy.


    But Stark focused his aura around his body and passed right through the wall of mes.


    "-726!" it didn''t hurt him much, but now¡­ he got it.


    ~SLAM~


    "-17261!" he punched the fox so hard that it was sent flying against a nearby tree, crumbling to the ground as its HP were reduced to 0.


    [Touched ''Fire Fox'', dealing ''Burn'' effect for 10 seconds]


    "-200! -200!¡­" he received 2000 damage from the attack, but had gotten rid of one of the guardians, so it waspletely worth it.


    [Dealt massive damage to ''Fire Gox (GUARDIAN)'', regaining 682HP!]


    But that wasn''t all¡­


    [You have in "Fire Fox lv40 (FOREST GUARDIAN)", gained 245000EXP!]


    This wasn''t enough to make him level up, but it was good to know he had actually gotten rid of it.


    And now¡­ he had to deal with the other two.


    "ROOOOAARRR~"


    "OUHOUHOUUUH~"


    The Vine Gori and Water Bear were looking at Stark with menacing eyes and striking menacing poses.


    They had just seen the human defeat one of their own, and they were ready to kill him to avenge theirpanion.


    But Stark was having none of that, he was tired of this shit already.


    "You had it your way until now, but from now," Stark maniacally smiled, his entire body burning with crimson aura, "We''ll y with my rules."


    He frankly didn''t know if they could understand him, but by their angry expressions, it was safe to say they could.


    "CLONE FRENZY," Stark lifted his arm and the second clone he had appeared beside him.


    Then he pointed at the Water Bear, "You take care of him using ''THAT'', i''ll take the gori."


    The clone nodded, its eyes also burning with that same aura, a visible smirk on its face.


    He was now ready to fight them off, it was all or nothing.


    And he sure as hell wasn''t nning to lose.


    Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, a group of seven people were watching him from afar: they were the ''Wyver''s Wrath'' group, an up and rising one that have made big news because of their conqueststely.


    And each of their members were now looking at the battle from afar.


    "It''s over," one of them said, recognizing that there was no chance Stark could win after being surrounded by three elite monsters (this was before he killed the Fox).


    "¡­" the others nodded in approval.


    They had been watching the four other ssifiers to analyze their powers and strength, but they had all been wiped out, and right as they were about to leave, Stark appeared, followed by two guardians.


    Now all they needed to do was observe that boy, wait for him to be killed (they had no intentions to help), then finish off those guardians.


    "Hm~" but the most surprising thing of all about this group was¡­


    That Stark''s brother, the one he had first met in this world, was the leader.


    "¡­" and for some reason, he didn''t know why, even though that boy was wearing a mask, he felt strangely familiar, "Must be my imagination, let''s focus!"

 Chapter 62: Defeating the Forest Guardians

    "LET''S DO THIS," Stark and his clone were now both facing the two remaining guardians, they were monsters far stronger than they were, and the clone had only one HP, but there was no other solution now.


    "EARTH FORCE," the green gori hit the ground beneath it with incredible force, resulting in a giant chunk of terrain being flung in the air right in front of it.


    Then it grabbed it andunched it toward Stark.


    "HAHA~" Stark wasn''t afraid and dashed toward the giant chunk of rock, taking it head-on as his clone faced the bear.


    "CRIMSON FIST," he sent a crimson fist at the chunk, destroying it and allowing him to close the distance between him and the gori.


    But of course, Stark didn''t go head on with an enemy more powerful, durable and stronger than he was¡­


    He decided to finally use his legendary skill.


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT!"


    [Description: Upon activating this skill, all of your stats double in numbers, making you a beast in the battlefield, it onlysts ten seconds, but it should be enough to make both people and monsters fear you, cooldown is 20 minutes.]


    As Stark activated Double Assault, he felt an incredible surge of power coursing through his veins. His strength, speed, agility, and aura were all doubled, making him a fearsome force to be reckoned with.


    The Vine Gori and Water Bear immediately took notice of the sudden change in Stark''s abilities, but they didn''t back down.


    [10 seconds left for ''Double Assault'']


    His time was counted, and so Stark decided he would make the best of it.


    He leaped towards the Vine Gori, his crimson fists glowing with immense power. The gori tried to counter with its trademark "Vine Whip" move, but it was too slow to react to Stark''s lightning speed.


    ~PUNCH~


    Stark punched the gori''s chest, and immediately the beast was sent flying in the opposite direction.


    "-27361!" the damage was phenomenal, taking one fourth of the guardians'' remaining HP in this single hit.


    And in addition to that¡­ Stark could still keep going.


    [8 seconds left for ''Double Assault'']


    He followed the gori while it was still in midair and smashed its body to the ground.


    "-26182!"


    "V-VINE SHIELD!" it tried to summon its wall of vines, but all of them were easily cut by Stark.


    "VINE GRAPPLE," it tried to catch Stark, but there was no use since a single step from his allowed him to avoid the attack.


    "OOOUUHOUUUHH~" the gori tried to hit Stark, but the boy just blocked the punch with his palm.


    "Nuh uh~" he did a no sign with his fingers after blocking the attack, and then punched the gori in the face.


    "-31627!"


    [3 seconds left for ''Double Assault'']


    The Gori using its final willpower and entire force got up and flexed its muscles, trying to stop Stark on his assault as it knew it couldn''t defend against such a¡­ monster.


    "MUSCLE REINFORCEMENT," it used the attack that had allowed it to block both crimson fists and spears.


    But¡­


    ~PUNCH~


    "-0!"


    ~PUNCH~


    "-0!"


    The gori grinned as it saw that Stark was dealing 0 damage to it.


    But¡­


    ~PUNCH, PUNCH, PUNCH¡­~


    "-0! -0! -0!"


    He became faster, and in less than a second, his punches became so fast that they weren''t even visible to the naked eyes, each one was like a blur.


    During those two seconds he had left, he had punched the gori 34 times.


    "-0!"


    "-736!"


    "-1829!"


    "-7261!"


    "-17174!"


    Gradually, the damage became higher since the gori couldn''t tank it all.


    And soon enough¡­


    [Vine Gori (GUARDIAN) HP: 0/120000]


    It fell to the ground while holding its chest, visible marks of crimson aura still in the ce Stark had hit.


    [10 seconds have passed, ''Double Assault'' expired]


    "¡­" he looked down at the gori before smiling, "Weak."


    And then he diverted his gaze to the Water Bear, who also seemed to have a hard time.


    The reason was obvious: the clone was also using ''Double Assault''.


    As crazy as it sounds, not only can clones copy skills, inflict status effects, cause high damage, but they can also use ''Invincible Dodge'' just like Stark to avoid damage, but also¡­ they can use the legendary skill ''Double Assault''.


    When the original Stark went to fight the Vine Gori, the clone in opposition rushed to face the Water Bear.


    "WATER STRIKE," the bear tried to sh Stark''s clone when it was approaching, but it was no use since it easily avoided it, and it hadn''t even activated ''Double Assault'' yet.


    "AURA SMASH, CRIMSON SPEARS," the clone jumped in the air and sent all these attacks toward the bear, who was too slow to avoid them all.


    "-4267! -4825! -3351! -5794! -4972!"


    It dealt decent damage even though it had reduced aura and the bear''s defense was extremely high.


    And in addition to that¡­


    [Enemy stunned]


    The bear was stunned from one of the crimson fists, resulting in stopping all of its attacks, whether it was the many w strikes it was attempting to use to kill the clone, or even the ''Water Cannon'' that was constantly following it.


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT!" the clone also activated the skill upon noticing that the bear was down, somehow it was able to think for itself as it was thinking just like Stark and what he would do in such a situation.


    Its eyes glowed red with the newly doubled power surge, and the guardian could do nothing but watch as the clone suddenly kicked it in the jaw.


    "-7261!"


    And what followed afterward was a deadlybo of attacks¡­


    "-8372! -6744! -7261!"


    ¡­


    By the end of the ten seconds, the clone had dealt 88726 points of damage to the bear, cing it on its final 5k health points.


    Stark had already finished off the gori by then, and was just watching how his clone was doing, he was ready to intervene, but honestly, he wanted to see how far it would go.


    ''Of course, I don''t expect it to win,'' he shrugged, but was immediately proven wrong as even without the increased speed, the clone managed tond three more good punches on the bear before the ''Water Cannon'' finally hit it.


    "-3261!" the clone disappeared as it was hit, but it had already done its job.


    [Water Bear (GUARDIAN) HP: 0/100000]


    The Water Bear let out a final cry before falling on its stomach.


    "¡­" Stark looked at the surrounding chaos, then back at the three guardians he had defeated (or just two because a clone had pretty much taken one by itself).


    "I WON!" he shouted as hard as he could, although he was bleeding from his back and leg because of the attacks, and there were traces of fire because of the burning.


    Meanwhile, back to the ''Wyvern''s Wrath'' group that had been observing Stark.


    Well¡­ saying they were astonished would be an understatement.


    "ISN''T THAT THE LEVEL 16 GUY, HOW?"


    "No idea... that boy is insane... I don''t think even I would have done something so reckless..."


    "But his aura was insane! Did he just take on three guardians at the same time?!"


    Murmurs spread around, and Stark''s brother, the leader of the group,posed himself, "Probably one of those prodigies, I wonder what his ss is¡­" he scratched his chin.


    "Well¡­ we did what we needed to do, let''s keep going," he told his members, and they all nodded, what they had just witnessed was insane, but they had more serious things to take care of as the rift was far frompleted.

 Chapter 63: Maxxing Out the Domination Skill

    [You have in "Vine Gori lv40 (FOREST GUARDIAN)", gained 245000EXP!]


    [You have in "Water Bear lv40 (FOREST GUARDIAN)", gained 245000EXP!]


    [Dealt massive damage to ''Vine Goi (GUARDIAN)'', regaining 662HP!]


    [Dealt massive damage to ''Water Bear (GUARDIAN)'', regaining 721HP!]


    And of course, getting this much experience could only mean one thing¡­


    [Your level has increased to level 21, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    ¡­


    [Your level has increased to level 22, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 27617/415000]


    ''Hell yeah!'' Stark fell to the ground on his butt trying to catch his breath after fighting, after all, even summoning the clone and having it use skills took up aura, meaning that it was reducing his stamina regardless.


    ''Status Window¡­'' he thought while looking at the sky, and there the panel appeared.


    ¡­


    [Level:] 22


    [Health:] 3622/8500


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [ss:] Domination


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    [Attributes:] Strength 876; Speed 989; Mind/Soul 1167; Stamina 764; Defense 798


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv8; Focus lv5; Aura Smash lv6; Clone Frenzy lv5; Invincible Dodge lv2; Double Assault lv1¡­


    ¡­


    [Skill Points: 3 Avable]


    Stark sighed, taking a moment to assess his current skills and attributes.


    But that''s when he noticed it.


    ''Wait a minute¡­ Domination is at level 8¡­ and I have three skill points¡­'' it didn''t take long for him to realize what this meant.


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 9!]


    ''¡­''


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 10!]


    [The skill ''Domination'' has been MAXXED OUT!]


    In that moment, Stark felt a surge of power course through his veins. The Domination skill had reached its highest current possible level, and the aura he emanated was now stronger than ever before.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Domination lv10 (MAX)]


    [Description: Your ss resonates with you, the power you have acquired through all your fights vibrates through your body, and your aura is now stronger than ever before, you are now allowed to ce a shield around your body that blocks 5K points of damage]


    [Activating your aura in front of an enemy or person has a chance to cause the ''fear'' status effect if they are weaker than you are or easily intimidated]


    [All your skills and stats have evolved (even though the level has no changed, they are all stronger)]


    ¡­


    "This is... incredible," Stark muttered to himself, still in disbelief. The learning curve was bing more and more steep, but he was determined to ovee any obstacle in his path.


    And suddenly¡­


    ~BEEP, BEEP, BEEP~


    Hismunication badge was beeping again, meaning that there was yet another call from Vex or the other members of the ''Crimson Moon Squad''.


    He was still sitting on the ground as he answered the call by clicking on the badge.


    "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" He heard Lana''s voice shouting at him.


    "What do you mean? I didn''t do anything-" Stark, confused, tried to defend himself.


    But¡­


    "Stark¡­ I¡­ everyone saw it."


    "Saw what?"


    "YOUR FIGHT!"


    "¡­" Stark tilted his head, how was that possible, there couldn''t be that many people around him now, could there be?


    But of course, it was just that Stark didn''t understand how this world worked.


    "Secret Rifts are different from normal ones, we don''t know how or why, but to make it easier to show your feats to the world, well¡­ every time someone does something that is deemed incredible by the rift, it is shown to everyone¡­" Lana sighed, exining to Stark about things he didn''t know about.


    ***


    Everywhere in the rift, the moment Stark defeated the three forest guardians.


    A panel appeared in front of everyone.


    [The forest guardians (Lv40 ELITE Fire Fox, Vine Gori and Water Bear) have been defeated by REDACTED!]


    [Unlocking a rey for credit purposes!]


    And thus, everyone inside the rift had seen the fight from its start to finish, whether it was Stark starting off against the Fire Fox, the guardian calling another one as reinforcement, Stark running off to the noise he heard.


    Or¡­ most impressive of all: Stark destroying the guardians with his sheer hands and only a few attacks.


    Thebo against the Vine Gori left many speechless as they couldn''t understand how he had gone from being outmatched in every aspect to suddenly gain the ability to do that.


    And how in the fuck did a clone defeat an elite guardian by itself?


    Clones are usually used for bait, so seeing one that could actually deal decent damage was fascinating to most.


    In the end, everyone had watched Stark''s fight, but none of them (except those close to him) really knew who he was because of the Bunny Mask and its perk.


    "Did he defeat an elite in four punches?"


    "Did you see how fast he was hitting that gori guardian? I couldn''t even see his attacks¡­"


    "And what about the bear, it got killed by a mere clone?!"


    These whispers of amazement spread like wildfire through the rift, the sheer awe in their voices as Stark''s incredible feat became the talk of it.


    And it wouldn''t be long before all their achievements were uploaded to the inte, and for the entire world to see.


    Getting popr in this world was extremely easy as long as you had the beauty or strength to do so.


    "Haha~ I knew this kid was special," Vex grinned while ying a level 45 monster with a single whip of his wielder heart.


    "Hm¡­" Thorns was perplexed, he was supposed to be the muscles of the group, and yet somehow, Stark''s damage was fairly close to what he could achieve without skills¡­


    "¡­" Lana on the other hand had immediately called Stark to inform him of whatever was happening, since knowing about him, she was sure he had no idea.


    And she was right, as Stark was left speechless from the news.


    "Oh well¡­ it doesn''t really matter," the boy grinned, "I''ll still conquer that rift by myself."


    And so he ended the call.


    He may not be as strong as most people on this rift, but he had the potential and skill to defeat most of them.


    The Domination ss truly was the strongest one¡­


    "3 more levels and I unlock a new one though," he got up from the ground after resting for ten minutes


    He was level 22, and from what he remembered, reaching level 25 meant that he would be allowed to spin the ''ss Wheel'' again.


    The entire rift was trying to figure out who this mysterious boy was, after all he had already caused amotion before they even entered it since he attracted the attention of Jack, the leader of another powerful faction.


    But Stark didn''t care, and so he went deeper inside the Valley''s Forest with a calm expression, wanting to move on to the next area and level up quick.

 Chapter 64: The Death Canyon

    [Many people have reached the level 45 area!]


    Such a message appeared before Stark while he was walking through the Valley''s Forest and killing monsters left and right in the hope of leveling up.


    But honestly, he wasn''t surprised, after all he had spent a good fifteen minutes fighting the guardians, and most of the ssifiers were already inside the forest by now.


    ''Gotta go faster if I wanna fight the boss myself¡­'' he mumbled, but knew deep down he couldn''t afford to waste energy.


    "-28172!" his aura had indeed gotten stronger, and he could now two-shot most enemies, and even one-shot those that have visible weaknesses like the ''Fake Trees''.


    [You have in "Forest Spirit lv39", gained 33736EXP!]


    [You have in "Rock Python lv40", gained 35128EXP!]


    [You have in one "Fake Tree lv38", gained 30736EXP!]


    ¡­


    [Experience: 281627/415000]


    Stark wondered if the ''Crimson Moon Squad'' had already gone ahead and passed the forest, after all Vex and the members were much stronger than he was, so it wouldn''t be surprising.


    He didn''t want (and didn''t know how) to call them anyway.


    And soon enough, he reached the end of the ''Valley''s Forest''.


    Little by little, the trees became less and less apparent, until eventually, he left the forest and found himself at the entrance of the next area.


    Right in front of him, not even 5KM away, was the giant mountain with the staircase leading to the monument at the top: it was the final area of the rift.


    But what stopped him (and many others) from passing was¡­ a giant canyon, cutting the area into two.


    ''¡­'' Stark approached the canyon and looked down, noticing that at the very end of it was not only spikes that would kill anybody that touched them, but also hundreds of monsters, their eyes looking up at the humans.


    [You have entered Level 45 area: The Death Canyon]


    Of course, being in such arge space with monsters roaming, and no real visible way to pass it, meant that Stark could see dozens of people fighting around him.


    ''Why aren''t they using their powers to pass¡­ I mean¡­ aren''t many able to fly?'' he pondered, after all the canyon that seperated this side from the other only looked to be 100 meters in size.


    It didn''t take long for a panel to appear and exin everything.


    [Abilities that allow you to fly or cheat your way to the other side aren''t allowed]


    [To pass the Death Canyon, you have to either find the item drop "TP Pearl" from a monster (extremely low chance to appear), or¡­ wait twelve hours since it was first discovered]


    Thetter was obviously the safest solution there was, but when inside a Secret Rift, the true winner would be the one to aplish the greatest feats and acquire the most material, so waiting around for all the others to arrive was a bad idea.


    Basically¡­ those who found that ''TP PEARL'' would get a massive advantage.


    ''Huh¡­'' Stark scratched his chin, he also wanted to be the first to defeat the boss, so this did put a strain on his quest¡­


    Although¡­ he had the [Chosen One] talent, one of its perks being the fact many events, both good and bad will appear, so maybe¡­ with enough luck¡­


    ~FWISH~


    But something came interrupting his thoughts as he suddenly felt a presence behind him, and moved to the site to avoid the attack.


    ~BOOM!~


    A giant hammer hit the ce he was previously in.


    ''Wowow~ almost forgot I wasn''t alone," he grinned and looked up to see a giant minotaur, with a steel hammer in its brown muscr hands.


    It wasn''t surprising, after all, almost everyone around the canyon was currently fighting a monster.


    Another one of the bad things about waiting in this area was that you would need to constantly fight for the next 12 hours, and it was bound to tire out most people, forcing them to take a rest and waste precious time again.


    "MINO SMASH!" the minotaur yet again swung its hammer at Stark, forcing him to dodge again by crouching.


    ¡­


    [Name: Canyon Minotaur (STRONG)]


    [Level: 46]


    [HP: 80000]


    [Strength: 1121]


    [Stamina: 426]


    [Speed: 293]


    [Defense: 1214]


    [Skills: Mino Smash, Enraged Charge, Berserk State, Horn Frenzy, Ground Pound¡­]


    ¡­


    "ENRAGED CHARGE," the beast didn''t waste time and dashed at Stark with its¡­ very low speed.


    It was at least 7 meters tall, but it ran very slowly as it took it three massive steps (that shook the earth) to reach Stark and swing its hammer at him.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark knew better than to ignore a charging minotaur and moved every time to avoid the attack.


    Enraged charge seemed to allow the minotaur to strike at Stark several times.


    But honestly¡­ what was the point of aimlessly trying to hit an opponent faster than you?


    "¡­" Stark jumped in the air after the minotaur got angry and used both its hand to smash the hammer to the ground, creating a giant crater.


    "AURA SMASH!" he spinned in the air and sent a crimson fist of aura toward the minotaur.


    In response, the minotaur tried to use its hammer to hit the fist that was flying toward it.


    But of course¡­ it didn''t work.


    ~BOOM~


    "-18271!" almost a fourth of its life was consumed, and it could honestly thank its high defense and HP pool, else it would be just a fodder monster.


    ''That guy is slow, and dumb, we got abo,'' Stark dropped to the ground and summoned [Crimson Spears] to make his three spears appear behind him.


    The minotaur seemed stunned for a moment (not the status effect), not expecting such a sudden change in Stark''s strategy. Its slow reflexes made it hard for it to react in time.


    "GROUND POUND!" it jumped in the air, extremely high, and then used its strong legs to m the ground, creating tremors and sending a shockwave in all directions.


    Despite its slow speed, it was a powerful blow that could knock down even the fastest of opponents if they weren''t careful.


    After all¡­ the point of this attack wasn''t to cause damage, but if the shockwave even scratched your little pinky, then you would 100% receive the ''stun'' status effect, essentially guaranteeing your death.


    But in response, Stark just threw his three spears at the minotaur, who clenched its chest and crossed its arms, ready for impact.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    The three spears hit the minotaur respectively, in the leg, the torso and¡­ the head.


    "-7261! -3625! -13152!" the one in the head did massive damage.


    At that very moment, Stark understood just how powerful it was to be fast, and that having the highest strength in the world wouldn''t mean anything if you were too slow.


    "Invincible Dodge!" not wanting to risk it, he rolled as soon as the shockwave was centimeters away from him, essentially avoiding it.


    "ROOOOARRR~" the minotaur screamed, a shout that passed through the entire canyon, everyone inside of it able to hear it and turning their heads to see what was happening.


    "BERSERK STATE!" it activated its most powerful skill, its eyes shing with a crismson berserk aura, readying its hammer to strike down the human.


    "Alright buddy," Stark''s eyes also glew with that same crimson aura, "Come at me, big boy!"

 Chapter 65: The Berserk Minotaur

    The sh between the powerful Canyon Minotaur and Stark was unlike any other battle anyone had witnessed in the Death Canyon (at least for now).


    He didn''t know why, but somehow, the strongest monster of them all had approached Stark, maybe it was because of his aura, or maybe since he had the [Chosen One] talent?


    The mighty creature, aided by its high defense and health pool, tried its best to overpower Stark with its superior strength and brute force.


    ~BOOM~


    It smashed the ground with its hammer, and when Stark avoided it, it would try to use its body to m him to turn him into a pancake.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," the first time, Stark was taken aback, forcing him to roll away using his invincibility frames and avoid the m that would surely kill him.


    At this point, most of the people surrounding the ''Death Canyon'' were watching Stark''s fight as it was the most interesting one, all others were too one-sided or just in up boring, and it seemed like they had wiped out the monsters avable already, meaning they would need to wait for more to spawn.


    Despite his impressive evasion skills, Stark was not immune to the minotaur''s raw power.


    Every now and then, the creature, using its increased speed from the [Berserk] state it was in, would managet to take him by surprise and almost hit him.


    "AURA SMASH!" Stark dodged another hammer blow and sent a crimson fist at the monster, who received it in the head.


    "-5351!" the damage was very low, it''s high defense in addition to the berserk state made it immune to pain too, resulting in it not even budging with this attack.


    But Stark sent another one, which the minotaur yet again didn''t avoid.


    It now believed that although Stark was dealing quite decent damage to it, it could overpower him and in the end win by hitting him with a single attack.


    ~SWING~


    It shielder itself from the crimson fist using its hammer vertically, but there was no use.


    "-3721!" the damage yet again was extremely lowpared to Stark''s usual standarts.


    But what it didn''t expect was¡­


    [Enemy stunned!]


    The minotaur felt a shiver go through its spine, and suddenly¡­ it couldn''t move anymore, it was like an external force was not allowing him to do anything anymore.


    ''¡­?'' it looked at the boy with widened eyes, its pupils on him.


    "Gotcha!" but all it could see was Stark''s wide grin.


    "He can stun enemies?" one of the ssifirs that had already fought their monster mumbled.


    The ''Stun'' affect was very rare inparison to what Stark believed: he had gotten used to it since it was the first real skill he had gotten, but it never really went through his mind just how overpowered being able to stun an enemy was.


    And in addition to that, ''Aura Smash'' had a 30% chance to stun the enemy, making it one hell of a powerful skill.


    "Hmm~ interesting," a white-haired woman grinned as well, she was floating in the air (but of course a magical wall was stopping her from passing the death canyon that way).


    "That little shit¡­" Jack, the one that had caused amotion at the beginning of the rift sneered, visibly upset that the ''bunny masked'' boy was attracting so much attention.


    But getting so much attention from powerful ssifiers from all over the world was both a good and bad thing, since now even though they didn''t know his face, ''the ''bunny masked boy'' was an alias they gave to Stark, meaning that he was bringing both people with good intentions, and those who on the otherhand wanted to get rid of him.


    "CLONE FRENZY!" not caring about the gazes of everyone, Stark summoned one of his clones since it had been more than thirty minutes since thest use.


    The crimson Stark appeared beside the original, looking at him before staring at the minotaur with a nk expression, it then nodded, understanding what it was supposed to do, and dashed at the monster.


    "Clones that react to you and can actually fight¡­" Vex observed from afar alongside the ''Crimson Moon Squad'', they had arrived shortly before Stark, and were surprised to see him go all out.


    But unbeknownst to them, Stark wasn''t going all out at all, it was theplete opposite, he was frankly enjoying toying with the minotaur.


    "CRIMSON SPEAR," the clone sent three spears at the minotaur''s right leg, the three weapons piercing it and making huge holes appear.


    "-3259! -4361! -3972!"


    "GAK~" the minotaur fell to its knee, its right legpletely useless now.


    A monster didn''t need to reach 0HP to be useless, not at all, they could lose both arm and be unable to use their weapons, or both legs, forcing them to be in ce.


    This was the reason why aiming for the head caused much more damage than anything else, and why decapitating a monster (even if it had 1 million HP), would result in an instant death.


    [Canyon Minotaur (STRONG) HP: 17027/80000]


    Stark had already caused massive damage to it before it was even stunned, so putting it at such a disadvantage and even summoning a clone to do the work was overkill.


    But needless to say, Stark enjoyed this type of things, he was a full-on sadist.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," he summoned his own spears while the clone took the hammer from the minotaur''s arm while it could only watch in terror.


    "How is that clone even lifting such a massive weapon, it doesn''t make sense¡­" murmurs spread, and the reason was obvious: even though it was only a clone, it was able to easily take that heavy hammer from the minotaur''s strong grip and lift it away.


    But the real question everyone was asking was: ''Just how strong is that guy if even the clone is that powerful¡­''


    Oh boy¡­ what could their reactions be if they knew Stark actually had two clones, and all of them could use ''Double Assault'', a legendary skill.


    "CYA, MONSTER," his eyes burning with aura, Stark sent the three sears that appeared behind him toward the minotaur''s head.


    The first two passed right through its eyes and skull, rendering it blind.


    "-18272! -17264!"


    And thest one was aimed for the throat.


    "-37618!" the damage was phenomenal, the highest amount Stark had ever caused to an enemy yet.


    And the reason was obvious: he had aimed for one of the minotaur''s weaknesses.


    Monsters also have weaknesses in this word, just like the ''Fake Trees'' weakness were their eyes, many monster have their heads, throat, or heart, as their weakness.


    Although most time it was difficult to reach them since¡­ y''know¡­ you are mid-battle and have to take many things into ount.


    And so just like that, Stark defeated the minotaur, the beast crumbling to the ground as its HP reached 0 and also because its neck was basically pierced.

 Chapter 66: The Chosen Ones Luck

    [You have in "Canyon Minotaur lv46 (STRONG)", gained 63125EXP!]


    ''Haha¡­'' Stark smiled after seeing the minotaur''s lifeless body fall, it wasn''t a very hard battle since he avoided all the monster''s attacks, but he couldn''t say it didn''te close many times since even one hit from its hammer would be enough to kill him.


    Stark knew that many people (if not most) inside the ''Death Canyon'' were observing his every move, both thanks to the ''highlight rey'' that was seen by everybody, but also since he had basically fought the strongest monster inside the canyon (at least for now).


    He didn''t know what to do now, and he didn''t feel like interacting with anybody while waiting for the next batch of monsters to spawn, it seemed like no one had gotten a ''TP Pearl'' either.


    But as if some grand entity (well¡­ probably Rher to be honest) heard it¡­


    [Talent: Chosen One, activated!]


    ''What the?'' he was confused, why would it activate now, was another bad thing bound to happen soon?!


    He looked down at the minotaur''s body, and suddenly, he saw not one, but two shiny sparks, one was red, and the other dark blue.


    ''Ohoh~ the talent gave me equipment,'' he grinned, actually happy that it finally was helping him out after fucking him so many times over.


    He first reached out to pick the equipment with the red glow: it was a helmet, one that had two horns much like the minotaur ones, it had a brown color, its interior almost feeling like it was made of fur.


    ''Great, it''s useless¡­'' he groaned, but still inspected it regardless.


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] The Minotaur''s Helmet


    [Type:] Helmet


    [ss:] Warrior


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Required Level:] 40


    [Quality:] Normal


    [Attributes:] +250 Strength, +400 Defense


    [Special Perk:] Allows the wearer to go into a berserk state, essentially using the ''Berserk State'' skill of the Canyon Minotaur, which greatly enhances strength, defense, and stamina (+50% increase) for a minute.


    ¡­


    "I don''t want to sound ungrateful, but I could really do without this helmet at the moment," Stark grumbled, hefting the helmet in his hand, it was maybe good for a warrior, but to no use for him currently.


    ''Spatial Inventory,'' he mumbled and put the equipment inside the void, before closing it shortly afterward.


    Most people had stopped looking at Stark now since the fight ended, instead discussion strategies with their respective team or taking a rest, but those who were still paying attention to him had yet again been surprised: what the fuck was that void next to him, and how did he put an item inside.


    People when they wanted to store an item forter would need to use an item called the ''Store Watch'', its price depends on the amount of items you want to store inside, but usually it''s around 10 for a normal one.


    And yet¡­ what did that guy just do? Summoning a void next to him and putting the item inside of it like it was nothing.


    ''An inventory skill?'' they thought, unsure whether such a thing existed as it was only rumors.


    Stark paid no attention to them and quickly moved on to the second item drop.


    [Talent: Chosen One, activated!]


    Yet again, the notification appeared.


    ''¡­?'' he reached for the dark blue light, and it immediately disappeared once he touched the item, revealing it to be¡­


    A pearl?


    It was a dark blue circr pearl that had aura emanating from it, Stark tried to look through it but saw nothing.


    Of course, in the back of his mind, a thought was slowly but surely emerging, but there was no way right?


    After all¡­ the percentage chance of it dropping was extremely low¡­ RIGHT?


    But Stark didn''t know that ''Chosen One'' could defy anything to bring misfortune (or fortune) to its owner.


    Or at least, he had underestimated it.


    ¡­


    [Item:] TP Pearl


    [Type:] Throwable


    [Quality:] Perfect


    [Perk:] Throw the pearl in the direction you want, and when it hits the ground, you will be teleported to that exact location.


    [Hint:] Throw it on the other side of the canyon to pass.


    ¡­


    Stark stared at the TP Pearl in his hand, trying toprehend what was happening.


    ''Chosen One'' had actually helped him out, giving him the item he so wanted on his first try against one of the monsters.


    The extremely low chances of dropping seemed to bepletely defied.


    He almost wanted tough out loud, but doing so would attract unwanted attention, so he just grabbed the pearl and tightened his hand around it to hide it from the others, all the while slowly approaching the edge of the canyon.


    "Yo, what is he doing?" someone asked, pointing at Stark.


    "Huh¡­ maybe he is trying to inspect the canyon?"


    "What a way to die, anybody could push him off if they felt like it¡­"


    Even Lana was worried, what could Stark be doing, why was he approaching the edge of that deadly space, with spikes and monsters ready to kill whoever came down.


    But once Stark reached the very edge.


    He enacted his n: use the TP pearl.


    He slightly opened his hand, and suddenly, the glow of the pearl could be seen by everybody.


    [TP Pearl acquired!]


    A panel appeared in front of everyone, and an arrow pointed to Stark''s location.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark threw the pearl as far as he could, easily making it fly over the canyon.


    Many people read the message and reacted immediately, dashing toward Stark with an impressive speed, wanting to steal the pearl and use it on themselves.


    But it was toote.


    Dozens of people reached Stark, but right as they were about to attack him and take it from him¡­


    The pearl hit the ground on the other side of the canyon.


    "Invincible Dodge!" Stark used his skill and avoided everybody''s attacks, giving him the invincibility frames he needed to teleport.


    In a sh of dark blue light, Stark was surrounded by an aura by the same color and disappeared from his current location, leaving behind a confused and frustrated mob of yers.


    Reappearing on the other side of the canyon, he stumbled slightly from the disorienting teleportation before regaining his bnce.


    As he looked around, Stark realized that he was indeed on the other side, since just in the distance he could see the many people that had tried to attack him.


    "SEE YA SUCKERS!" heughed out loud and shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.


    "THAT LITTLE SHIT!" Jack cursed again, he was among those that tried to attack Stark but miserably failed.


    "Pffttt~ look at those dumbasses," those that didn''t move from their ces mocked those that actually tried to steal the item, leaving them embarrassed.


    "Stark¡­" Lana mumbled, impressed by his ability to avoid everyone, but also by his insane luck, getting the needed item on the first try was phenomenal to say the least.


    "Ahhhh~ that feels good," Stark grinned and turned his back to the crowd of furious ssifiers, waving his hand from behind to spit them even more, "Anyway¡­ now I have theplete advantage, I need toplete that rift before more people get the TP Pearl¡­"


    And so he began running toward the other direction, ready to get to that monument at the top of the mountain.

 Chapter 67: The Secret Rifts Mini-Boss Appears!

    "THAT FUCKER!" Jack smashed the ground with his wielder heart, he was absolutely furious Stark had somehow gotten past his attack.


    He was level 114, and although that was only the middle-range for ssifiers, it was still extremely powerful.


    And yet¡­ how did a level 16 ssifier avoid them all?


    Plus, the worse thing of all was Stark''s taunt.


    Not many would let that slide usually, but they could go nothing when he was on the other side of the canyon, with no possibility for them to traverse except if they found the ''TP Pearl'' or waited the 12 hours.


    [Someone has just passed the ''Death Canyon'']


    [Unlocking a rey for credit purposes!]


    ''Ah¡­'' many sighed as this could only mean one thing¡­


    And although they knew, they still clicked on the video regardless, resulting in it ying in front of everybody.


    Of course, the content was obvious: Stark getting the pearl from the minotaur, approaching the edge, and throwing it, resulting in everyone dashing at him.


    But this wasn''t what surprised people the most.


    There was a subtle detail when you zoomed and turned the camera on any angle.


    And that detail was¡­ HOW THE FUCK DID STARK AVOID THEIR ATTACKS?


    They were far stronger than he was for sure, and yet even with their speed, he somehow¡­ passed through it all?


    "Doesn''t make sense," Old Kai, a beast tamer with a crow on his shoulder, sighed, he was part of another powerhouse of beast tamers, a guild called, "The Monster Raiders".


    "Did you see him avoid my scythe?" a blond-haired girl with stars in her purple eyes eximed, she was a warrior and her family was very well off as well.


    But no¡­ everyone who was watching the video could see it: he didn''t avoid the scythe¡­ IT LITERALLY PASSED THROUGH HIM WHILE HE WAS ROLLING.


    It wasn''t the only attack, many others also somehow passed through as if he was air, feeling like reality was distorted around that boy.


    "I''ve seen lots of skills in my life," Vexughed, ying with his heart again, "But this is definitely a legendary skill at minimum, no other way!"


    "¡­?"


    Every single one of them (except for Lana) ranged from level 100 to 125 at most (since at some point the rift doesn''t allow you to enter if it is too easy).


    And yet¡­ they all knew the implications of what a legendary skill was.


    After all, even among them, many didn''t have one.


    "No way he got a skill that is legendary at level 16?"


    "What if he is dirt rich and bought it using his family''s money?"


    "Doesn''t make sense, even if you buy a legendary skill scroll, you still need to meet the requirements, and there are enormous chances to fail the awakening of the skill as it is based on your level!"


    None of them knew of the domination trial, and it was better that way since probably none of them would have survived if they had been ced in Stark''s position.


    ***


    Back to the ck-haired boy, he turned after mocking all those that tried to attack him, honestly thanking everything for the [Invincible Dodge] skill as it was truly a blessing.


    It was only ''Epic'' in its rarity, but he honestly believed it should at least be legendary if not more because of how useful it was.


    But unbeknownst to Stark, it wasn''t that the skill was powerful, it was just that he had the perfectbination to use it at its full potential.


    He had never thought about it, but the fact he had the [Focus] skill, which allowed him to see one micro-second in advance, was basically the perfect blend with [Invincible Dodge] who required perfect timing.


    Anybody else would have failed to dodge an attack at least once until now, and yet Stark had always seeded.


    It was like he was in a character in a souls game, able to dodge the attacks of every enemy and leaving them with absolutely no chance to retaliate or hit him.


    Stark felt happy about what he had done.


    But suddenly¡­


    ~FWISH, CRASH~


    "Huh?" all the people on the other side of the canyon looked in horror as they saw a giant thinging out from it.


    Stark also heard noise behind him, so he turned, thinking that those losers on the other side were still fussing over his small victory, and then,ing from the canyon, a massive ck golem with twisting metal appendages sprang forth from it, its rock-hard body glowing with an ominous aura.


    In addition to that, its giant cubic head had three cubic eyes looking down at him.


    And once it stoodpletely, it became obvious the golem was at least twenty meters tall.


    Stark''s eyes widened, a few seconds ago he was at the top of the world, and the moment he turned, he was now facing an impossible opponent.


    "DAMAGE WALLS!" before he could even analyze it using [Perception], the monster attacked.


    Summoning four rock-solid walls in all directions, which were all closing in on Stark.


    ¡­


    [Damage Wall: 10000/10000]


    [Perk: deals massive damage if crushed by it, the damage is doubled every other wall that touches the target]


    ¡­


    This meant¡­ that if he was hit by that thing, it was game over.


    ~FWISH~


    "THAT''S WHAT YOU GET!" many ssifiersughed at Stark for being too certain of himself.


    The [Damage Wall] might as well be called an ''unavoidable attack'' if the opponent doesn''t know about it since it closes off too quick for them to react.


    At least¡­ that would be the case if Stark didn''t have a skill to get out of this situation.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" he rolled away, andpletely avoided the walls crashing on him thanks to his invincibility frames.


    The walls all crumbled as they all hit each other, the absence of Stark making them take all their damage and go back into the ground.


    Beyond the rubble and the dust that formed, Stark could be seen standing, a smirk on his face while he was wiping his sweating forehead.


    "Nice try~" he smiled, "Try that again and it might work!"


    "SEE, HE DID IT AGAIN!" a young boy, possibly Stark''s age (although he had a bigger level somehow), "HE IS FINE WHILE BEING HIT BY THAT!"


    "I''m telling you, this is a legendary skill!" Vex confirmed, enjoying the show as he didn''t know his newest recruit had such talent (of course Stark had no ns to stay with the ''Crimson Moon Squad'').


    And suddenly, a panel appeared in front of everyone as Stark began facing the giant golem.


    [Secret Rift Mini-Boss: "Obsidian Golem lv50", was found!]


    And just as they all guessed, that was the thing Stark would need to fight¡­ ALONE!

 Chapter 68: The Obsidian Golem

    As the Obsidian Golem let out an ominous battle cry, the crowd of onlookers knew that this would be no easy task for even the most skilled of ssifiers among them.


    A level 50 elite would seem like nothing against a level 100 ssifier, but people shouldn''t forget that monsters ALWAYS (in most cases) have more HP than the humans.


    Their stats are also overall better and they hit harder than an average human of their level, and even beyond.


    But this would honestly be nothing if it wasn''t for the fact¡­ the golem was an ''ELITE''.


    Monsters are put into such categories for a reason, because of their increased strength and difficulty.


    Of course, in the end, most of them would win that fight since they have better stats and dealt more damage, but¡­


    "That boy is dead," Jackughed, even after seeing Stark avoid the attack and smile, "Defeating a lv50 elite is IMPOSSIBLE for him!"


    "Hm~" Old Kai scratched his small beard while petting his crow pet, "I do wonder¡­"


    The golem kept looking down at Stark, its three crimson rock eyes staring at him, analyzing their prey.


    Meanwhile, Stark activated [Perception] to look at the monster before him.


    ¡­


    [Name: Obsidian Golem (ELITE MINI-BOSS)]


    [Level: 50]


    [HP: 175000]


    [Strength: 1726]


    [Stamina:1482]


    [Speed: 435]


    [Defense: 2471]


    [Skills: Damage Wall, Obsidian Defense, Smash, Crimson Eyes Vision, Earth Shatter, The Golem''s Wrath, Call of the Canyon, Ball Transformation¡­]


    ¡­


    ''First monster with over 2000 points in a specific stat,'' Stark smiled, although he knew that this situation was difficult.


    ''How does he always end up in such situations,'' Lana hit her forehead several times.


    "What are you doing?" Ste, the exorcist of the ''Crimson Moon Squad'', smiled while seeing Lana repeatedly p her forehead while mumbling.


    "O-Oh¡­ nothing," the blonde-haired archer quickly acted as if nothing was wrong.


    "Afraid your crush is gonna die?" Olivia, the alchemist, rubbed a cold potion right next to Lana''s ears, it created a very pleasant sound.


    "No," but instead of being flustered about what she had said like she would normally be, Lana had a stern expression on her face, "He won''t die, I know it."


    "¡­" all the ''Crimson Moon'' members looked at Lana as she had be suddenly so serious, and they all shrugged, "Well, you never know, this is an elite, and you guys only started out your real lives as ssifiers two weeks ago¡­"


    But Lana just shook her head and smiled again, a hopeful one, then pointed her slender fingers at the other side of the canyon, where the golem and Stark were, "You''ll see."


    ***


    The Obsidian Golem, still examining Stark with its three crimson eyes, prepared to unleash its power on the human before it.


    "SMASH!" the golem advanced, its steps resulting in the ground to shake because of its sheer weight.


    But Stark was quick to respond, avoiding the giant ck rock arm, and shielding his face from the debris of the attack.


    Even while avoiding it, he could sense that thing was powerful.


    He could take maybe¡­ two¡­?


    No.


    He would die in one strike if it hit him directly.


    "AURA SMASH," he immediately punched the air twice in the direction of the obsidian golem, sending two fists of aura at it.


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    "-8271! -7837!" it seemed like its defense did in fact make it a harder to kill opponent (who would have guessed).


    [Enemy stunned!]


    ''Yes!'' Stark almost got ready to dash and absolutely decimate the golem using his clones.


    But¡­


    [I mean, the golem is made of rocks, how do you even wanna stun it?]


    This was all that appeared before him, and of course, the golem had in fact not received any status effect.


    ''Of course¡­''


    So basically, this guy had high defense, high attack, powerful skills (enough to one shot him), and also the ability to ignore status effects since it couldn''t affect him.


    "¡­" all the ssifiers on the other side of the canyon watched, and none of them was saying anything.


    "EARTH SHATTER, DAMAGE WALL!" it summoned the four walls around Stark, which were yet again closing in on him, and at the same time lifted its giant rocky leg, there were some golden lines at the tip of it.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS!" Stark wasted no time as he saw the walls and summoned his spears, thinking about a way to get out.


    The goal wasn''t to escape this attack as it was fairly easily, but to use the least amount of spears while doing so.


    Using his quick thinking, one he refined after going through upon hundreds of death situations, Starkunched a single spear at the wall behind him, only pointing one of his fingers at it to make it move, not even bothering to turn.


    ~CRASH~


    "-47281!"


    The spear destroyed the wall, it seemed to be extremely weak and have no defense whatsoever.


    Then Stark just took a few step backs, thus avoiding the other walls, which all crumbled after crashing against one another.


    But of course, he wouldn''t get any type of rest as the golem had charged a golden halo around the leg it had lifted, and as soon as Stark avoided its first attack¡­


    ~SLAM~


    It swung its leg down, and as soon as it hit the ground¡­ the golden halo that was surrounding it suddenly grew in size on the ground, taking up the entire ''space'' they were fighting in.


    The ground beneath Stark crumbled and shattered as the shockwave from the golem''s attack rippled through the canyon. Stones and debris flew in all directions, creating a cloud of dust that obscured vision.


    ~THUMP, THUMP, THUMP~


    Stark couldn''t see anything, but he could still hear the sounds of the golem approaching him.


    Restricting his vision made it so that all his other senses were sharpened, and the feeling of hearing it getting closer wasn''t a pleasant one at all.


    "Crimson Eyes Vision," the golem could see him perfectly, thanks to this skill, its eyes on its target since the beginning of the fight.


    ~THUMP~


    It was right in front of Stark now.


    "SMASH!" it swung its solid arm down at him again, but of course, Stark couldn''t see, but he could hear, meaning he already knew that the golem was right in front of him.


    ~FWISH~


    ~CRASH~


    He avoided the attack by stepping to his right, then sent his two crimson spears at the golem.


    [Hint: aim for the golem''s weakness!]


    ''I can only think of ''THAT'' as a weakness,'' he smiled, pointing his spears at the eyes of the golem, then shooting them while it was still picking its arm back up.


    And just as expected.


    "-12172! -13813!" the damage was very high for its defense, meaning that its eyes were indeed its weakness.


    They would be very hard to reach under normal circumstances if you didn''t have a long-ranged weapon or skill, but Stark could be happy he had those.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark didn''t waste time, and sent two crimson fists at the golem''s obsidian head again.


    "-14626! -13924!"


    One of the golem''s three eyes cracked after the two fists hit it, meaning that Stark was going in the right direction.


    "SMASH!" but the golem took Stark by surprise again, its speed suddenly growing after one of its eyes was broken and somehow gaining the ability to swing down at incredible speed.


    "AH SHIT¡­" Stark got ready for impact.

 Chapter 69: Discovered Weaknesses

    "DOMINATION!" he had been using it until now, but he was calling out to it since he wanted to use the new perk he unlocked after reaching level 10.


    [Description: Your ss resonates with you, the power you have acquired through all your fights vibrates through your body, and your aura is now stronger than ever before, you are now allowed to ce a shield around your body that blocks 5K points of damage]


    And just as expected, a barrier of aura suddenly formed around Stark''s body, surrounding his figure perfectly, its edges moving like waves.


    ~CRASH~


    Stark tried to avoid it, but he was only half-sessful as the attack hit his leg.


    ~CRACK~


    "-4817!" even only hitting his leg, the damage was insane, but it looked like the aura barrier actually endured the attack, meaning he hadn''t received any sort of damage.


    [HP: 5184/8500]


    He had regained some HP both from killing the minotaur, but also doing damage to the golem, that ne was really useful.


    But Stark didn''t waste time and immediately jumped in the air at the golem''s direction, reaching its head in a matter of seconds if not less.


    ''GOTCHA!''


    He punched its remaining working eyes three times.


    "-9271! -8263! -8936!" it did decent damage.


    But in contrast¡­


    "-462! -341! -458!"


    He also received damage since the golem''s thick rock skin and defense were enough to hurt him.


    ''Ouch,'' he dropped to the ground while wiping the small blood that came out of his hands and positioned himself for the battle.


    After all these exchanges, the dust finally settled, revealing to the other ssifiers on the other end of the canyon the scene of the obsidian golem and determined Stark still standing, although many noticed that the golem had lost one of its eyes in the process.


    "He''s actually doing it!"


    "Did you say something about it being impossible, Jack?" Vex mocked the soul wielder.


    "He ain''t surviving, it didn''t even use its most powerful skills yet," but Jack was confident.


    Vex smirked, unfazed by Jack''s skepticism. As the battle between Stark and the obsidian golem raged on, the canyon seemed to tremble with each sh of titans.


    The golem''s strength was truly fascinating, able to shake the entire canyon with a single smash of its rocky arm.


    But its speed didn''t allow it to hit Stark as he was just too fast for it.


    "CLONE FRENZY!" he summoned one of his clones beside him.


    The goal of this clone wasn''t to attack the golem head on, as he had already proven that when he hit it, he would also receive some counter damage, meaning the clone would die instantly because of its 1 HP, instead it would just¡­ stale for damage and time from afar.


    "AURA SMASH!" the clone''s hands began glowing with aura, and it sent two giant fists at the golem while Stark toward it.


    "-4362! -3827!" the golem was unable to avoid even the ''lesser'' version of Stark.


    Then while it was getting ready to use another one of its skills¡­


    "OBSIDIAN DEFENSE," first, it doubled its defense, its shiny ck body now shining because the obsidian that formed it suddenly became much harder.


    And then¡­


    "THE GOLEM''S WRATH!" its burning rocky crimson eyes were ready to unleash horrifying attacks on the human¡­


    The golem''s wrath was one of its two ultimate skills, one where it would quite literally shatter its body to make it even harder for Stark to hit or even hope of damaging it.


    ''¡­'' But Stark knew better.


    Every time he allowed a boss to use its ultimate skill, it always ended in him almost dying.


    Whether it was the ''Feathered Scourge'' with its halo beam, the ''Mayor'' with its call of hundreds of monsters, or the ''Mirror Master'' and its domain, allowing them to do so always resulted in disaster.


    But what if he didn''t allow them to do that? What if¡­ he could stop them from casting their ultimate?


    Of course, he had noticed that every time, it took at least 5 to 10 seconds for the monsters to use their skills, meaning that between this time¡­ maybe he could do something?


    The golden halo''s around the golem''s limbs and body were now glowing, a fantastic aura surrounding them.


    [Note: you cannot stop an ultimate attack from being used, you can only¡­ weaken it =)]


    ''Send your spears toward the right arm,'' he ordered his clone as soon as he read that message, then sent two fists toward that same arm.


    The golem was currently busy managing its halos and attack, they were charging up.


    But right as the golem was about to unleash its ultimate attack, multiple crimson spears flew toward its right arm, and in addition, two crimson fists as well.


    ~CRASH, BOOM, CRACK~


    "-11271!" the damage was fairly low because of the increased defense, but that wasn''t what interested Stark the most.


    Instead¡­ he saw an opportunity.


    Once all the attacks hit the arm, he saw a crack form on it.


    He hadn''t really thought about it, but could it be that each of the golem''s limbs have HP of their own, like in a game?


    He couldn''t check them out, and it was only a theory, but one he couldn''t refute.


    Furthermore, he dashed toward the golem, arriving in front of its cracked arm in less than a second.


    And then¡­ he punched it four times at incredible speed.


    "-3716! -3639! -3472! -3381!"


    Of course, he also received some damage because of the obsidian''s increased defense, but it wasn''t enough for him to care.


    Instead¡­


    ~CRACK, CRASH~


    The golem''s right armpletely cracked and fell to the ground, turning into a pile of dust, and the halo that was around it suddenly turned dark.


    [Obsidian Golem (ELITE) HP: 44219/175000]


    It had lost one of its arms, and some cracks on its body could be seen.


    But this made Stark realize something¡­


    ''What if¡­'' he scratched his chin while backing away, ''What if I destroyed its legs¡­''


    It was a rock monster, and if Stark could destroy two¡­ no¡­ even just one of its legs, then wouldn''t it justpletely crumble and die immediately?


    If this was an MMORPG game or strategy game, this was something that would seem obvious.


    And so right as he thought about that¡­


    [Monster Weaknesses: every monster has a weakness, whether it is visible or not, there is ALWAYS a way to kill a monster easier than by just reducing its HP to 0]


    This panel came confirming what Stark guessed could be true.


    ''This world is¡­ interesting,'' he smirked.


    If he had aimed for the golem''s leg instead of its arm, it would have surely died.


    But it didn''t matter.


    "THE GOLEM''S WRATH!" even after losing its arm, the elite still used its ultimate skill.

 Chapter 70: The Golems Wrath

    The obsidian golem kneeled and touched the ground with its working arm, the golden halo and light around it burning even brighter.


    Stark could feel the ground rumble as the golem prepared its ultimate attack, or maybe¡­ it was already finished using it?


    ~BUMP, BUMP~


    Rows of spiky rocks began to materialize around the golem, each one sharp and menacing.


    But that wasn''t all, thanks to the aura of the halo, two smaller golems also emerged from the ground right next to their ''father''.


    They were smaller than it was, but still at least five times Stark''s size.


    ¡­


    [Name: Golem Minion (STRONG)]


    [HP: 60000]


    [Strength: 938]


    [Stamina: 737]


    [Speed: 201]


    [Defense: 1226]


    [Skills: m, Explode, Eye Beam¡­]


    ¡­


    Inparison to the obsidian golem, their skin was mostly brown, made out of rocks from the canyon, but they also had one singr golden eye that looked at Stark.


    "QUIT COPYING ME," he shouted at the elite monster, actually mad not only did it copy his spears, but also his clone ability, and it would have probably copied his crimson fists if he hadn''t destroyed one of its arms.


    The two minions charged at Stark, their bodies putting up a dust cloud as they approached.


    One of them started mming the ground with its fists, causing the earth to shake and sending pebbles flying everywhere, which Stark avoided easily.


    "EYE BEAM!" The other adjusted its golden rocky eyes and then¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Just as the skill described, a golden beam came out of it, aimed at Stark.


    ~BOOM~


    Stark moved out of the way, but the area he was in before exploded, the beam seemed to be extremely powerful, and much like the halo of ''Feathered Scourge'', it was following him extremely closely.


    "EYE BEAM," the other golem recovered from smashing the ground and used the skill, this time aimed at the clone.


    ''¡­'' but Stark realized something¡­


    If this attack was simr to the Feathered Scourge''s divine strike, then couldn''t he do ''that''?


    Stark grinned cockily at the sight of the two beams following them, and then¡­


    ''GO BEHIND THE OBSIDIAN GOLEM,'' he ordered his clone, and it nodded before dashing at the elite monster.


    The two beams followed Stark and his clone closely, only a strand of hair away from killing them both, but that was his n all along.


    The clone jumped behind the obsidian golem, avoiding a [Smash] from it.


    And Stark did the same while sending a crimson fist to disrupt its vision.


    "-4728!" another one of the golem''s eyes shattered, with only one shining with that crimson light now.


    And thus, now that the boys were behind the golem, and the minions'' beams were still following them.


    What had to happen happened.


    Both beams collided with the obsidian golem''s body, creating a deafening explosion.


    Debris and dust flew in every direction, and the echoing sound of the st continued to reverberate throughout the canyon.


    The minions realizing what they had done immediately deactivated their attack, but it was already toote.


    "-2718! -2179! -2894!"


    When the dust settled¡­


    [Obsidian Golem (ELITE) HP: 3716/175000]


    The golem''s entire body was full of crack, its final eye now flickering, as if it was fighting for dear life.


    Its left arm was destroyed, crumbling to the ground, and its two legs were only one hit away from being destroyed too.


    "¡­" Stark was behind the golem, and looking at its destroyed body brought a sense of satisfaction to him.


    But it wasn''t the end, after all it still had a bit of health.


    The minions looked flustered, shaking their bodies in all directions and moving their arms as to gesture they didn''t mean that.


    ''Let''s get this over with,'' Stark took a step forward and tried to punch the golem.


    But¡­


    "BALL TRANSFORMATION," it used its final skill, and its body suddenly became to change, its form shifting rapidly like a metamorphosis of stone and earth.


    It went from a destroyed figure to a¡­ giant rock ball with gold cracks around it¡­?


    Spikes grew all over its surface, making it look like a gigantic, armored bowling ball.


    Stark stopped his attack, not wanting to touch that thing.


    ''How are we supposed to¡­ kill it?'' he wondered, there seemed to be no way to hurt it by using physical attacks.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS, AURA SMASH!" the clone sent all of it at the unmoving obsidian ball.


    "-0! -0! -0! -0!" but it didn''t receive any sort of damage.


    It was truly¡­ invincible¡­?


    ~FWISHHHHHHHH~


    The spiky ball suddenly started spiking, sending debris toward Stark and the clone as they were behind.


    "-1! -1! -1!"


    This wasn''t much damage, and it wouldn''t be a problem in most cases, but¡­


    "OH COME ON," the clone was hit and immediately deactivated, losing all its energy and the aura that created it seeping back onto Stark''s body.


    And then¡­


    ~BOOM~


    The obsidian golem began rolling, but it wasn''t aiming to attack Stark, not at all, as if it wanted to it would be going backward.


    Instead¡­


    ~SWASH~


    "-46269!" it hit one of the minions, sending it flying and falling back onto the ground, its body almostpletely destroyed.


    "-38273!" the other golem on the other hand wasn''t as lucky, and its body was pierced by one of the spikes, "-57462!".


    It died.


    "Holy shit?" many of the ssifiers on the other side were surprised,


    ~FWISH~


    Lana sent an arrow, trying to help Stark by hitting the golem, but¡­


    [You aren''t allowed to do anything that is beyond the canyon]


    The arrow was stopped by an invisible wall and fell in the canyon, hitting a random monster in the head and killing it.


    ''It can''t stop¡­ it''s gonna head toward the canyon,'' As Stark watched the enormous ball continue to roll relentlessly towards the canyon, a grin spread across his face.


    But of course.


    The obsidian golem''s remaining arm came out of the back of the ball and dug itself into the ground, holding it just enough for the golem to turn in the other direction and make aplete 180, going back toward the other golem minion who was still recovering.


    "-48271!" just as expected, the second minion died.


    This was basically the mini-boss''s revenge for the treason from its supposed minions.


    And yet¡­ it wasn''t stopping, heading straight at Stark.


    He hadn''t expected it to do that, but right now, only a few meters ahead, was a giant spiky ball that would surely kill him.


    "He''s dead," Jack smiled, "Now, that''s for sure, even I would struggle stopping that thing¡­"


    "I think he should have avoided as soon as he saw it turn," Old Kai shrugged.


    "No point, it would have followed," Vex retorted, he knew that thing was immense, and so dealing damage to it would be hard.


    And so¡­ all of them watched Stark be executed.


    Or did he?


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT," he pped his hands then positioned himself in front of the ball.


    Almost as if¡­


    "HE WANTS TO STOP IT USING HIS STRENGTH?"


    "He is insane!"


    But no, he wasn''t insane, it was just that it was his only way of surviving this as [Invincible Dodge]''s frames wouldn''t be enough topletely faze through the golem.


    It was all or nothing.


    "COME AT ME, BALL," he got ready for the spiky impact.


    After all¡­ now that his domination skill was at level 10, it meant that double assault was much, much stronger than before¡­

 Chapter 71: Killing the Obsidian Golem

    The giant spiky ball hurtled towards Stark, its momentum unstoppable. The ssifiers watched in amazement as the boy prepared to face the onught.


    He had already activated [Double Assault], the crimson aura around his body now so powerful they could even sense it from the other side of the canyon, and the feeling of that aura was clear: "Death."


    "Haha~ what a weird guy," Ste smiled.


    "Y''all think I can beat him in a wrestling match?" Thorn was curious, he didn''t want to lose his ''strongest muscles'' title to some newbie after all.


    "Heh~ I think you beat him, after all there is no way he stops that, he must have some other n," Max, the assassin of the group, spun his des while pointing at Stark, "It would be suicide to try and fight it head on like that."


    "What''s his n anyway," Jackughed, "Fucking catch it in this momentum, even I can''t see the spikes because of how fast they go!"


    And while all of them were indeed saying the truth about the fact anybody else would just try to avoid or deflect the attack¡­


    Stark was crazy enough to actually risk it.


    ~FWIIIISHHH~


    The 20 meters tall ball was now centimeters in front of Stark.


    "Focus¡­" he breathed in and opened his eyes as wide as he could, sensing the movement of the spiky object ahead.


    And then¡­


    ~CRASH~


    Using the momentum and perfect timing¡­ he managed to hold onto one of the spikes while it was spinning.


    "-2182!" this allowed the damage to be reduced as much as possible, but there was still the impact.


    The ball was still rolling as Stark''s sheer strength allowed him to grab onto it.


    ~SCREECH~


    He was being pushed because of the speed, his feet sliding on the rock surface, but he didn''t let go.


    His feet were being set on fire, and blood was pouring out from his forehead, but Stark didn''t stop.


    "-3612!" he ced his ''aura barrier'' from the level 10 domination skill, which allowed him to endure the damage.


    And so after a few seconds of just sliding away¡­


    The golem stopped.


    Stark was sessful in stopping it.


    "Hah~ hah~" he was exhausted, but he had done it.


    "-99999!" the golem immediately crumbled after being stopped, it had used too much energy, and it was already on the verge of copsing, so thatst attack was its final attempt to kill the human.


    "Phew~ take that, ck rock thingy!" he smiled while wiping the sweat off his forehead.


    There was now a pile of rocks in the location of where the golem and its minions were, they had all been defeated.


    [You have in "Obsidian Golem lv50 (ELITE MINI-BOSS)", gained 358000EXP!]


    And of course, getting that much experience could only mean one thing¡­


    [Your level has increased to level 23, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 287752/440000]


    ''¡­'' the crowd of ssifiers was speechless.


    "HE-HE STOPPED THAT THING WITH HIS HANDS," even Jack was bbergasted.


    Stark had surprised him dozens of times over the course of this fight, and each time he thought he was dead, he would somehow find a solution to escape¡­


    Whether it was finding the golem''s weakness, destroying its arm to prevent it from using its full ultimate skill, redirecting the minion''s attacks to the mini-boss, or even stopping the spike ball with his sheer hands while risking his life.


    All of these things were risks many people would never take, and yet he had done it all in session.


    Plus he had done it so perfectly it was as if¡­ he knew what he was doing since the beginning, with no ce for doubts.


    [You have beaten the boss while being alone (SOLO achievement), granting you better equipment pieces]


    Beside the golem, two pieces of equipment had dropped, one had a green light, and the other a brownish one.


    He took the two and put them inside [Spatial Inventory] without bothering to check them out as he didn''t feel the need to for now.


    "SEE YOU FUCKERS!" then he turned at the ssifiers on the other side of the canyon and waved at them.


    But they couldn''t even be mad at him after what they had just witnessed.


    Plus, they couldn''t really curse him long since the monsters began spawning again, meaning it was their chance to get a TP pearl.


    ***


    Stark ran toward the giant mountain with the monument on top of it.


    "¡­" he hadn''t let it show, but he was extremely exhausted after such a battle.


    Of course, there was the possibility of using the [Max Health Potion] he had been given, but no¡­ he didn''t want to, not now.


    [HP: 3726/8900]


    His HP weren''t that low thanks to the ne, which allowed him to recover a small portion of his health every time he dealt good damage to an enemy, and even more when he killed them.


    But Stark knew he couldn''t let his guard down just yet.


    The battle with the Obsidian Golem and its minions had taken a lot out of him, and he couldn''t afford to be vulnerable now.


    ''If only there was a bonfire¡­ somehow I really miss those¡­'' he sighed.


    The harder a rift is, the less bonfires there are, and it was safe to assume that there was none in this secret rift, at least not until at least the boss.


    But instead of a bonfire, he found something else, a giant rock in the distance.


    ''That could do¡­''


    Stark approached it, his movements were slow, and his eyes tired.


    And after a few minutes, he arrived, then rested against the rock, his eyes dizzy.


    Of course, sleeping in a rift was the worst possible idea anybody could have.


    Only a madman would have the guts to do that.


    And yet¡­


    "Clone Frenzy!" he summoned one of his clones and gave it two simple instructions:


    "Wake me up in exactly five hours, and if anybody else approaches, wake me up," the rest was up to the clone as it understood it would need to defend its original body.


    Stark wasn''t the type to be tired easily, but using so many skills, and enduring all these attacks while trying to control a power he wasn''t used to was very hard.


    It was already a miracle he was still standing long enough to reach that rock as his stamina was already depleted.


    "¡­" the clone nodded and positioned itself, it was allowed to use every skill and do anything to protect Stark, so it was ready to battle all night as it was like a bodyguard that could never get tired.


    And somehow¡­ Stark put his total trust in it (maybe because it was basically just another him?).


    And so, Stark closed his eyes and fell asleep.


    That night, Stark had no dreams.

 Chapter 72: Clone Fighting

    ¡­


    [Name: Flying Wolves]


    [Level: 56]


    [HP: 70000]


    [Strength: 736]


    [Stamina: 1184]


    [Speed: 1261]


    [Defense: 480]


    [Skills: Talon Strike, Paralyze, Aerial Assault, Ferocious Bite]


    ¡­


    Stark was currently asleep, meaning that it was up to the clone to get rid of those ''intruders''.


    It had been three hours since Stark fell asleep, and until now¡­ it went pretty well?


    The bodies of several monsters could be seen lying around the rock as the clone had sessfully killed them all by itself.


    Of course, it meant that it had defeated all these monsters while not taking a single hit, its sole objective to protect Stark, nothing else mattered.


    Plus, if the clone ever got killed, the aura that would seep inside of Stark''s body would immediately awaken him since he would feel the change.


    The only downside to such a thing is that the amount of experience Stark would get from using his clone to farm it was extremely low.


    [Cannot cheat the system]


    It would too easy to just send clones over and over, so there was a limit to how much he would get by using such a method.


    Just like the time he used the bonfire to kill enemies from the ''safe zone'', it seems like the world itself didn''t allow him to cheat.


    Stark''s clone positioned itself while looking at the winged wolves, ready to take them all.


    It had only fought monsters in one on ones up until now, so fighting several opponents could reveal itself to be much harder¡­


    The clone had Stark''s intelligence and conscience, meaning that it thought like him, and also used the skills just like he would, which was like it used [Perception] to see the monsters'' stats.


    ''High speed¡­ low defense¡­'' it thought, a trail of aura shining in its eyes.


    "AURA SMASH!" it didn''t waste time and sent two fists at the wolves, which were taken aback and couldn''t avoid it.


    "-18371! -16268!" two of them were hit directly while the other two avoided the attack since they were further.


    [Enemy stunned]


    One of the two wolves fell to the ground as it couldn''t p its wings anymore.


    And so the clone took advantage of that while the others were still trying to recover.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," it sent the three spears at the fallen wolf''s head, which basically acted as its weakness.


    And the three pierced it.


    "-27362! -28284! -26837!" it died immediately as holes were left in the ces the spears were aimed at.


    Then without wasting time, it dashed at the second wolf which had been hit by the crimson fists as its HP was already down.


    ~FWISH~


    "AERIAL ASSAULT!"


    "FEROCIOUS BITE!"


    One of the two monsters which escaped the crimson attack flew in the air then dived at the clone, attempting to kill it as it sensed that a single attack would be enough.


    But¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" the clone rolled forward and avoided the wolf''s ws, which kept flying as it didn''t expect for such a thing to happen.


    Then the second one got on its feet and dashed at incredible speed toward the clone, which just looked at it with the same nk and calm expression it always had.


    A clone couldn''t feel emotions after all¡­ or could it?


    ~SMASH~


    Instead of avoiding the ''Ferocious Bite'' from the wolf, it just surrounded its hands with aura and smashed its head.


    The momentum sent it flying very far.


    "-28372!"


    But the clone didn''t let go.


    "-29329! -27624!" it killed the second wolf, then dashed toward the one that was hit by its crimson fists.


    "PARALYZE!" it roared at the clone, as the skill [Paralyze] basically paralyzed enemies if they had just an ounce of fear while looking at them.


    But of course¡­


    [''Fear'' and ''Paralyze'' don''t work on ''Domination'' ss]


    And anyway, it was a clone, it couldn''t sense fear.


    So while the wolf was getting ready to use another skill¡­


    The clone smashed its head, killing it instantly.


    "-48371!" their weaknesses were their heads, so destroying it was an insta-kill.


    "CRIMSON FIST!" then finally, the clone sent two final fists as thest wolf which was justing after flying too far.


    And it was killed.


    ''¡­'' the clone went back in front of Stark after getting rid of the enemies, its mission wasn''t done yet as there were still two hours before waking up its owner.


    [You have in four ''Flying Wolves lv56'', gained 28271EXP!]


    And of course, the experience was massively reduced as in under normal circumstances, he should have gotten at least 200000.


    ***


    ~SHAKE~


    ''Huh¡­'' Stark slowly opened his eyes, rubbing them after a few seconds.


    He sat up, ncing around to find his surroundings eerily quiet.


    The clone stood vigntly nearby after waking up its owner, its eyes meeting Stark''s with an unreadable expression.


    Stark couldn''t help but feel a sense of pride at the clone''s sess in protecting him while he slept.


    "Good job," he smiled before making the clone disappear.


    It had been exactly five hours since he slept, and now he felt that his stamina was recovered thanks to that.


    Plus¡­ it seemed like nobody had traversed the canyon yet, the odds of a pearl appearing were even lower since someone had already found one after all.


    Or at least, that''s what he thought.


    Because before the clone disappeared, it pointed in the distance at the direction Stark came from.


    And there he saw¡­ a group of ssifiers marching toward him.


    ''¡­?'' it hadn''t woken him up because the time was up, but because people were arriving!


    ''Ah shit¡­ need to go!''


    Stark quickly stood up, feeling the adrenaline pumping through his veins, then he began running, using the giant rock as some sort of vision-blocker.


    He counted the number of ssifiers there, and there were at least seven of them.


    ''How is that possible¡­ aren''t pearls rare¡­?''


    ¡­


    30 minutes ago, on the other side of the death canyon¡­


    One of the ssifiers had finally gotten hold of a pearl, and so just like Stark, they approached the edge of the canyon, and threw it before anyone could do anything.


    ~FWISH~


    They teleported to the other side, then grinned.


    And that person was none other than¡­ Stark''s brother.


    He didn''t waste a single second and dashed toward the giant golem''s body, using his ''Soul Wielder'' heart and powerful [Creation] skill to use the rocks and form a bridge that traversed the entire canyon.


    It wasn''t obvious, but once someone passed the canyon using a ''TP Pearl'', they were basically allowed to use any cheats to go back or to help the others.


    After forming the rock bridge, Stark''s brother gestured at the members of his group toe while most of the others were too focused on resting or fighting.


    And so just like that, the ''Wyver''s Wrath'' group was able to pass the canyon.


    "HEY, WAIT A MINUTE," Jack realized what was happening and tried to use this opportunity to catch up.


    But¡­


    ~CRACK, CRUMBLE~


    The bridge was destroyed the moment all the members passed, they wouldn''t allow anyone else but them to get an advantage after all, right?


    And so just like that, a group was able to pass, heading toward the final area, and most importantly¡­ toward Stark.

 Chapter 73: The Wyverns Wrath Group

    ''Now¡­ I just need to get to the boss before anyone else¡­'' he grinned, the mountain was now closer than ever before, and he could see the flight of stairs that would lead up to it.


    His heart pounded in his chest, adrenaline fueling his every step. He was determined to outrun them and protect his position as the first.


    But of course¡­


    ~FWISH~


    A blue trident crashed in front of him, halting his run.


    Instinctively, Stark looked behind him, and there he saw that the seven figures were much muuuchh closer than he expected them to be.


    ''¡­'' he switched directions to avoid the trident that had stopped him¡­


    But another interrupted him again, the head of the trident hitting the ground.


    ''FUCK¡­''


    No matter where he would try to go, another trident would be there, slowly but surely blocking all his options.


    And after only 30 seconds, he was now surrounded by a circr cage of blue tridents, aura pouring out from them as they encercled Stark like a rat in a testingb.


    ~FWISH~


    In a sh of light, the tridents disappeared, and instead of the weapons, Stark was now surrounded by the seven ssifiers.


    [Group: Wyvern''s Wrath]


    A panel appeared to tell him who he was facing, probably thanks to [Perception].


    [Tip: Idk, just don''t anger them]


    ''Nice tip!'' Stark nodded.


    "What took you so long?" one of the members of this group, a burly man with dark skin and refined musclesughed.


    "Sleeping," Stark replied while smiling.


    "HAHAHAHAH~" the man held his forehead, "You were sleeping in this rift?"


    "How is that even possible?" a woman with short pink hair in a bob cut scratched her chin, she was holding a scepter with a heart on it, and even her eyes had hearts in them, Stark thought that she could either be a subus (he read too many cultural books) or a magus.


    "Secret technique," Stark shrugged, "Why did you guys interrupt me?"


    There was absolutely no reason for them to go as far as to throw weapons at him to make him stop.


    Except if¡­ they wanted to kill him.


    "Just for your information, I have no items on me, you can check my body," it was theplete truth, and he wanted to get the ''trying to steal from me'' theory out of the lot as it would hopefully dissuade them from doing anything.


    "Of course there is no items on you if you used that weird void thingy to put them inside¡­" a ck-haired woman with sses nervously said.


    "¡­" Stark didn''t expect them to catch on so quick, but it meant he couldn''t outsmart them.


    A blue-haired guy with tridents floating around him, probably the guy that sent them to capture Stark, was just staring at the conversation, not saying anything.


    Stark lowered his gaze, feeling a mixture of irritation and respect for the Wyvern''s Wrath group''s cleverness.


    Then he looked back up, staring at the leader''s eyes with his most calm eyes, ones filled with aura, enough for none of those present to not notice that he was serious.


    "Ok, and so what do you want me with me," he looked at his brother, he had the same ck hair and red eyes he did.


    But of course, he had no ns to reveal that since he was currently wearing the bunny mask, which perfectly hid his identity to anyone who didn''t know who he was.


    "Nothing much," Stark''s brother grinned, "Just wanted to see why you were still there after so long, plus are we not allowed to talk?"


    "I would rather not talk with you all," Stark smiled and lifted his arms.


    Even to those that were stronger then he was, they could sense that his aura was weird.


    They knew he was weaker, and yet they felt like there was a risk in approaching him.


    "Funny guy," two red-haired boys that looked exactly the same, apparent twins, spoke at the same time, "Don''t think you can get away with that."


    And with that, Stark saw all the members of this weird group.


    After one minute of silence, Stark knew they couldn''t let him off the hook.


    ''¡­'' he sighed, then out of nowhere¡­ took a fighting stance, putting his aura-filled fists in front of his face.


    "Oy~~ is this guy insane?" the dark-skinned man was bewildered.


    "I wouldn''t underestimate him¡­" the nervous woman adjusted her sses, she seemed to be the smartest of the group.


    "I''ll repeat, what do you want from me," Everything about Stark''s stance and aura indicated he wasn''t kidding, yet his face remained calm.


    "I''ll tell you what we want, then¡­" Stark''s brother took a step forward, putting his hand on his chest before pulling out his ''Wielder Heart'' from it, "We just want to be the first toplete this rift."


    "Fair enough," Stark nodded, but he obviously wouldn''t let them be.


    "So I hope¡­" a small grin began to form on the ck-haired leader''s face, "You don''t hate us for what''s about to happen."


    Right as he finished his sentence, a blue magic circle appeared around Stark, and blue chains appeared, slowly approaching Stark.


    ''I can''t move,'' no matter how hard he tried to fight it, there was no way he could move.


    "Should have been smarter than this," the leader winked at Stark, mocking him for just standing there while they restrained him behind the scene.


    The owner of that attack was the blue-haired guy with tridents around him, its name was [Timed Chain], and if the opponent stays still for five seconds in the domain of the circle, they would be forcefully paralyzed, then restrained, with no way to escape.


    And so this meant¡­


    "It''s our victory, bunny masked guy," the dark-skinned manughed, enjoying the show.


    As if to mock him even more, the chains that were supposed to restrain him were moving very slowly toward his body, to make sure that Stark could see them.


    ''Their victory¡­?'' Stark internally grinned.


    On the outside, it seemed like he was perplexed and taken aback, but on the inside¡­ he wasughing.


    He had [Perception] and [Focus], how the hell would he have not noticed it?


    He had seen the circle since the moment it appeared, but just let it do what it was supposed to do, even going as far as reading the skill''s description to make sure that it would work.


    The objective of this small n of his was obvious: take all of them aback to be able to reach the boss area before they did.


    And so right as the chains were going to wrap around his limbs¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," Stark focused all his aura around his legs, all the while summoning [Aura Smash] and [Crimson Spears] around him.


    And then¡­ he dodged the chains, essentially getting out of the [Timed Chains] skill''s range thanks to the invincibility frames.


    And so just like that, Stark began his n to reach the boss of the Secret Rift before this group of ssifiers more powerful than he was.

 Chapter 74: Outsmarting an Elite Group

    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," Stark dodged the blue chains that were wrapping around his body.


    And immediately afterward, before any of the ''Wyvern Wrath'' members could do anything¡­


    "AURA SMASH!" he sent two crimson fists toward the guy with the tridents around him.


    "-4736! -4827!" the damage was low because of the powerful equipment he had and also because of his defense.


    But that wasn''t what Stark wanted¡­ what he wanted was another one of this skill''s abilities¡­


    [Enemy stunned!]


    ''YES!'' he almost shouted, it was based on luck, but it seemed like he hadn''t been abandoned.


    Thanks to the upgrade of the ''Domination'' skill to level 10, the amount of aura he had was so high that even a person that was level 100+ would be affected by the status effects.


    And so the blue-haired man suddenly fell to the ground, unable to move his legs anymore.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark took advantage of this opportunity to dash toward him as he was the one that was in the mountain''s direction.


    ~SLAM~


    He kicked the man''s face as hard as he could, sending him flying against the ground, yet still unable to move.


    "-5738!"


    Despite the damage being low, the group was stunned by the sudden turn of events.


    And so Stark began dashing toward the mountain, focusing the entirety of his aura around his legs.


    This was a giant risk he was willing to take: abandon all the protection around his body with the hopes of being able to run as fast as the rest of them.


    "SHIT, CATCH HIM," the dark-skinned man was the first to snap back to reality after a few seconds and chased after Stark.


    The rest immediately followed except for the blue-haired man who was still down, it would take some time for him to recover as ''Stun'' usually goes away after being hit.


    "GET THAT KID," the leader shouted.


    They didn''t know why they took so long to chase after him, it was almost as if they were¡­ hypnotized¡­ by his aura.


    But it didn''t matter now, all they needed to do was catch up to him.


    Stark was running as fast as he could, passing through the many ins of the ''Shadow Valley'' while avoiding the monsters in his way.


    The closer he got to the mountain and the flight of stairs that led up to the monument, the more monsters would appear.


    But¡­


    ~FWISH~


    "-74728! -83816! -93774!"


    Extremely close behind him were the six ssifiers, all able to one shot the monsters, fury in their eyes and not letting go of Stark for a single second.


    [6 following you]


    "I''M GETTING FUCKING TIRED, I''LL KNOCK HIS ASS OUT," the dark-skinned man shouted and activated [Berserk Sprint] to increase his speed, leaving the remainder of his team behind, but also getting closer to Stark.


    "¡­" Stark grinned, a trail of aura in his eyes.


    He could never hope to win against even a single one of them at his current level, but¡­ he could outsmart them.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Berserk Sprint]


    [Description:] Increases the user''s speed by 200%, leaving them in a state of berserk which they cannot get out of until hitting a target or wall/object


    [w:] Your stamina will be immensely reduced if you hit an unknown object instead of the target.


    ¡­


    [He would¡­]


    ''CRIMSON SPEARS!''


    [Take advantage¡­]


    ''GO AT HIM!'' he pointed at the burly man who was right behind him, a few centimeters away from catching him.


    [¡­Of their weaknesses.]


    The three spears immediately turned and headed toward him, and of course, just as his skill indicated¡­ he wasn''t able to avoid them.


    "-4627! -3813! -5837!" he tripped after being hit as he didn''t expect his [Berserk Sprint] to stop so suddenly.


    He fell to the ground, catching his breath as just as the w described, he was not unable to run as fast as before to keep up with the others.


    [5 following you]


    "-29182!" he punched a random ''flying wolf'' that was trying to bite him, sending it flying toward the red-haired twins, who cut it into a million pieces at intense speed.


    Looking ahead, he could see that he was only a few hundreds of meters away from the mountain, the white giant stairs visible from here.


    Those stairs went like spirals around the mountain, and they wererge enough to fit at least twenty people.


    "JUST FUCKING CAPTURE HIM," Stark''s brother shouted, two of his members had unexpectedly been taken care of by this random kid¡­


    WHY COULDN''T THEY BEAT HIM EASILY LIKE THEY DID WITH ALL THE OTHERS?!


    Despite the quick burst of anger and frustrationing from his brother''s voice, Stark grinned.


    "You guys left two of your teammates back while they were weakened," he looked at them, a chilling smile on his face, "You are horriblepanions¡­"


    He had reached the stairs by this point, and he was beginning to climb them.


    [You have reached the level 50 area: ''The Final Stretch'']


    After a few seconds, thest five ssifiers that were chasing after him reached the area, climbing up as fast they could.


    "DIE!" the twins dashed toward Stark, finally catching up to him, their magic swords (which both looked the same too) shing in his direction.


    ~SLASH~


    They attacked from above and below, leaving no space for Stark to avoid their attack.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," but instead of rolling forward like he always did, he went backward.


    Which meant he was right behind the two twins, who didn''t expect this.


    "CLONE FRENZY," he summoned one of his clones.


    And then¡­


    "AURA SMASH!"


    The twins were in the air, unable to avoid this attack, so instead they spinned their bodies toward Stark, looking at the four crimson fists heading toward them.


    "ATTACK CUT!" they both shouted, their des burning with a white aura.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Attack Cut]


    [Description:] Allows you to cut a magic attack as long as you perfectly aim for the weak point, an amazing skill that can help you deflect unavoidable attacks.


    [w:] Doesn''t work on ''Domination''.


    ¡­


    "=)" Stark smiled as he saw the crimson fists head toward the two twins.


    Obviously, they tried to cut the two fists that hurtled toward each of them, but as expected, it was futile.


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    [Enemy stunned]


    [Enemy stunned]


    The twins were too confident in their abilities, thinking they could cut any attack, and yet¡­ they failed.


    ~THUMP~


    They began rolling down the flight of stairs, unable to move their bodies.


    "-1! -1! -1!"


    Stark and his clone then resumed running toward the top of the mountain.


    Because of the fact he slowed down to take care of the twins, the other three had almost catched up, now only a few meters behind.


    [3 following you]


    "This is absolutely BULLSHIT," Stark''s brother was furious, but just like any good novel viin, he wouldn''t give up, "SELENA, SEND YOUR BEASTS AT HIM, ALEX, INTERCEPT HIM WITH YOUR SCEPTER!"


    And so just like that, Stark had to face off against thest three ssifiers that were still following after him, their level much higher than his.


    But still¡­


    The ''Domination'' ss made it so even his level 23 self could beat monsters that were up to level 50-60, and his increase in aura meant he had a chance to escape them¡­


    Stark was confident he could get away.


    All he needed to do was¡­ get to the boss area.

 Chapter 75: Another Mini-Boss in the Rift?

    The remaining three ssifiers gave their all in pursuit of Stark, their intense aura radiating like a storm cloud behind them.


    Each of them were climbing up the stairs, soon reaching the middle point.


    "SELENA, SEND YOUR BEASTS AT HIM, ALEX, INTERCEPT HIM WITH YOUR SCEPTER!"


    Stark heard his brother speak, and immediately as he did so, the task of ''avoiding them'' became much more difficult since they knew they wouldn''t be able to catch up under normal circumstances.


    Selena, the nervous ck-haired woman put her palms together, and in an instant, shadowy beasts materialized around her, growling and snarling as they leaped towards Stark with menacing intent.


    She was a [Beast Tamer] and her sub-ss was [Shadow Tamer].


    Although there are only ten sses in the world, sub-sses ranged in the thousands if not hundreds of thousands, which was what allowed each individual to be mostly unique.


    Alex, the pink-haired girl, on the otherhand, raised her heart scepter high as crackling energy formed around the tip, she was either a subus or magus, and in both cases it wasn''t good.


    ~FWISH~


    He crouched to avoid a shadow wolf that jumped toward him, and the beast crashed against a wall, disappearing into a puff of eerie ck smoke.


    Stark quickly turned his attention to Alex, who was now sending pulses of magical energy in his direction.


    "ALEX BEAM!" it was a pink beam with hearts around it, but in contrast to its cute nature, the attack was deadly as it hit the stairs andpletely destroyed them, following Stark closely as he needed to zigzag to avoid theser.


    "Use your heart, Jay!" Alex said, looking at Stark''s brother.


    ''So his name is Jay¡­'' this made Stark realize he didn''t know his supposed brother''s name in this world.


    "WIELDER HEART," Stark''s brother summoned his heart in his hands, and just as he remembered, it was a red one with pulsating veins on it.


    ~FWISH~


    "CREATION!" Jay held his heart high just like he did when he created that bridge to pass the canyon, and suddenly, parts of the mountain and stairs began morphing around his heart, transformig into spiky spears.


    ~THUMB, THUMB, THUMB!~


    He could create an endless amount of spears with no cooldown, and he would continuously send them toward Stark, who tried his best to avoid them.


    Add the ''Alex Beam'' and several shadow creatures from Ste that were constantly jumping at him, and you have a very disadvantageous chase, where Stark was forced to avoid everything if he didn''t want to die.


    Which was most surprising though was that even his close somehow managed to avoid the attacks, following Stark''smands perfectly.


    But of course¡­ they couldn''t forget about something that was very crucial¡­


    It''s that they were still in a rift area.


    And although the level 50 ''The Final Stretch'' area didn''t have any monsters as the stairs wouldn''t allow that¡­ it still had a single danger that could cause chaos.


    "ROOOOOOARRRRRR~" a giant red bird appeared above them, flying around the mountain and asionnaly stopping to look at the humans that were climbing its area.


    Secret Rifts aren''t line normal ones at all, they abide by their own rules, and they are much more dangerous than the other ones, which was why they were so sought after by ssifiers who seeked fame or thrill.


    And this one was no different.


    "Perception!" Stark analyzed the bird, it had vibrant, scarlet feathers that glisten in the sunlight with ocassional white motifs, it''s wingspan was immense, casting a shadow over arge part of the mountain, its beak was sharp and pointed, and its eyes were a piercing yellow.


    The pping of its wings was like thunder, sending vibrations through the air, and when it let out a loud roar, it echoed through the entire valley, maybe even those still at the canyon had heard it?


    ¡­


    [Name: Crimson Raptor (ELITE MINI-BOSS)]


    [Level: 55]


    [HP: 190000]


    [Strength: 762]


    [Stamina: 826]


    [Speed: 2362]


    [Defense: 2184]


    [Skills: Wing sh, Feather Storm, me Breath (st), w Swipe, Bone Crush, Bird Vision, Prey of the Raptor, Wind Gust, Babies Summon¡­]


    ¡­


    ''ANOTHER MINI-BOSS?'' this was the only monster of this area, yet it was probably much more deadly than the obsidian golem since they were basically in its territory, falling from the stairs being guaranteed death.


    So now, in additions to the three beasts that were following him closely from behind to either kill him or capture him, there was a mini-boss flying around them, ready to strike.


    And so, in this hopeless situation where Stark could really death getting closer and closer as his stamina was going down and the attacks not stopping¡­


    He did something to get himself out of this situation¡­ which was facing the mini-boss.


    "AURA SMASH!" all his precious fists and spears were being sent toward the people that were chasing him, but this time he changed his approach.


    He punched the air in the giant bird''s direction, sending two fists toward it, and of course, although it had incredible speed, easily avoiding them¡­


    ~SWISH~


    Stark used the technique he had learned during the Domination trial and switched the fists'' directions, making them go back toward the bird, who didn''t suspect anything


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    It was hit twice.


    "-15736! -18216!" the damage was decent, but no stun.


    And it was fine, since now, Stark could only hope that his n would work.


    The ''Crimson Raptor'' was furious that it had been hit by such a cheap attack, and so it dived toward Stark and his clone, trying to kill them both.


    "CLAW SWIPE, WING SLASH," it activated both skills, making both its wings and ws shine.


    Stark looked up, seeing the bird now only a few meters above him, still diving to kill him off.


    "¡­" he grinned, ''Bingo.''


    ~SLAM~


    The birdnded on the stairs on Stark.


    But¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," he dived forward, avoiding both the bird''s attacks and also continuing to climb upward alongside his clone who also used the skill.


    The raptor was so big that it took up the entirety of the stairs, essentially blocking the three ssifiers that were chasing after Stark as they couldn''t do anything: they were forced to get rid of it if they wanted to pass through.


    This was Stark''s n.


    "YOU FUCKKERRRRRR!" Jay shouted as hard as he could, figuring out that Stark had outsmarted them again.


    ''I guess using your brain is useful, isn''t it,'' he grinned, continuing to climb the stairs while the others were stuck with the mini-boss.


    "FLAME BREATH," the raptor immediately turned its head toward them and sent a fire st at the three ssifiers, who were forced to go on the offensive to kill it.


    And so just like that, Stark was getting closer to his goal.


    ''Easy win!''


    Or at least¡­ that''s what he thought.

 Chapter 76: Entering the Secret Rifts Boss Area

    As Stark continued to climb the stairs, carefully watching the events unfolding below him, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of aplishment.


    Alex, Ste and Jay were now focused on the raptor as it had put itself between him and them.


    And now, Stark was climbing as fast as he could, there were no more enemies to stop him in his quest to reach the boss.


    ~THUMP, THUMP, THUMP~


    Even though he knew the three were distracted, he didn''t slow down his pace at all.


    ''After all...''


    ~BOOM~


    He heard a massive explosion behind him.


    ''I know they are monsters¡­''


    Back to Jay, Alex and Ste, they were absolutely furious, they had been tricked again by that bunny-masked guy, and were now forced to fight off another mini-boss.


    But it didn''t matter to them, they were way to strong.


    "me Breath," the raptor unleashed a st of fire.


    "CREATION!" but Jay just raised a wall using the materials and rocks around him, essentially blocking the attacks.


    Trails of aura were in each of their eyes, and as soon as the [me Breath] ended¡­


    "ALEX BEAM," the pink-haired magus used the beam attack yet again, sending a pinkser toward the bird''s wings to stop it from flying away.


    ~BOOM~


    "-47261!" a massive hole was left in the middle of the right wing.


    And when the raptor sensed the danger and tried to use itsst wing to leave¡­


    "SHADOW BEASTS!" Ste used her signature move to send dozens of beasts of all sorts toward the raptor''s feet/tallons.


    Many of them biting it and eating pieces of its flesh, stopping it from doing anything else.


    "-21721! -19288! -26454!"


    "BONE CRUSH!" knowing it couldn''t move anymore since both its feets had been massively injured and that its wing had a hole in it, it tried to use one of its more powerful attacks, strenghtening its body and rushing at the ssifiers to try and fall on them.


    But¡­


    "CREATION!" Jay''s skill creation was so powerful that he could do pretty much anything with it, which was why he only reserved his other ones for special asions.


    ~FWISH~


    Jay formed a giant spiky rock in the air above the bird''s head while it was rushing at them.


    And after a few seconds¡­


    The rock began falling at incredible speed.


    ~BAM~


    The ''Crimson Raptor''s" weakness was its head, and once the powerful rock absolutely demolished it, it died.


    "-102826!"


    With the mini-boss defeated, Jay, Alex, and Ste turned their attention back to the stairs which Stark was climbing and dashed, their speed much higher than before since they were much more angry.


    "DON''T LET THAT FUCKER GO!" they had defeated the boss in three attacks, and in under thirty seconds, proving that whatever Stark attempted to do from now on was futile.


    Stark was now almost at the top of the mountain, and as soon as Jay, Alex and Ste defeated the mini-boss¡­


    [The Mini-Boss ''Crimson Raptor'' has been defeated by Jay, Alex and Ste from ''Wyvern Wrath''!]


    [Unlocking a rey for credit purposes!]


    He, just like the rest of the people at the canyon who were bored to death waiting, clicked on the video and saw the thirty seconds battle, which ended almost just as quick as it started.


    ''They are not fucking around,'' he mumbled, but immediately grinned as he saw that he had reached the top of the staircase.


    He was now at the peak of the mountain, which was basically just arge area of t ground, and a monument at the end.


    But what was most interesting wasn''t the monument in itself, instead, it was the giant doors that led to it, and obviously, the silver fog that appeared in the door frame.


    He knew from the moment he saw them that they were the doors he had been looking for.


    "Alright, time to see what''s on the other side," he said to himself as he took a deep breath.


    Even though he was excited for what might be waiting on the other side of the door, he couldn''t help but feel a bit of unease.


    He had battled everything by himself until now, and even went as far as fighting people and monsters much more powerful than he was.


    And yet¡­ he felt like that going against the boss of this area alone was a bad idea, almost as bad as attempting to beat the ''Domination'' trial alone.


    Nevertheless, he took a step forward, cing his hand on the cold, metallic frame of the door, right next to the silver fog.


    ''Welp¡­ here goes nothing,'' he took a step inside of the fog.


    But at that exact moment¡­


    "ASSHOLE!" he heard the sound of the wind shing., and the three ssifiers he had seen on the video were now right in front of him, fury in their eyes, "STOP RIGHT THERE!"


    ''¡­''


    "Y-you are really annoying¡­'' Ste, the nervous beast tamer, mumbled.


    "Let''s just kick his ass, Jay!" Alex spinned her scepter in her hands.


    Stark currently had a foot inside of the silver fog, meaning that he was pretty much guaranteed to pass through alone now.


    "I enjoyed the chase," Stark bowed, a chilling grin on his face, "But I think i''ll take my leave for now.''


    Stark''s brother, seing his foot half through the fog, immediately dashed toward him, his ''Wielder Heart'' ready to cut him in half.


    But he was toote.


    "Cya, loser!"


    And so, Stark passed through the fog alone.


    Jay, of course, tried to follow closely after him as to try and get him on the other side.


    But¡­


    [You are currently in the ''Wyvern Wrath'' party, cannot enter!]


    He was locked out of the boss area since he was already in a party, meaning that Stark had essentially gotten away with everything he did.


    And to add even more to the embarassment of getting outsmarted by a level 23 ssifier¡­


    [Something INCREDIBLE has happened inside the rift!]


    [Unlocking a rey for credit purposes!]


    In addition to everyone being able to see who defeated a boss/mini-boss/elite enemy, when something spectacr happened inside of a Secret Rift (or any rift that was at Hell difficulty or above), such reys would be avable for everyone to see.


    And the fact a level 23 ssifier escaped the 7 members of the ''Wyvern Wrath'' group could only be deemed as spectacr by the ''Greater Force'' that judged such things.


    "No way," Stark''s brother''s eyes widened as he saw the panel, and he clicked on it reluctantly, sensing that he would see something he would regret.


    And as expect¡­


    Whether it was at the start of the rift, in the forest, the canyon, and even those that passed it and were heading toward the stairs of the mountain¡­ everyone could see the chase between Stark and the 7 members of the group.


    From the beginning to its end, from the moment Stark stunned the blue-haired man to him reaching the boss area.


    It was visible for everyone to see.


    And so immediately, the ''Wyvern Wrath'' group was humiliated, and given the name ''Cannot catch up to a level 23 bunny!''


    "YOU ASSHOOLLLLEEEEEEEEE," Jay shouted as hard as he could, blood pouring out from his mouth because of how hard he bit his tongue.

 Chapter 77: The Shadow Monument

    ''Stark¡­'' Lana was astonished, looking at the video that was ying before her felt unreal, and it almost made her vomit each time she saw how close Stark was to die, ''What the hell is wrong with you¡­''


    She closed her eyes, not even daring to watch it until the end.


    Instead, she just looked at the rest of the people still in the canyon who were watching the video to its end.


    And after a few minutes¡­


    "That bastard is insane," Thorn''s eyes widened, then heughed, "He is actually insane, there is no way¡­"


    "Lana, how did you find and bring someone so¡­ crazy?" Ste (yes, she has the same name as the pink hair) looked at the blonde-haired archer with an open mouth.


    "¡­" Lana couldn''t understand as she didn''t have the guts to finish the video, but immediately pieced the information together thanks to all the talk around her.


    "How the fuck is a level 20 or so as fast as an up-and-rising elite group that are each over level 100?"


    "Doesn''t make sense, and did you see how he kept avoiding their attacks?"


    "Am I the only one who saw how he got rid of Mark (blue-hair), Tyson (dark-skinned man) and the Elona twins?"


    ''Phew¡­'' he sighed in relief, thanking whoever was above for allowing Stark to live.


    But if he had sesfully escaped from them.


    It only meant one thing¡­


    [Someone had entered the BOSS area!]


    Such a panel came to confirm everyone''s suspicions, and so now all they needed to do was wait in hopes of Stark dying inside the boss area to hopefully catch up.


    "Interesting¡­" Vex smiled, "Very¡­ very¡­ interesting¡­"


    The ''bunny-masked man'' was already bing the talk of the rift, and soon enough of the entire world once all these highlights get out.


    He was low-level, yet extremely strong and shrouded in mystery.


    "Who is he¡­" was everyone''s sole question.


    ***


    [Boss Area: "The Shadow Monument"]


    [Warning! Your level is too low, it is advised to turn back!]


    [Warning! You will suffer, please turn back!]


    [Warning! One of the fifteen ''Godless Demons'' member is on the other side, please go back!]


    Of course, no matter how many messages appeared around Stark, he would keep going.


    He could hear the pleads of the souls, his visionpletely blocked by the fog as he kept advancing for a seemingly endless amount of time.


    As the messages warning him to turn back sounded, Stark gritted his teeth and pushed forward, determined to face the boss. He knew it would be a difficult battle, but the thrill of the unknown kept him going.


    Finally, after what felt like hours of walking through the fog, he reached the end of the tunnel, and passed through it¡­


    The boss area was bathed in a deep blue light, casting eerie shadows on the ground.


    He was in a very small chamber, and around him were walls with intricate and uprehensible scriptures.


    And in front of him was a giant door: it was the final thing that separated him from the boss.


    ''¡­'' Stark opened his [Spatial Inventory] and took both the [Conjoined Warrior''s Cloak] and the [Max Health Potion] from the void.


    ~GULP, GULP~


    He drank up the entirety of the green liquid inside the ss, and immediately, he felt all his wounds being closed, as well as his strength, stamina, and HP recovering.


    [Level:] 23


    [Health:] 8900/8900


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [ss:] Domination


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    [Attributes:] Strength 887; Speed 997; Mind/Soul 1184; Stamina 773; Defense 806


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv10; Focus lv5; Aura Smash lv6; Clone Frenzy lv5; Invincible Dodge lv2; Double Assault lv1¡­


    ¡­


    [Skill Points: 2 Avable]


    [You have upgraded ''Double Assault'' to level 2!]


    [You have upgraded ''Double Assault'' to level 3!]


    He knew this skill would be his saving grace inside this monument area, so that''s why he decided to upgrade it.


    Then he wore the [Conjoined Warrior''s Cloak] around his head and upper half.


    [Special Perk:] Wearing this cloak while fighting will result in the chance of inflicting a critical hit on your opponent (dealing massive damage), the chance is only 5%.


    "Alright, here we go," Stark said to himself, mentally preparing for the uing battle.


    He took a deep breath, stepped forward, and pushed the door wide open.


    There was a path drawn from the door he had opened to the end of the giant room by a giant red carpet, dozens of pirs ced across the room in random positions.


    It looked like he was in an empty museum, although there was no furnitures or anything of interest other than the pirs and the white walls, which were still inscribed with weird symbols and text, one of them reading: "The apostles want revenge¡­"


    And at the very end of the room, at the end of the red carpet¡­ stood a stone statue, ced on a giant disy which ressembled those from colosseum''s.


    The statue was that of an angel with pitch dark wings on its back, a crimson sword with spikesing out randomly from its sides, and a crown with pointy edges was ced on its head.


    The statue was surrounded by a red mist, making it very hard to see the actual figure.


    It didn''t take a genius to figure out that this was the boss of the ''Shadow Monument''.


    He began walking toward it, the statue was two times Stark''s size, which was still rtively smaller than most other monsters or bosses he had faced.


    As he got closer to the statue, he noticed another inscribed text on the walls, and it read: "The Chosen One shalle face to face with their destiny¡­"


    ''Chosen¡­'' that was his code name, and also the name of his talent, but it''s only a coincidence, right?


    And when he was ten meters away from the statue¡­ he heard a voiceing from all directions, making it impossible to pin point its source, yet he knew that it was the angel who spoke.


    "The Chosen One has appeared¡­" its voice was like a mixture of a deep and resonant echo, filled with an ominous aura that sent a shiver down Stark''s spine.


    ~BOOM~


    Theyer of stone that formed the statue desintegrated, forcing Stark to back away if he didn''t want to get it.


    And suddenly¡­ it started moving, jumping from the disy to the ground of the chamber, its crimson sword in its hands, and its crown and wings shining from the deep blue aura that emanated from above.


    "You havee alone, it is your biggest mistake," a powerful aura surrounded the angel as it began walking toward Stark, a neutral expression on its face.


    ''Alright¡­ let''s go¡­''


    [Judicator, the Fallen Angel (BOSS)]

 Chapter 78: Judicator, the Fallen Angel

    The room was now filled with a sense of tension, as Judicator, the Fallen Angel, began to close the distance between it and Stark.


    The two figures were facing one another, locked in a battle of wills, and perhaps soon, of physical prowess as well since they weren''t that far from each other.


    "Your destiny ends here, human, for I, one of the apostles of the ''Godless Demons'' will erase your puny existence from this ce!" its sword glew ten times as bright.


    "Lots of talk for someone who is about to die," Stark smiled, activating [Domination] as well as he couldn''t allow himself to be overpowered before activating his skill, that boss seemed extremely powerful.


    "Let us see, then¡­" it''s pitch ck eyes began glowing with a golden light that almost felt like it was sucking up the atmosphere of the chamber.


    Then¡­


    ~FLAP, FLAP~


    Judicator spread its dark wings and began flying in the air as it pped them repeatedly, slowly but surely still approaching Stark, a wide smile on its face.


    "This is only the beginning, and once I get rid of you, I will exit this ce and show your kind the terror the ''Godless Demons'' will bring to you all¡­"


    "Stop yapping and just get this over with!" Stark retorked, he really disliked mysterious talk for no reason.


    "¡­" Judicator rolled his eyes and dived toward Stark, his crimson sword with spikes all over it aimed to cut the boy''s head off.


    "PERCEPTION!"


    ¡­


    [Name: Judicator, The Fallen Angel (BOSS - Godless Demon Apostle)]


    [Level: 60]


    [HP: 245000]


    [Strength: 2172]


    [Stamina: 1243]


    [Speed: 1827]


    [Defense: 1079]


    [Skills: Furious Strike, Crimson Reaper, Divine Blindness, Celestial Punches, Angel''s Eyes, Wind Absorption, Body of a Saint, Anger of the Fallen, Holy Aura¡­]


    ¡­


    "Furious Strike!" the angel used his mostmon skill and swung his crimson sword at Stark.


    "Focus!" Stark''s eyes began glowing with aura as he saw the attack a micro-second before it hit him, and so he crouched at the perfect moment.


    ~SLASH~


    The de missed Stark by a hair''s breadth.


    "You''re not bad," Judicator said, with a hint of respect in his voice, "But you still don''t stand a chance."


    ~BOOM, BOOM,BOOM~


    Stark heard an explosion behind him, and he realized that when Judicator shed the air, a trail of crescent crimson aura was sent toward some of the pirs of the chamber, passing through them and destroying them all.


    "NANI?" Stark''s eyes widened and sweat poured from his forehead, this was supposed to be the aftermath of the angel''s mostmon attack¡­?


    "AURA SMASH!" Stark focused his aura into his two fists while rolling away, then sent them toward the angel.


    ~FWISH~


    "Interesting¡­ let us see how well your attacks do against my sword!" the angel grinned, positioning himself like a baseball yer trying to hit a ball.


    ~STRIKE~


    But of course, he didn''t know that such attacks from Stark couldn''t be deflected¡­


    "BOOM! BOOM!" he was hit twice while trying to cut the fists in half.


    "-16251! -15728!"


    But surprisingly enough, once the smoke from the explosion disappeared, Judicator stood there, at the same spot, unfazed, almost as if he hadn''t just received 30k damage.


    "Hm~ seems like I cannot cut such attacks, what an interesting way of fighting¡­" he looked like he was actually having fun, everything was but a game for him.


    Stark looked at Judicator, his expression unchanged. He had never seen an opponent who could take that much damage and not be affected.


    This was not going to be an easy fight.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS!" he summoned the three spears beside his body, then crossed his arms, a trail of aura pouring from his eyes, "Let''s see how well you can do then, angel!"


    "You use your hands¡­ huh¡­ =)" Judicator eximed, dropping to the ground and setting his crimson sword aside.


    He put both of his palms together before shouting: "CELESTIAL PUNCHES!"


    And suddenly, his hands glowed with a golden/divine aura, and with a loud roar, he hurled himself at Stark like a meteor.


    Stark sent his spears toward the angel with a calm expression, getting ready for impact.


    But¡­ the angel avoided the first two, and even grabbed the third one to break it in half.


    The room was filled with an electrifying atmosphere as Stark and Judicator engaged in their intense battle.


    This wasn''t a fight between sword and fists now, it was a full on boxing match.


    ~BAM, BAM, BAM~


    Stark blocked the blows from the angel using his fists.


    "-1! -1! -1!"


    Then he would try to sneak in an attack on Judicator, who just avoided it using his wings, which gave him a slight speed boost every time he pped them.


    This was an unfair match to begin, and so Stark needed to figure out a way to get him out of his tail since he seemed a bit faster and stronger than he was.


    "GOTCHA!" Judicatorughed as he grabbed Stark''s shirt and sent him against one of the marble pirs of the chamber.


    ~CRASH~


    "-3147!" Stark equipped his ''protective barrier'', which tanked the blow, but it was still too much.


    The pir he had hit crumbled from the sheer strength of the throw and also because of how durable Stark''s body was when surrounded by aura.


    "Shit¡­" he wiped the blood that came from his mouth, and got ready for another barrage of attacks as he saw that Judicator was dashing at him using the speed boost he was getting from pping his wings, ''Those damn wings¡­''


    Stark gritted his teeth, his eyes entirely focused on the wings, not even paying attention to Judicator who was approaching.


    And if he wanted to hit that angel¡­ if he wanted to win¡­ he would need to get rid of them.


    "You''re no fun anymore!" Judicatorughed, his perfect face contorted into arge grimace as he prepared to punch Stark and end his life.


    "CELESTIAL PUNCH!"


    Stark didn''t back down, he felt like he had an idea and decided to go for it.


    ~FWISH~


    He grabbed the first hand that came toward him with his own aura-filled one.


    "-272!" it caused some damage, but it was worth it, he hoped.


    "CELESTIAL PUNCH!" Judicator used the skill again, this time tried to kill Stark with his free hand.


    But Stark did it again, now grabbing of the angel''s hands with his own.


    "Is that your n?" Judicator smiled, increasing the strength of his hands and moving forward, pushing Stark.


    "No¡­" Stark smiled as he looked up.


    And then¡­


    He pulled his head back, then filled his forehead with an immense amount of aura.


    ~SMASH~


    With a surge of power, Stark headbutted the fallen angel''s face, sending him flying back with tremendous force.


    "-21826!" his forehead was really solid, maybe because he was so smart (heh).


    "You little¡­" Judicator was taken aback, his nose bleeding from the impact.


    But before he could do anything else as he was recovering¡­


    Stark was already behind him.


    "¡­?" Judicator felt the aura behind him, and for the first time, he lost his smile, sensing that whatever was behind him wasn''t something he could joke around with.


    "I''LL TEAR THOSE WINGS FROM YOU," Stark shouted then jumped on the angel''s back.


    And in addition to that situation Stark was put in¡­


    Whatever was happening inside the monument¡­


    Everyone was seeing it from the outside.

 Chapter 79: Battle Against an Angel

    Outside the ''Shadow Monument'', there was a screen panel in front of everyone.


    It appeared as soon as Stark traversed the silver fog and opened the doors of the monument''s chamber.


    And the content was obvious: it was live footage of Stark vs Judicator, footage anyone could watch, and just as expected, everyone did.


    "Huh¡­" Vex scratched his chin, he was surprised.


    And he wasn''t the only one: "Judicator, The Fallen Angel" was one of the ''Godless Demon''s'' apostles, and an extremely powerful foe.


    Even people that were level 85-100 could struggle against him because of his variety of skills and high damage output, and yet¡­ Stark went to fight him alone.


    "¡­" Jack didn''t even say anything this time, he had said the phrase ''he is dead'' way too many times and had been proven wrong each time, so now he waited for Stark''s death, although he really wanted to say it.


    All around the rift, people stopped what they were doing and watched the live feed in disbelief.


    ''¡­'' Lana had the nkest of expressions on her face, wondering just how could Stark get in such situations EVERY SINGLE TIME!


    "Are they seriously boxing?" someone joked upon the feed showing Stark and Judicator exchange in a battle of hands.


    "That boss dropped his sword to throw hands with that kid? Seriously?" Thorn shrugged, he would have enjoyed being in Stark''s ce to decimate the boss, but oh well.


    ~CRASH~


    ~FWISH~


    ~SMASH~


    They watched the entire interaction of Stark being sent away and then turning the tides by headbutting the angel.


    And now, back to the ck-haired boy, he was right behind the angel, his facepletely hidden except for his eyes and the wide smile on his face.


    He grabbed onto the angel''s back, not letting go, then immediately began pulling on its two wings.


    "YOU LITTLE-" Judicator knew what Stark was trying to do, and he wouldn''t allow him to.


    He pped his wings as hard as he could, trying to get Stark off his back, but Stark held on, still trying to get those damn wings off its back.


    Seeing that it wasn''t working, the angel decided to opt for n B: fly everywhere at crazy speed.


    "WIND ABSORPTION!"


    Judicator used his wings to the fullest, creating a massive whirlwind of air around them as they spiraled through the chamber, fazing through several pirs.


    Stark hung on for dear life, clutching the fallen angel''s wings as tightly as he could, trying to maintain his grip amidst the chaotic windstorm.


    Despite his incredible speed, Judicator knew that Stark''s aura-fueled strength would not allow him to be shaken off easily. He needed a new strategy, and fast.


    "CRASHED AGAINS''T A WALL IF YOU WANT TO HOLD ON SO MUCH!" the fallen angel shouted before heading toward a wall, nning to turn at thest second for Stark to be turned into a pancake from the impact.


    But¡­


    ''Too strong¡­'' Stark believed as he had put all his strength yet the wings weren''t budging, ''In that case¡­''


    ~TURN~


    Using the angel''s wings like some sort of wheel, he spinned them, resulting inpletely uno reversing the angel and making it crash against the wall instead of him.


    "-12928!"


    Stark jumped from the angel''s back, and then¡­


    "AURA SMASH!" he sent two fists toward it while it was still recovering from its own attack.


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    "-21352! -24721!"


    [Enemy stunned!]


    But beyond the fog from all the destruction, Judicator still got up, his chilling smile now reced by a face full of madness.


    Stark could see why he was a fallen angel now, because he looked more like a devil.


    [''Stun'' doesn''t work on ''Judicator!'']


    "You¡­ will¡­ DIE!" Judicator shouted, and the aura around him tripled in volume, his arms positioned in a weird angle.


    "HOLY AURA!"


    "Heh¡­ almost looks like he is going super saiya-"


    ~ZAP~


    "-100!" he was hit by another strike of lightning from god knows where.


    [Please no copyright issues]


    "¡­Fair."


    Judicator''s ck eyes, glowing with a strange aura, locked onto Stark as he grinned widely.


    With a quick motion of his left arm, his crimson sword, previously discarded on the ground, flew back into his hand and pointed directly at Stark.


    But that wasn''t all¡­


    "CRIMSON REAPER!"


    Another weapon appeared in his free hand, and as guessed by he skill''s name, it was a magnificent shining scythe, one that had glowing runes etched into its silver de.


    "They call me Judicator since I was the judge of the unfortunate souls who met me, you shall learn what it is to fear!" he lifted both weapons in his hands.


    "H-His power level¡­ it''s over 9000!" Stark gulped, even he could sense that this was dangerous.


    The angel didn''t have one, but two weapons, and he was able to perfectly manipte them.


    Reluctantly, Stark put his hands in front of his face, ready to try and deflect whatever wasing.


    "FURIOUS STRIKE!"


    Judicator threw both weapons a Stark with incredible force, the shining scythe shing through the air like a bolt of lightning, while the crimson sword created a trail of crimson fire as it rushed to meet its target.


    "YOU WILL BE JUDGED, HUMAN!"


    As the weapons streaked towards him, Stark''s face twisted into a grimace of determination. He released a burst of aura, his entire body glowing with intense power.


    "CELESTIAL PUNCH," but Judicator wouldn''t let him avoid so easily, so he immediately dashed toward Stark, meaning that three different attacks were heading toward the boy.


    Stark leaped to the side, avoidig Judicator''s dual weapons.


    "GOTCHA!" but the angel was now already in front of Stark, his fists centimeters away from his face.


    Under normal circumstances, this would be an attack impossible to avoid, meaning that it was certain death.


    But not only did Stark have his shadow from the [Purgatory Shadows] ring which could take a hit for him since he hadn''t used it in a while, but also¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!"


    Stark fazed right through the angel''s punch, who was taken aback as he had expected to fell Stark''s flesh on his holy fist, yet, the boy was behind him¡­


    "=)"


    Stark got behind Judicator and smashed his head while he lost his bnce.


    "-27361!"


    "S-SUCH PUNY AND WEAK TRICKS, YOU BASTARD!"


    "Yeah yeah h h h," Stark didn''t let him go with a single attack, and punched the angel, sending him flying against another pir.


    "-23726! -7362!"


    "¡­"


    [Judicator HP: 73745/245000]


    "¡­"


    Judicator wasn''t moving, his body on the ground, and his face looking at the floor, his pupils were moving like crazy, a sign of his growing madness.


    "This¡­"


    "?" Stark tilted his head.


    "This is¡­" Judicator began to get up, "THIS IS THE END!"


    He summoned both his weapons in his hands, and then¡­


    "ANGER OF THE FALLEN! BODY OF A SAINT!" he activated not just one, but two of his ultimate skills.

 Chapter 80: Cut in Half?

    As the room shook from the intense power of Judicator''s ultimate skills, Stark knew that this was the moment where he would either be annihted or be victorious.


    "CLONE FRENZY-" Stark tried to summon his two clones to aid him, not even taking the time to analyze Judicator''s new appearance although it seemed like he had changed.


    But¡­


    ~FWISH~


    In a fraction of a second, Judicator was already in front of him, his scythe and sword right beside his head.


    ''Huh¡­?'' he didn''t understand how this was possible, how could he be so fast.


    Time seemed to slow down around him thanks to [Focus], and so he used that opportunity to read about the two ultimate skills of the fallen angel.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Anger of the Fallen]


    [Description:] The angel has fallen from its grace, and now all it seeks is revenge against those that tried to kill it, this skill grants ''Judicator'' a temporary boost on all stats depending of his anger at the moment


    ¡­


    [Skill: Body of a Saint]


    [Description:] An angel remains an angel, no matter their current status, this skill allows ''Judicator'' to transform his body using his ''Divine Aura'', his entire body will be surrounded by that aura, increasing his defense immensely and also making him look really cool


    ¡­


    ''¡­'' Stark decided to use the [Purgatory Shadows] ring as his [Invincible Dodge] was on cooldown.


    ~SLASH, SLASH~


    The angel attacked Stark from both sides, hoping to decapitate him, but¡­


    [The Purgatory Shadow took the hit in your ce]


    A shadow version of himself appeared on both sides of his head to take on both attacks, giving Stark the time to attempt to hit the angel.


    He had just observed it now, but the angel''s appearance had changed, his skin didn''t look human-like anymore.


    Instead¡­ it was dyed in tinum, making him look very shiny.


    ~SLAM~


    Stark smashed the angel''s face with full force.


    "-4837!"


    "OUCH!" Stark shook his hand repeatedly, he had dealt damage to the angel, but his hand was hurting a lot now, it was almost as if he had hit an actual wall of tinum (no one has ever done that).


    "Angel''s Eyes," the tinum Judicator smiled as his eyes began glowing even brighter, "Now¡­ none of your moves will work¡­"


    Stark clenched his fist, feeling the burning pain in his hand. His opponent had somehow be even stronger and more durable.


    And what was that [Angel''s Eyes] skill anyway?


    "I see all paths, I see all possible attacks, you cannot defeat me, FOOL!"


    This was true, as [Angel''s Eyes] basically showed every move an opponent could do, which meant that currently, he could see shadows of Stark try all sort of things, whether it was throw the crimson fists or spears, dash at him, stand back to defend himself, or die, he saw it all.


    "It is my victory¡­" however, something strange happened as the angel spoke those words: a sigh escaped him, perhaps because he had considered the possibility of losing for a brief moment, after all, Stark had surprised him.


    But at the end of it all¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Only one would emerge victorious from this confrontation.


    ~SWISH, DODGE, SLAM~


    "-3726!" Stark deftly avoided the angel''s attacks and quickly adapted to his speed. He even managed tond some hits on the angel (although they were very painful).


    Still, the angel continued to attack with calm determination.


    Because deep down, he knew he wouldn''t lose - he had seen it in his visions.


    ~THROW~


    He threw his scythe towards Stark, who crouched to evade it.


    And then¡­


    "DIVINE BLINDNESS," the angel raised his sword with a golden aura glinting at its edge.


    And in that split second when Stark looked at the light... he waspletely blinded.


    Divine Blindness worked like this: the more sins you hadmitted, the brighter and more blinding the divine light became.


    Needless to say, Stark wasn''t a saint.


    "FUCK!" he shouted, his vision waspletely yellow, and the only thing he could see was a reversed crimson cross that appeared before him, almost as if the angel was mocking him.


    "Goodbye, human."


    Judicator summoned his scythe back, sending it flying in the opposite direction toward his free hand while it was positioned behind Stark.


    And so what had to happen happened.


    ~SLASH~


    Stark''s body was sliced cleanly in half.


    "-54152!" The damage was critical, but ultimately unnecessary since...


    [Stark HP: 0/8900]


    And so, the ck-haired boy let out a painful gasp and fell to the floor, his upper and lower body separated.


    Outside the [Shadow Monument], people from all ss and levels gasped in shock.


    "¡­" Even Jack didn''t even dare say that he knew Stark would die, proof that whatever just happened was truly shocking.


    "N-No way¡­" Lana put her hand against her mouth, tears forming in her eyes.


    "Ah shit¡­ we need to watch out for this angel guy..." Thorn scratched the back of his head.


    The sight of someone getting cut in half and dying wasn''t surprising to most, but this time, for some strange reasons, they felt emotions they had never felt before.


    In the end, all of them thought of one thing: we need to get rid of that angel before he bes too powerful.


    Just observing his skills and powers, they knew that thing was no joke.


    Almost all had seemingly already epted Stark''s death, and honestly, it wasn''t their fault since who would survive after such an attack?


    Inside the monument, Judicator gazed at the floor at Stark''s half-cut body, feeling his power at its peak: he had won.


    "You were¡­ interesting¡­ but still weak," he turned around, heading toward the disy where he had been standing previously to rest and recover his HP.


    He didn''t see any visions anymore, meaning that Stark''s heart had truly stopped beating, confirming his victory.


    He didn''t deactivate his skills though, his body was still dyed in tinum, and he still held his two weapons in case any other intruders wanted to defy him.


    "It''s our turn soon," Jay, Stark''s brother, remarked to his twopanions who were still at the top of the mountain, "Let''s kill that boss and get all the fame!"


    "Yeah!" the two girls nodded.


    But there was something strange.


    Thirty seconds had passed, yet they were still not allowed to enter the boss area.


    "What is happening?"


    "Huh¡­?"


    "Maybe we have to wait?"


    Usually, when someone or a party getspletely annihted, a message appears to confirm that they lost, and that the boss area is now open again, yet there had been nothing of this sort for some reason.


    The camera was centered on Judicator''s body, the entirety of the rift seeing his handsome tinum face slowly walk toward his rest area.


    None of them could see what was happening behind¡­


    And that was great, as it would make the surprise even better.


    Suddenly, Stark''s body began to convulse, and a bright crimson light illuminated the area where he had been cut in two.


    ~TREMBLE, FWISHHHH~


    Strands of crimson aura intertwined between the two parts of his body, and within moments, Stark was fully restored as if nothing had ever happened.


    [Talent: Chosen One, activated]


    [Stark HP: 1/8900]


    Stark immediately understood that he had died, and that he had been saved by his talent.


    A vortex of crimson aura that sucked the air off the room could be seen in his eyes: he wasn''t kidding anymore, he was more serious than ever before.


    And so¡­ he slowly got up from the cold ground, ready to end this battle.

 Chapter 81: Death of the Fallen Angel

    The Shadow Monument boss chamber was quiet.


    Way too quiet.


    The only thing people outside of it could hear were the slow footsteps of Judicator as he headed toward his disy to rest: he couldn''t deny the battle against Stark put a toll on him.


    Behind him, Stark stood up, a wide smile on his face although he waspletely serious on the inside.


    ''Heh~ not as hard and painful as my ounting exam back then,'' he shrugged, even finding the time to joke in such a situation.


    Although Stark was revived thanks to his [Chosen One] talent, it didn''t mean he didn''t feel anything, actually, it was the total opposite: he was in constant pain.


    But it was only physical, his mental fortitude too strong to sumb to such things.


    "Clone Frenzy!" wind blew through his hair as he calmly lifted his arms and summoned his clones beside him.


    They had the same tired eyes and nk expressions on their faces, just looking at Stark, knowing what they needed to do.


    ''Let''s get this over with,'' one of the clones nodded, they couldn''t talk, but Stark just guessed thanks to its bodynguage.


    ''Alright... kill this asshole,'' the other one smiled.


    "Damn right," Stark winked, his opened eye glowing not with a crimson... but blue aura?


    """DOUBLE ASSAULT!!!""" all three activated the legendary skill, and without a single second of doubt... dashed toward Judicator, who wasn''t suspecting a single thing.


    Inside the rift, people could still see Judicator''s figure head toward its disy.


    "How long do we have to watch this guy?"


    "Just open the damn boss area already, I wanna see who goes next!"


    People were getting impatient after seeing Stark''s death, knowing that it was already over for the ''bunny-masked guy'' that had caused so much trouble.


    "..." Lana shook her head frantically, unable to understand how THE Stark, the one that had always been so confident, could lose while he had only started his journey.


    Maybe he had truly pushed his luck.


    She kept looking at the floor for a good minute, not epting reality.


    Until...


    "Hey, what is that...?" someone suddenly said, pointing at their screen.


    "Yeah, there''s something weird on my screen?"


    "Me too! What''s that in the back...?"


    People began to speak about weird things, and quickly, all the others decided to check their screens.


    And it was true: behind Judicator, three small points appeared, heading at incredible speed toward him.


    The camera zoomed out...


    ~FWISH~


    And right behind Judicator...


    "HOW?"


    "NO WAY?"


    Three Stark(s) could be seen behind him, all their eyes glowing with a deep aura.


    But their aura had changed, it wasn''t only crimson anymore, no... now it was also blue, resembling some kind of blue fire that could never go out.


    The life-threatening situation, his talent usage, his determination, and the upgrade of his [Domination] skill, all of that led to Stark''s aura to change.


    It was almost purely visual, but to him, it meant that he had grown.


    "...?" Lana''s eyes widened as she saw Stark smiling right behind an unsuspecting boss.


    And then... the fight continued.


    "It''s over..." he whispered at the fallen angel''s ears, sending a chill down its spine.


    "...?" Judicator didn''t have the time to turn around that...


    ~SWASH, SWASH~


    Stark''s two clones grabbed the angel''s wings and ripped them right off his back, their increased strength enough to do that easily.


    "AHHHHHH!" the angel shouted in pain, losing his bnce as he had lost two of his most important things, "Y-YOU LITTLE, HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD-"


    He didn''t have the time to finish his sentence that Stark punched his face.


    "-15837!" his stats were still upgraded from [Anger of the Fallen], and his body still dyed in that tinum texture that increased his defense.


    And yet... that punch hurt like hell.


    Stark''s hand didn''t hurt this time, his entire fists, face, and body surrounded by that crimson/blue fire as his auras were now mixed.


    Of course, Stark''s clones didn''t just sit around and do nothing while their leader punched Judicator, they just dropped the pitch-ck wings on the ground as they were useless now, and dashed at the angel, who fell to the ground from the punch.


    "Y-YOU, YOU FUCKING CHEATER!" Judicator shouted as hard as he could, trying to get up, and sending his scythe toward the human.


    But Stark didn''t even bother to avoid it.


    Instead...


    ~GRAB~


    He grabbed the scythe''s handle and broke it using his hands and knees.


    "No more weapons," Stark looked at Judicator while throwing his scythe away in front of his face.


    "I-I still got my-" Judicator tried to dash toward Stark with his crimson de, after all Stark couldn''t have that much HP after being cut in half.


    But the clones both grabbed Judicator''s shoulders, stopping him from moving.


    And once he looked back to see what was happening...


    ~SLAM~


    One of the clone''s smashed his face while the other took the de from his hands.


    "-13724!"


    The angel was unarmed and stepped back, trying to back away from the clones as he felt that even they could defeat him.


    "You can''t run," Stark appeared under Judicator and punched his jaw from below, sending him flying toward a pir.


    "-21721! -3937!"


    By this point, both of his ultimate skills had been nullified, meaning that his skin was back to normal, and his stats too.


    ''How... is this... possible'' hey against the bottom of the pir he hadnded against, his body too weak to do anything, and his eyes slowly closing, ''I... I killed him... and yet...''


    Stark and his clones were advancing toward Judicator, a nk expression on their faces.


    "M...Monster..." this was the only word he could utter as Stark''s face was now right in front of his, a wide smile spread across it, one that made his skin crawl.


    "No matter what you try, even if you kill me again, and even if you reincarnate to another rift... i''ll be sure to find you and end your miserable life..."


    Boss monsters aren''t supposed to feel fear, their sole goal was to cause trouble to ssifiers from their sheer confidence, and yet... even he, an apostle of the ''Godless Demon'', could see that this boy was something else...


    "Angel''s Eyes!" his eyes glew bright, and he smiled as he looked at Stark''s face, "I knew it..."


    Even in the thousands, millions or even billions of different moves that could happen in that very moment, even if he summoned back his weapons in hand or activated his ultimate skills.


    Hell... even if he got back all his HP, wings, skills, and weapons...


    In not a single one of those visions did he win.


    "Bye bye," Judicator just put his head down as he saw Stark ready to charge his final punch, epting his fate.


    ~BOOM~


    The explosion shook the entire rift, sending tremors through the air.


    "-69372!" Judicator gasped in pain before smiling.


    "Y-You... are... going to die at some point... do not worry..." then he closed his eyes, and his body disintegrated into a pile of white ash.


    Nobody in the outside audience dared to cheer or celebrate, the atmosphere was heavy, and the silence was deafening.


    [The BOSS of the Secret Rift has been defeated by REDACTED!]

 Chapter 82: Level 25 Reached

    After a few minutes of shock and disbelief, a sudden sigh sent everyone''s attention back to their screens.


    "Phew~~" Stark fell to his knees, and his clones disappeared, their aura seeping back into his body, "That was... an experience..."


    They had seen the fight, they had seen the bunny-masked guy defeat the boss, and yet...


    They still couldn''t believe it.


    Questions such as "how is this possible" or "how did he do that" kept popping left and right.


    But the biggest mystery of them all was...


    "HOW DID HE SURVIVE BEING CUT IN HALF!"


    Lana sat there in stunned silence, her eyes wide with disbelief and awe.


    The fight had been intense, brutal, and impressive as hell.


    "Thank you... Stark..." she thanked him for surviving.


    "Hey, Lana," Vex and all the other ''Crimson Moon Squad'' members approached her, disbelief on their faces, "He is your little boyfriend, so you must know how he did it right, I mean, he fucking came back to LIFE while his HP were at 0, we all saw it!"


    "H-Huh?" Lana was taken aback, "W-wait, he is not my boyfriend, and no... I don''t know how he did that..."


    If she knew that he could do it, she wouldn''t have cried.


    Once your HP reached zero in this world, there was nothing much you could do in 99.9% of cases, it was immediate death.


    Drinking a [Max Health Potion] was only possible if your HP were 1 or higher, and life-saving items like the [Escape Bundle] could allow you to escape a rift if your HP dropped to 0, but that would mean leaving the rift.


    Yet Stark hadn''t left, and he probably didn''t have the money to buy such an expensive thing.


    The only other known item that could save someone from death was the [Life Crystal], and there were almost no pieces that were sold in markets because of their sheer rarity, even top powerhouses wouldn''t be able to get their hands on it with all the money in the world.


    This left two options: it is either a skill even above legendary, probably mythical, godly or even... IMMORTAL!


    "Or..." Jack spoke loudly for everyone hear, "It''s his talent, a talent so powerful that it could bring you back from the dead..." he scratched his chins.


    "We don''t know for sure," Old Kai shook his head, "There could be other exnations we just don''t know about."


    "My ass... i''m gonna stick with my theory," Jack suddenly began walking toward the exit portal that opened nearby, and his team followed closely, "We''ll be going, no more business in here if the items were taken and the boss was defeated."


    This was all the ssifiers outside the boss room could see as the screen suddenly faded to ck, now all they could do was wait for Stark toe back, leave the rift as everything would be taken (usually people attempt to steal, but most were dissuaded after seeing everything that happened), or keep fighting inside to hopefully gain experience and level up.


    "Welp, let''s go, we''ll get them next time," Vex shrugged, their squad were from the second category too.


    "I think i''ll wait here," but Lana shook her head, she needed... no... she WANTED to see Stark.


    "Oh well, it''s fine then, you''ll help him get back too!" Ste smiled and the ''Crimson Moon Squad'' began heading toward the exit, which appeared at the edge of the canyon.


    "..." Lana sat on the ground, then opened up the ''highlight rey'' to rewatch Stark''s battle.


    ***


    [You have in ''Judicator, The Fallen Angel'', gained 550000EXP!]


    ''Holy... that''s a lot of experience,'' Stark smirked, this was proof that Judicator was truly the strongest opponent he had fought yet, even stronger than the mirror master.


    But getting this much EXP could only mean one thing...


    [Your level has increased to level 24, granting you one skill point and boost in stats]


    ''Nice!'' Star''s eyes widened, he was so close now...


    And surprisingly enough... he was surrounded by the golden glow again.


    [Your level has increased to level 25, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 8391/500000]


    ''I DID IT!'' he jumped, the adrenaline granting him a boost in stamina.


    But getting to level 25 was much more overwhelming than Stark believed since many panels suddenly appeared around him, taking over his entire surroundings.


    It was a new milestone, and a giant one at that.


    He calmed down and decided to check them out one by one.


    The first thing he noticed was that familiar text: [Level 25 Reached: please pick a card].


    Just like all the previous times, three cards appeared before him, their color was orange.


    Without hesitation, Stark reached out to pick one.


    And once he turned the card, he saw the drawing of a... beam?


    ...


    [Name: Heaven''s Wrath]


    [Type: Legendary]


    [Level: 1]


    [Description: Unleash a powerful ray of crimson light from the heavens that destroys all enemies within a certain radius, the damage they receive is only in effect when they are inside the beam, otherwise they won''t be damaged if they leave it, cooldown is thirty minutes!]


    ...


    ''My first skill to get rid of big amount of monsters, huh?'' Stark immediately thought of using that skill on armies of monsters to get rid of them, and it was even better since he could control where the beam would go.


    Overall, it was a great skill, but its cooldown was higher than ''Double Assault'' for some reason.


    After knowing what skill he had gotten from reaching level 25, Stark turned his eyes toward the next panel.


    [You have beaten ''Judicator, The Fallen Angel'' while being alone (SOLO achievement), granting you AMAZING equipment pieces]


    And just as it said, right on top of the pile of ashes that were previously Judicator''s body stood not one, not two, nor three, but FOUR equipment pieces, their small lights shining, inviting Stark to take them.


    ''I''m rich,'' Stark nodded, proud of himself.


    He crouched and grabbed one of the items to inspect it, it was a pair of ck wings, and he immediately knew that these could do as they ressembled those from Judicator.


    Most items that came out of monsters/mini-bosses/elites or bosses were rted to their monster, so it was pretty obvious.


    But right as he was about to check it out...


    ~TREMBLE~


    The entire chamber began shaking violently, and the pirs that were still standing after the battle began to crumble.


    ''What the...?'' Stark thought, he didn''t know what was happening.


    [The boss has been defeated, the boss area is now crumbling since its power source has died, please leave shortly]


    ''Ah shit...'' Stark didn''t waste time and immediately took all the equipment pieces that were on the pile of ash and put them inside his [Spatial Inventory], making sure not to drop anything as it was the rewards of his hard work


    And as for the panels... he would check them outter, but he knew that there were many incredible things to uncover from there.


    ~SHAKE, SHAKE~


    The ''Shadow Monument'' shook more and more, until eventually, a part of the ceiling almost fell on Stark, which he only avoided thanks to [Invincible Dodge].


    ''This ce is actually crumbling, I need to get out of here, and quick,'' Stark mumbled while looking around him, trying to find an exit.

 Chapter 83: The Crimson Moons Trio

    Stark was alone, and the chamber of the ''Shadow Monument'' was currently falling apart.


    He needed to find a way out before it was toote.


    He took the items from Judicator''s ash body, minimized all the panels (but made sure not to close them as he would read themter), then began running and jumping over copsing debris, while also avoiding the ceiling that was falling on him.


    He looked up as a major part of the ceiling was now gone, and he hoped that there could be a way to get out from there since he had technically entered the monument at the top of the mountain.


    And yet...


    It was pitch ck, there was no crimson sky, no clouds, nothing.


    Nothing... except for those three giant crimson moons with eyes on them, and they were all staring down at Stark, almost mocking him.


    Seeing them blink was disgusting, and Stark couldn''t help but shiver at the thought of these things being alive.


    [Do not be disgusted by us, puny human!]


    [Hah~ he beat the boss and now thinks he is hot shit?]


    The moons spoke, they were much closer to him than before, almost as if they were... GETTING CLOSER?


    After a few seconds (which kept increasing the amount of damage around the chamber), the ceiling waspletely destroyed, and the moons were now so close that Stark could perfectly see their eyes and pupils, he was like an insect inparison.


    ...


    [Name: The Crimson Moons Trio (Immortal-Level Monsters)]


    [Level: ???]


    [HP: ???]


    [Strength: ???]


    [Stamina: ???]


    [Speed: ???]


    [Defense: ???]


    [Skills: ???]


    ...


    Immortal-Level monsters were the 8th category of monsters in this world, even above cmity.


    There was not a single chance Stark could win if he fought them.


    [Haha~ look at him, so scared!] Stark could hear their voices in his head


    [Makes me want to crush him!]


    [Don''t do that... it''s not our time yet!]


    They were talking with one another, ignoring Stark who was just standing there, taking in the view of those monsters: he realized that there were truly some things beyondprehension in this world, and these moons were one of them.


    "How do I leave?" Stark shouted at the moons, and the three of them turned their eyes toward him.


    [Look at this kid, really getting confident, huh~]


    [What''s the point of telling if he can''t hear us!]


    [Yeah, humans can''t listen to our holy voices, so just sit and die!]


    "Stop talking and tell me already!" he repeated, "Plus your voices are anything but holy!"


    And suddenly, the moment he responded to them, all three moons stopped what they were doing and slowly turned their pupils toward Stark.


    [...]


    [...]


    [...]


    Even though it was their only feature, Stark could see that they were surprised.


    ''Fucking hell...'' Stark realized that they wouldn''t help after a few seconds, and so he looked around again.


    The floor of the monument was beginning to crumble too, and just as expected, below was also a ck void: it was certain death if he fell.


    Thankfully enough, he noticed that on top of the disy the fallen angel''s statue had been on appeared a portal.


    ''Phew...'' he began running toward it, avoiding the debris and the destroyed floor.


    [You... can hear us...]


    [Ohoh~ interesting... I think ''Godless'' will be interested]


    [Hm~ what''s the point of telling if he is gonna die anyway?]


    And so before they could even finish their sentences or say anything else, Stark jumped into the portal to get out of this ce.


    He didn''t know what the hell had just happened, but it was weird.


    ***


    As Stark emerged from the portal, he came out of the silver fog and found himself at the top of the mountain again.


    And as soon as he did that...


    ~CRUMBLE~


    The giant monument that was taking up the majority of the t mountain top suddenly fell appart, and the silver fog also dissipated.


    "Ah shit..." Stark sighed, he had been this close to dying again.


    He looked around, but there was nobody, his brother and the ''Wyvern Wrath'' group had seemingly already left since they weren''t interested in a rift with no rewards anymore.


    Honestly, he had expected many ssifiers to ambush and steal his items away as soon as he left (which he would have never given because they were in his inventory void), but it seemed like he was wrong.


    As Stark began to make his way down the mountain, he couldn''t shake the feeling that he was being watched.


    He looked up to the sky, and the crimson moons were still there, looking at him, amused expressions on their faces.


    [The exit portals are located at the start of the rift and at the death canyon, please head there to leave!]


    Such a panel appeared to inform Stark, and he nodded, descending the stairs of the mountain very slowly: winning didn''t mean he wasn''t injured, and he nned to buy many [Max Health Potions] when he got back.


    Even when he walked in the ins, heading toward the canyon, Stark couldn''t shake the feeling that he was being hunted by those three crimson moons.


    He knew that he had beaten the boss and imed victory, but he couldn''t for a moment believe that he was out of danger.


    These things were... terrifying.


    But Stark didn''t even bother looking too much into it as they couldn''t do much if they were so high in the sky, otherwise they would have already killed them all, right?


    Soon enough, he reached the death canyon, and he noticed that there weren''t that many people remaining as the majority left.


    Those that remained were fighting monsters.


    After he defeated the boss, a path to pass the canyon had appeared, meaning that anybody could keep going now.


    But once he did pass the small bridge that had formed... all eyes fell on him.


    All the ssifiers stopped what they were doing once they saw him, their faces showing all kinds of emotions.


    "..." Stark didn''t mind, and he immediately spotted the exit portal.


    "W-WAIT!" Stark heard a voice behind him, and once he turned around, he saw that it was Lana, the blonde-haired archer.


    "What''s up, Lana?" Stark asked, raising an eyebrow, he was so nonchnt about it that it almost looked like he hadn''t just killed the rift boss by himself.


    Many people were skeptical of Stark, Lana included, they had seen hime back to life, who could guarantee he couldn''t do that over and over?


    Lana took a deep breath and approached him, looking nervous, "I-I just waited for you since... huh... y-you need a ride back home, right?"


    "Oh..." Stark nodded, he felt thankful to her, and out of pure habit, he patted her head, "Thanks!"


    "..." Lana''s face flushed as she felt Stark''s hand on her hair, but she couldn''t say she didn''t enjoy that feeling, "L-Let''s go!"


    "Yeah!" Stark replied, already starting to walk towards the portal.


    No one dared to approach Stark, some were hesitant since it was obvious that his level didn''t indicate how strong he truly was, and others because Lana Moonless was with him, and they feared her father, the Archer King.


    In the end, it didn''t matter since Stark sessfully left the Secret Rift alive.


    [Congrattions, Stark Heartsouls, you havepleted the Secret Rift ''Shadow Valley''!]

 Chapter 84: Checking Out the Panels

    Stark was now back at the ce he was in before even entering the Secret Rift, and around him was still a fair amount of people as many were still discussing their next move with their teammates.


    Of course, the moment he exited the rift, all eyes fell on him yet again, but no one said anything, instead it felt like... they were judging him.


    "Our car is already waiting for us," Lana said, her face still slightly flushed from Stark patting her head.


    "Thanks, I really don''t like the atmosphere around here," Stark was extremely tired even though he didn''t let it show, and all he wanted by now was to go back to his house to check out the remainder of the panels that had appeared when he reached level 25.


    "Let''s go, then, climb inside the limousine, my friend!" Lana smiled as she opened the door of the ck car and gestured for him to enter like a true gentleman, "Lads first!"


    "..." Stark let out a quick smile, which almost made him forget about the battle against Judicator and the stare of the three moons that pierced his soul.


    "Thank you mydy," Stark bowed and entered inside the vehicle, then Lana did too and she sat right beside him.


    Stark still had his bunny mask on, and he didn''t n to remove it for a while, there was always the possibility of someone chasing after them to find his identity and get revenge after all.


    "You know, Lana," Stark began as he adjusted the leather straps of his seatbelt, "I think I did good inside the rift!"


    "..." Lana was speechless, "Huh... yeah, I think you did good...?"


    Was he seriously joking with her?


    And so just like that, the car started moving, and the two of them began returning to Ferburg.


    ***


    "Zzzzz..." Stark slept rather quickly, it had not even been ten minutes since the car started up that his eyes were closed.


    Lana on the other hand was far from tired.


    She opened the ''Highlight'' screen for the tenth time and checked all the reys from Stark.


    She didn''t know why, but she had just acquired some sort of obsession with Stark''s fights: she found them beautiful.


    His techniques, his skills, his ways of getting out of situations, and his unwavering determination, she enjoyed all of it.


    Nobody knew that the person behind all of this was Stark Heartsouls except for her and the ''Crimson Moon Squad'', and she actually felt proud to be able to have such a secret for herself!


    Hours upon hours passed, and Lana kept rewatching Stark''s fight against Judicator.


    The moment where his cut body suddenly began forming back was hypnotizing, and the way he killed the boss so quickly bypletely dominating it was even better.


    And yet... the person who did all of this was right beside her, sleeping.


    Unconsciously thinking of that, Lana closed the rey screen and approached her beautiful face toward Stark''s.


    ''...'' she kept looking at it for a good twenty minutes.


    Until...


    "We''ve arrived, mydy," the driver suddenly announced, surprising Lana as she had been in a daze, and it was safe to say she probably would have kept looking at Stark for hours if there were no interruptions.


    Lana quickly awoke from her stupor, too surprised to even register the statement from the driver.


    She hastily turned her gaze away from Stark.


    "Hm~" Stark woke up too since he sensed that the car stopped, "Did we arrive?"


    "Yeah," Lana nodded before smiling warmly at him, "We dropped you off in front of your hotel, so just go rest!"


    "Oh? Thank you," Stark left the car, and just as Lana said, they were right in front of his hotel.


    "No problem, I''ll contact youter if anythinges up," Lana waved goodbye to him with a small smile, her eyes lingering on Stark for a moment before she closed the window of the car and let out a sigh.


    "Stark Heartsouls," she mumbled under her breath, shaking her head slightly as if trying to clear her thoughts, he was a mysterious guy, and deep inside of her she realized that she didn''t really know anything about it beside that he was extremely strong, stronger than his level showed.


    She hated to admit it, but he was also much stronger than her, and she felt like that no matter how much she extended her arm to reach for him, she would never be able to do that.


    And so she began heading toward her mansion in the luxury district.


    Back to Stark, he began to head towards the lobby of the hotel, until a realization hit him.


    "Wait a damn minute, how does she know where I live-"


    ***


    Stark didn''t waste time and climbed to his room, opening it thanks to his keys (which he put inside the inventory void) and then jumping on the bed.


    But surprisingly, he wasn''t tired anymore.


    ''Hm...'' Stark got up, he nned to sleep for a good two days again to make up for whatever happened inside that rift, but his body didn''t respond no matter how long he closed his eyes.


    "Did my body adapt?" maybe his increase in level and stats had made it so that he didn''t need to sleep that long after each rift anymore, and that was a good thing.


    No.


    He was wrong.


    And he knew it, instead he just decided to deny the truth.


    It wasn''t that he wasn''t tired anymore, it was just that now that he had already slept inside the car, whenever he tried to close his eyes, the sight of the three crimson moons'' pupils looking at him greeted him.


    [Funny human... it''s futile]


    [You can''t escape us!]


    [''Godless'' will kill you!]


    Even when he was far away, in the actual world, he could still hear their voices.


    But in the end, it didn''t matter, since this small boost in adrenaline meant he didn''t need to sleep anymore.


    And that meant one thing and one thing only...


    "Open panels," he mumbled, and suddenly, the remainder of the panels that he had minimized previously were there.


    He wasn''t able to check them all inside the shadow monument since it was falling apart, but now that he was in the safety of his hotel room, he could do whatever he wanted!


    He couldn''t deny it, but checking those panels brought immense excitement to him, like a child having to wait the night before opening his christmas gifts.


    "First panel is..." his eyes wandered toward the first panel to the left, it was the one he hadn''t been able to read at that time.


    [You have reached level 25, you can now initiate the ''breakthrough'' sequence to increase the skill level limit from 10 to 15!]


    ''Ohoh~ I knew that level 10 couldn''t be thest level, it wouldn''t make sense,'' Stark smiled, this meant that he could upgrade [Domination] and his other skills even more.


    But he didn''t know what that breakthrough sequence was about, so he would need to check the inte or possibly go to the trader district to buy an item for it (if a panel didn''t exin it to him).


    Feeling happy, he immediately looked to the right, toward the next panel.


    And that''s when he saw it.


    THE panel he had been waiting for...


    [You have reached level 25, congrattions, you can now spin the ''ss Wheel'' again!]

 Chapter 85: The ApostleDex

    [You have reached level 25, congrattions, you can now spin the ''ss Wheel'' again!]


    Stark''s heart raced with anticipation as he read those words.


    Since the moment he had first spinned the wheel and gotten the Domination ss, he had always been waiting to reach level 25.


    It was more difficult because of the ''Domination'' ss''s [Hell Mode] curse, but now that he had done it, he felt extremely proud of himself.


    He wanted to spin the [ss Wheel] immediately to check out what he could get, and hopefully begin training using his new ss as his entire fighting style would change whatever the ss he would get was.


    But...


    [Please read all panels and information before spinning the ''ss Wheel'']


    He was restricted, and even when he tried to push through and attempted to activate the [ss Wheel] skill...


    [You are not allowed to use the wheel for now, please try againter]


    ''Ah shit...'' it wouldn''t be long until he was gonna be able to use it anyway, so he just looked to the next panel.


    And it was... a surprising one, much more than even the ''ss Wheel''...


    [The ApostleDex has been unlocked, please do check it out (you are allowed to right now)]


    Stark felt a strange mix of doubt and curiosity at the words, his eyes widening slightly as he scanned the panel.


    He had no idea what the ApostleDex was, but the fact that he was allowed to check it out right now intrigued him.


    ''Sounds like a cheap copy of poke-'' he stopped himself before getting struck by another zap, he had learned from his lessons.


    But basically, it was something he knew from his past life.


    In the end, he decided to check it out as there was no reason not to.


    He clicked on the ''ApostleDex'' word since it was highlighted, and suddenly, another crimson panel appeared before him.


    But instead of the normal ones which only contained text, this one looked more like a quest window.


    On it were 15 square cases, meaning three lines of 5.


    The title: "Godless Demon Apostles" could be seen written in white above them.


    And as for the content of the cases... well... it was basically like in any video game.


    Each one of the cases represented one of the Godless Demon''s apostles.


    The first two of the first line had the images of [Mkar] and of [Judicator], the two bosses he had fought, and of course, there was a giant X on them as they had been defeated.


    The rest of the apostles couldn''t be seen, instead, all Stark could see was their shadows inside of the square cases, with no way to know of their appearances until he saw them.


    It was truly like some kind of ''Assassination'' quest inside of a game, where he would need to find all of them and kill them all.


    Or at least... that''s what he believed, since when his eyes slowly moved to the 5th square of the second line... it wasn''t a shadow that he was seeing, but an actual image of the apostle that is supposed to be there.


    And it was one he had already seen before.


    [Crimson Moons Trio] was written below the image of the three moons with a giant eye on them.


    ''...'' Stark''s eyes widened, he had figured out that those things must be part of the ''Godless Demon'' group, but he couldn''t believe that they could be fought.


    They were massive monsters, and he looked like an insect inparison to their sizes, there was no way he could fight them, right?


    And yet...


    [Upon defeating 5 of the apostles, you will receive a MYTHICAL reward!]


    [Upon defeating 10 of the apostles, you will receive a GODLY reward!]


    [Upon defeating 15 of the apostles, you will receive an IMMORTAL reward!]


    He immediately reminisced the different categories for skills and items: Common, Umon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythical, Godly, Immortal.


    This meant that he would get something incredible after each milestone he reached.


    It was a massive risk to fight those bosses, but the rewards given for that were also amazing.


    High risk, high reward, basically.


    And in the end... the fact that he could be rewarded for killing them all meant that the [Crimson Moons Trio] could be defeated at some point.


    At the very end of the window, a pair of ck eyes could be seen, ones that looked like they were piercing his soul.


    And right above those eyes... stood a crimson text.


    [Upon defeating all of the apostles... you will be allowed to meet the ''Godless Demon'']


    [Enjoy!]


    Before he could do anything else, all the panels rted to the [ApostleDex] closed, and there was no way for him to open it back up for now until he checked out all the other information.


    "Wow, this is a lot to process," Stark muttered to himself as he looked at the remaining two panels.


    He knew he had to keep going, though, because there was no way of knowing what these two panels might contain.


    [Survey: Are You Happy?]


    [Y/N]


    ''...'' Stark titled his head, this was just bing confusing at this point.


    "I guess I am...?" he clicked on yes.


    [Thank you for the answer, see youter for the next survey =)]


    And so that panel also disappeared.


    ''What the actual fuck?'' Stark didn''t even know the purpose of such a thing.


    But deep down... he felt that the [Survey] would be important, so he kept it in mind... just in case.


    And so now, there was only one panel remaining.


    It was different from all the others: it wasn''t crimson or blue, instead... it was entirely ck, and its edges were moving like waves, almost as if it was alive.


    [You have proven your strength...]


    The panel was ck with no text on it, but as soon as hey his eyes on it, white text started slowly appearing.


    [But you need to be stronger...]


    [Thus, you have been granted ess to the...]


    [MEMORIES MUSEUM]


    ''Huh...'' the text stopped as soon as the words ''Memories Museum'' appeared, and after a few seconds resumed.


    [Inside of the memories museum, you will be able to ess the memories of your previous battles and fight the bosses you have already defeated inside the arena to increase your technique...]


    [Note that you can only relive the memories of the bosses you have fought!]


    [The museum serves only one purpose: training, fight against the bosses you have already beaten and find new ways and techniques toe out victorious]


    [You can now ess the museum, good luck!]


    And before he could even say anything since he was speechless, a ck door that emanated a dark aura appeared in front of him.


    ''...'' Stark looked at the door in front of him with widened eyes, but then clenched his fists and stepped forward.


    Deep inside, he really wanted to see what this was all about.

 Chapter 86: The Memories Museum

    As he stepped through the dark portal, Stark found himself in an entirely different realm.


    When he was transported to the ''Domination trial'' or when he dreamt about meeting with his doppelganger, he didn''t actually leave the real world, instead his physical body stayed behind.


    But this time, his body had actually gone somewhere else from his hotel room, and it was safe to say nobody would find him if he decided to stay here.


    ''At least I know how to escape the cops or assassins,'' he smiled before looking around the area.


    He was inside the ''Memories Museum''.


    It was arge space with a red carpet rolling down toward an endless hall that seemed to never end.


    [Wee to the ''Memories Museum'', please select the memory(ies) you want to experience!]


    On both sides of the hall (which weren''t very far from him) were marble disys, and on top of these disys weren''t any sort of item or statue, but an image shaped like a thought bubble: it was a picture of a boss he had fought.


    Stark looked around, going from left to right to check all the disys that were avable., and he counted that there were 6 of them, 3 on each side.


    When reaching out for one of the images, a holographic screen would appear in front of him, disying the name of the memory and a short description of the boss he had faced.


    ...


    [Judicator, The Fallen Angel]


    [Description: Judicator is the second apostle of the ''Godless Demon'', he is an arrogant piece of shit who thinks he owns the world, but you taught him his ce and took him by surprise, he uses his dark wings to fly and has a multitude of skills that are able to end a battle in a single attack.]


    ...


    This was the same for all the other disys: Mkar, The Conjoined Siblings, The ck Water Devourer, The Creeping Shadows and The Mirror Master, as these were all the bosses he had faced.


    ''But... what''s the point of that?'' Stark couldn''t understand.


    What did it mean by relive the memories of his battles, maybe he would be able to rewatch them all and analyze every bit of them?


    [Please select the memories you want to experience!]


    Not knowing what to do, Stark approached the memory of [Mkar] and of [Judicator], selecting the two of them by putting his hand inside the image.


    [You have selected... 2 memories: Mkar; Judicator]


    [Do you want to experience those memories now?]


    [Y/N]


    Stark clicked "Y" without a second thought.


    But the moment he made the choice, he found himself consumed by the memories, his body surrounded by a dark aura as he was transported somewhere else.


    And the moment his eyes were cleared from that aura, and he regained his vision...


    He found himself inside of a giant circr arena, and before him... were the two bosses he had selected.


    ''Huh?'' Stark''s eyebrows arched in confusion and his heart rate quickened as his eyes grew wide with shock.


    His senses were on high alert as he took in the sight before him: [Mkar], wearing his elegant suit and ck sun mask, and [Judicator], the angel with ck wings, were both in front of him.


    "SHIT? THE TWO OF THEM?" Stark immediately got in position, why were they both here? Hadn''t he killed them?


    This was bad, really bad.


    [3...]


    "WAIT!"


    [2...]


    He could already see Judicator summon his scythe in hand, now wielding his two respective weapons.


    [1...]


    Mkar also summoned his cane in hand, spinning it, a wide grin on the visible half of his face.


    [FIGHT!]


    "THE CANE!" Mkar extended his cane toward Stark, which elongated.


    ''It''s fast! Way faster than before!'' he used his arm to deflect the cane away.


    But...


    ~SLASH~


    Judicator used that opportunity, and unlikest time when he was ying around, he didn''t let Stark a single chance to retaliate.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," Stark rolled away.


    "DARK PULSE," but Mkar answered immediately, and a dark vein that came from the ground was rushing to pierce Stark.


    [The Purgatory Shadow took the hit in your ce]


    Stark didn''t know what the fuck was happening, he was currently fighting two bosses he had struggled against so much, and at the same time.


    "ANGER OF THE FALLEN!" Judicator didn''t waste any time, and instead of waiting for Stark to deal damage to him, he immediately activated one of his ultimate abilities.


    And so while Stark was still avoiding the dark veins that came out from the ground...


    ~SLASH~


    "-57784!"


    He was cut in half by Judicator''s scythe.


    ''Oh... I guess... I lost...'' he closed his eyes, thinking it was over as he felt the world around him spin.


    He had beenpletely overwhelmed by these two bosses as they keptunching skill after skill at him...


    But...


    "HAH~" he took a deep breath as he opened his eyes, and found himself back in the memories museum again, with the disys of the memories still at their respective ces.


    ''What the?'' he reached for his stomach, but there was no wound at all, yet he could swear he had been cut down by Judicator...


    [Do you want to try again?]


    [You can try as many times as you wish, you cannot die inside the memories museum, but you also do not receive any experience defeating the bosses]


    Immediately, everything clicked inside of Stark''s brain: the museum was a way for him to train in battle without the risk of death, basically... it was a way for him to get stronger without going anywhere else.


    "This is... amazing," Stark put his hands on his chin and smiled.


    He was easily defeated by the two bosses, who were both at his level... but what if he persisted and tried again and again? What if he adapted to the situation and improved his movements to dodge even more attacks?


    Wouldn''t that help him in the future too?


    "Now..." Stark loved that new feature, "It really does feel like a game..."


    Also... couldn''t it help him try out all of his skills, finding new ways to use them and also testing out his new ones?


    Even more so knowing that he is bound to unlock a new ss soon...


    This was perfect.


    This was actually so great that Stark couldn''t help butugh.


    ''Oh yeah... I need to spin the wheel,'' he remembered after thinking about his new ss.


    "ss Wheel!" he mumbled to himself, and this time he was actually able to use it since he had checked all the panels.


    And so just likest time, the giant colorful wheel appeared in front of him.


    "Let''s do this," he smiled.

 Chapter 87: New Class: ???

    [Pull me!]


    The sign located right next to the lever used to spin the wheel was still there, inviting Stark to follow its order.


    He looked up, taking in sight the giant wheel with all the name of the sses that could be picked: Magus, Exorcist, Beast Tamer, Warrior, Archer, Assassin, Soul Wielder, Incubus and Alchemist...


    Domination was ruled out as he had already unlocked it the first time he span the wheel, so it wasn''t even avable.


    [9 sses avable to unlock, please spin the wheel!]


    ''...'' Stark sighed before reaching out to the lever and pulling it down, resulting in the wheel to begin spinning extremely fast.


    As the wheel spun, Stark''s eyes followed the sses, trying to glimpse what one might be the one he would get.


    It waspletely random, and it was the red arrow at the top that would decide, but he couldn''t help but be nervous: this would change his entire approach to fighting.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the wheel began to slowly stop spinning.


    ~FWISH~


    It went from "Magus" to "Soul Wielder" to "Beast Tamer", and the more it slowed down, the more aura could be seen around it as the wheel focused its power: only it knew the ss that would be picked.


    ~FWISH...~


    The wheel was now on the verge of stopping as the red arrow went from ss to ss, and suddenly, it settled on a specific ss, one he hadn''t considered before.


    [The wheel has stopped!]


    Stark immediately looked up as it was the final verdict, there was no change from now on.


    And the ss he got was... ALCHEMIST?


    [Congrattions! You have unlocked the ss: Alchemist!]


    ''I mean... sure?''


    [You can spin the wheel again at level 50!]


    Not wasting a second, he checked that ss''s description.


    ...


    [ss: Alchemist]


    [Description:] Masters of potions and of random experiments, the alchemists are able to brew potions using their precise hands and sell them or even use them in battle themselves (although watch out for side effects), this may seem like an average ss, but with the good ingredients, you can pretty much do anything.


    [ss Effect:] Now able to brew potions with different effects depending on the ingredients


    [ss w:] You cannot use any sort of weapon, you have to rely on your potions.


    [Basic Skills:] Alchemist; Potion Crafting


    ...


    ''Huh... I mean, I guess it makes sense, but I wonder how I''ll be able to make potions without the real equipment,'' Stark wondered, and decided to check out the two new skills he had gotten.


    ...


    [Skill: Alchemist]


    [Type:] Basic ss Skill


    [Level:] 1


    [Description:] This is just the basic skill for alchemists that confirms you are one of them, it increases your craftsmanship skills and precision while making potions and using ''Potion Crafting'', the higher your level, the strongest your potions will be.


    [Note: Also this skill allows you to check what could be an ingredient so that you pick it out, very useful to not waste time on ingredients that don''t work on any potion!]


    ...


    [Skill: Potion Crafting]


    [Type:] Basic ss Skill


    [Level:] 1


    [Description: Well, it''s in the name...]


    [Note: The higher the level, the stronger your potions be, finding potions dependspletely on you, you can buy recipes, or find them out by yourself while experimenting!]


    ...


    He was in the ''Memory Museum'', with the possibility to fight all the bosses he had previously defeated with an infinite amount of lives at his disposable, meaning that he could test out his new ability.


    But he would need to figure out how to be an alchemist first.


    Domination was great since it was just ''haha punch punch'', but now he would actually need to do things and prepare.


    He couldn''t deny though that this was probably the best mix of sses ever beside probably beast tamer or incubus, since he would continue fighting with his fists while using potions to get effects that aid him in battle.


    He was frankly excited... and he couldn''t help but smile.


    "Potion Crafting!" he immediately decided to use his skill.


    And suddenly...


    A panel appeared in front of him.


    ''Huh...''


    [Do you want to summon your brewing station?]


    [Brewing station level: 1]


    [Y/N]


    ''Sure, I guess,'' he shrugged and clicked on the Y option.


    The panel immediately disappeared, and out of thin air appeared a wooden table in decent shape with a small cauldron ced on top of it, as well as a brewing stand.


    But this wasn''t how he would be able to make potions, these two objects were solely here to make sure the process go smoothly.


    Instead, another panel appeared in front of a confused Stark.


    It wasn''t crimson, blue, or dark, instead it was brown of color, mimicking the texture of the wood.


    [Wee to the Potion Crafting panel!]


    [You have... 3 recipes avable as a start!]


    These two window disappeared after a few seconds, and another one appeared, but this time it was truly the one he had been looking for.


    It contained the images of three potions, each inside of a crimson ss with a liquid inside of it.


    With no hesitation in his actions, Stark clicked on one of the potion images.


    ...


    [Potion of Strength]


    [Effect: Increases the user''s strength stat by 10% for 5 minutes!]


    And below was a list of ingredients he couldn''t understand how to get.


    [Ingredients: x2 Wolf Teeth, x1 Ogre Ear, x1 Strength Flower...]


    ''I guess I need to go to some sort of market to acquire those...''


    [Note: Ingredients can be acquired through exploring different rifts, it is always good to pick any material you encounter in case you need themter, many alchemists go to great length to acquire just one ingredient needed for a potion, and they also takemissions from ssifiers!]


    ''How about just buying them from the trading market?'' Stark shrugged, this seemed like a much better solution.


    [Lame, plus the ingredients there are mostly expensive when they are of higher quality, and you won''t find incredible ingredients to discover powerful potions there since some are unique or bought instantly!]


    ''Oh well,'' Stark shrugged and immediately moved to check the two other potions that were avable for him to craft.


    ...


    [Potion of Speed]


    [Effect: Increases the user''s speed stat by 10% for 5 minutes!]


    ...


    [Potion of Regeneration]


    [Effect: Heals 1000HP to the user, effect is instant but it does not heal severed limbs!]


    ...


    ''Thatst one is very good if I can stack them,'' Stark thought.


    He didn''t really think much of it, but he had basically the best skill ever for this ss: [Spatial Inventory], since he could store an infinite amount of ingredients or potions and take them back whenever he wanted.


    This meant that he truly had the potential to be a master alchemist, all the while fighting close range thanks to [Domination]!


    But first... he wanted to sell all his unneeded equipment, and stock up on ingredients and food.


    The reason?


    Well... it''s obvious!


    Basically... Stark nned to train like hell inside the Memories Museum.


    Train until he could at least take down both Mkar and Judicator at the same time... no... he wanted to take down all 6 bosses at the same time!


    He had an unlimited amount of tries after all... =)!


    ''Well... let''s get this over with,'' he slowly went toward the ck door, which was located at the start of the hall.


    And so he went through it, ready to deal with the outside world to begin his training.

 Chapter 88: Equipment and Key

    Stark emerged from the ck door, stepping back into his hotel room, nothing had changed, except for the time since he had been inside for around twenty minutes.


    Time inside and outside the ''Memories Museum'' worked the same, meaning that if he wanted to train inside, it would mean stocking up on food and also not expecting anyone from the outside toe look for him (this wouldn''t be a difficult task).


    Plus, he hadn''t realized it yet, but the sun was already mostly up.


    He had gotten up very early yesterday to go to the rift, but it still took him around 11 hours toplete it, as well as around 12-13 hours of travel to go ande back.


    Add that to the time he spent checking out his new panels, as well as the many different waiting periods, like for example waiting for the opening.


    And so as soon as Stark checked the time... he noticed that it was 7:30am.


    "Spatial Inventory!" he opened his inventory, and pulled out all the equipment he had gotten inside of the secret rift.


    There were a total of 7 items, 1 from the Minotaur, which was the [Minotaur''s Helmet], two from the obsidian golem, and 4 from Judicator.


    He would need to sell many of them since he either didn''t have the required level, wasn''t interested, or it wasn''t for his ss, but in the end it was fine since it would increase his assets.


    ...


    [Equipment:] The Minotaur''s Helmet


    [Type:] Helmet


    [ss:] Warrior


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Required Level:] 40


    [Quality:] Normal


    [Attributes:] +250 Strength, +400 Defense


    [Special Perk:] Allows the wearer to go into a berserk state, essentially using the ''Berserk State'' skill of the Canyon Minotaur, which greatly enhances strength, defense, and stamina (+50% increase) for a minute.


    ...


    He had already checked this one before, but just made sure that it was correct.


    It immediately went to the ''sell'' list though, since he could only use it if he was a warrior.


    He decided to skim through the rest quickly, only paying attention to the items that could actually be used by him (ss rted, not for required level).


    And the two items the obsidian golem had dropped were...


    ...


    [Equipment:] Obsidian Gauntlets


    [Type:] Gloves


    [ss:] Beast Tamer, Magus


    [Tier:] Umon


    [Required Level:] 35


    [Quality:] Normal


    [Attributes:] +250 Mind, +450 Strength


    [Special Perk:] Summons two obsidian beasts to aid you in battle.


    ...


    [Equipment:] Obsidian Golem''s Ring


    [Type:] Ring


    [ss:] Assassin, Warrior, Soul Wielder


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Required Level:] 30


    [Quality:] Good


    [Attributes:] +500 Defense


    [Special Perk:] Like the obsidian golem, create ayer of obsidian (like an armor) that can tank up to 20k damage.


    ...


    ''None of these are useful either,'' he groaned as he put the two obsidian equipment beside the Minotaur helmet.


    This left him with four equipment pieces: the ones that had dropped from Judicator.


    Of course, Stark remembered that one of the items was wings as he had picked it up before the monument began to copse, but he hadn''t checked the window either.


    ...


    [Equipment:] Judicator''s ck Wings


    [Type:] Wings


    [ss:] Domination


    [Tier:] Legendary


    [Required Level:] 25


    [Quality:] Perfect


    [Attributes:] +200 Speed, +300 Stamina


    [Special Perk:] Ability to use [Dash], which basically gives the user a boost in speed to evade an attack by pping the wings in the direction you want to go.


    [Note: the wings be invisible when put on!]


    ...


    ''Interesting...'' he moved on to the next two items, which were respectfully a mask with Judicator''s face on it and a staff with a golden orb at the edge of it.


    ...


    [Equipment:] The Fallen Angel''s Mask


    [Type:] Mask


    [ss:] Assassin, Soul Wielder


    [Tier:] Epic


    [Required Level:] 25


    [Quality:] Good


    [Attributes:] +500 Mind/Intelligence


    [Special Perk:] Grants the user the ability to see through illusions and detect hidden traps or enemies within a certain radius.


    ...


    [Equipment:] Judicator''s Staff


    [Type:] Staff


    [ss:] Magus, Exorcist


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Required Level:] 40


    [Quality:] Normal


    [Attributes:] +250 Mind, +100 Stamina


    [Special Perk:] Highly increases proficiency in divine magic, and also allows the user to blind the opponent with a divine light.


    ...


    ''Everything except for the wings is fucking useless...'' Stark groaned, he knew that all these items would fetch him a good amount of rher coins, but he also wanted to be able to gain more power from his equipment.


    And finally, Stark turned his gaze to thest item he had gotten from the angel, and it was a rather... surprising one.


    It wasn''t a ring, or any weapon/wearable piece actually, instead... it was a key.


    ...


    [Item:] Devil''s Abyss Key


    [Type:] Key


    [Quality:] Artifact


    [Perk:] The key that allows to open the ''Devil''s Abyss'' rift and its secret final chamber (home of three ''Godless Demon'' apostles)


    ...


    Below the crimson with a demon shaped stone on it was a note, Stark immediately picked it up to read its contents.


    [Good job on killing the angel, nowe see us if you want to meet your demise, little human =)]


    ''...'' Stark was shocked, but not because of the content of the note, instead it was because... "What the actual fuck is that writing, I''m going to these guys and teaching them a lesson of basic english."


    The text was almost iprehensible, and it took Stark a few minutes to make sure he understood whatever was written on there.


    ''Well... I get it,'' Stark put all the equipment he had gotten, including the wings (he would use them when he was back) and the key, inside the [Spatial Inventory], then immediately left his hotel room and hailed for a taxi to the trading district of Ferburg.


    It was still early in the morning, but he got used to going there at this time since there were fewer people, and he truly enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere.


    ''What about the breakthrough for my skills, though?'' he remembered that he needed to do something to increase the limit from 10 to 15, yet he didn''t know what or how.


    [You need to purchase a ''Lv25 Breakthrough Stone'', which is also called the ''Iron Breakthrough Stone'']


    ''Hm... Why is that?''


    [ssifiers are only usually ranked based on their level, but for their overall strength, there are several categories: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, tinum, Diamond, Ascendant, Prodigy, Immortal and ssified]


    [Note: these categories are only used for breakthroughs to another tier, so you probably won''t hear them much...]


    ''Like apetitive fps game!'' Stark nodded, being an avid Vrant yer (typo is on purpose).


    [Huh... yeah, whatever that is...]


    And so, Stark reached the trading district, he had lots of things to do since he had reached level 25, and he was excited to do all of that quickly to get back to the ''Memories Museum'' and finally start training.

 Chapter 89: Appraising New Equipment

    The trading district was bustling with activity as Stark made his way through the crowded streets.


    Even though it was only around 8am, there were already tons of people, which was honestly kind of weird since usually the streets wouldn''t be that crowded.


    "Did you see the Secret Rift conquest?" one ssifier told his friend.


    "Yeah! It was insane, I wish I was there to meet that guy," his friend replied.


    "I mean, fucking hell, he came back from the dead," another ssifier spoke while showing his phone to his friends, and all of them gasped in shock after a minute.


    ''Hm¡­'' Stark was skeptical about all of this: wherever he went, he could hear people talk about the secret rift conquest from yesterday.


    And the main topic of discussion was¡­ as guessed, the bunny-masked man.


    The videos and highlights of all his fights had spread throughout the inte, not only inside Ferburg, but through the entire world.


    Many people called him ''a powerful ssifier that hides as if he is weak'', and others preferred to call him a ''prodigy with immense talent''.


    But what all the organizations looked at was the fight with Judicator, and the fact that he had been cut in half by the boss, yet somehow came back to life to get revenge, was the most interesting part of all.


    Stark reached the ''ssifiers Trading Association'', but even on the massive screen at their entrance was yed the rey of him fighting Judicator.


    ''Can''t escape, but what can I say, I''m just him,'' he shrugged and entered the massive building.


    "I wish to sell some items," he told a receptionist who approached him as soon as he entered, and just like the previous times, he was guided toward a room.


    And his appraiser¡­ was that white-haired woman with a cigarette in her mouth again.


    "Oh, it''s you again," she smiled, letting out a trail of smoke from her mouth, "Sit down and let''s see what you got for us again!"


    She was extremely friendly, and one of the best appraisers in the association, but¡­


    "Yo, can I get another appraiser?" Stark tried to talk to the receptionist as she was about to close the door, "I don''t want to be in a room full of smoke-"


    But the receptionist didn''t care and closed the door on him.


    ":("


    "Sit down¡­ BOY!" the white-haired woman had a cold smile on her face, not liking the fact he had refused her services.


    "Sigh¡­" he agreed as he just wanted to get this done, trying to ignore the smoke, "But I would much rather you didn''t smoke in front of customers."


    "As long as it''s allowed by the rules, then can''t do anything about it kiddo," she shrugged, "Show me those items!"


    In their room was a big TV that also showed his fight with Judicator.


    ''¡­'' Stark looked at the screen for a few seconds, it was a strange feeling to know the entire world was looking at you, yet didn''t know you were the one who did all of that.


    "Interested in that ssifier too, huh?" the woman smiled, "He is fascinating, can''t deny it!"


    "¡­" Stark looked back at her and pulled out the five equipment pieces he didn''t need as he couldn''t use them, cing on the table five shiny-looking items that immediately grabbed the woman''s interest, "Oh, and by the way, I''m not interested in that since it''s me."


    Stark smiled as he said those words, a nonchnt expression on his face.


    "Hm~" the woman raised her eyebrow, "Sure, let''s just get your appraisal going, then," she didn''t believe him, but Stark didn''t care enough to prove that it was him.


    After a few minutes, the woman''s eyes widened as she inspected all the items.


    And the first thing she instinctively did after that was look at the screen, where Stark was fighting the angel.


    Eventually, she shook her head and gave Stark his items, "These items are incredible, let me tell you the amount we are willing to give for each¡­"


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] The Minotaur''s Helmet


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Quality:] Normal


    [Price:] 470,000 rher coins


    ¡­


    "This is a rather powerful helmet, many warriors will jump on the opportunity to buy it, the berserk state is a very nice perk," the white-haired woman added asmentary.


    Stark almost choked when hearing the amount: was it always this easy to earn money?


    He could probably already have a wife and a dozen kids with this amount! (if anybody was willing that is...)


    But of course, this wasn''t all the items, so he just sat down and waited.


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] Obsidian Gauntlets


    [Tier:] Umon


    [Quality:] Normal


    [Price:] 248,000 rher coins


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] Obsidian Golem''s Ring


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Quality:] Good


    [Price:] 535,000


    ¡­


    While reaching this item, the white-haired appraiser didn''t seem that surprised, although she couldn''t deny that these were good items.


    But upon looking at the mask and staff¡­ she knew that something was up.


    She couldn''t read the name of the items, so the trading association would usually name them themselves to something that makes sense considering their perks and appearance.


    But this mask¡­ she couldn''t help but look at Judicator''s face and notice that they look extremely simr.


    "I''m not interested in that since it''s me," she remembered that boy''s words, and looked at him, he had a nk expression on his face.


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] The Fallen Angel''s Mask


    [Tier:] Epic


    [Quality:] Good


    [Price:] 783,000


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] Judicator''s Staff


    [Tier:] Epic


    [Quality:] Good


    [Price:] 601,000


    ¡­


    Selling all these items would mean that Stark would be getting around 2.63 million rher coins.


    ''Nice!'' he smiled and began to get up from the couch he had been sitting on.


    But¡­


    "Where did you get these items?" the woman suddenly spoke, a powerful and chilly aura surrounding her body.


    "¡­" Stark saw in her eyes that she wasn''t kidding, and so he smiled, "I already told you once, didn''t I?"


    ''Perception!'' he decided to use his skill on her as he sensed that her power was way too much for a mere appraiser.


    And he was right.


    ¡­


    [Name: Violette Winkson]


    [Level: 194]


    [ss: Magus]


    [HP: 89000]


    [Strength: 4716]


    [Speed: 12842]


    [Stamina: 15198]


    [Defense: 13184]


    ¡­


    She was extremely powerful, even more than the people inside the Secret Rift, and yet¡­ here she was¡­ standing before Stark.


    "Who¡­ are¡­ you?" she tilted her head.


    "You can call me Stark, ma''am, I need to go now," Stark immediately headed toward the door, and she didn''t stop him at all, instead just ring at the boy with her aura out.


    "Goodbye, customer," she gave him a smile that sent a shiver down his spine.


    But after a few instants, he immediately recovered and returned the smile.


    "See youter, Violette."


    He had the feeling she wasn''t just an appraiser, and that they would meet again soon.

 Chapter 90: Gathering Ingredients for Potions

    Stark left the reception room with the white-haired woman still inside, leaving her to wonder who that boy was as he knew her name.


    Frankly, Stark didn''t care enough to show off or not do it, if he was asked something, he would just answer ordingly, which was something Lana would probably tell him to hide.


    Stark immediately went to the market section of the trading association, then guided himself to the ''boost items'' part of it.


    Standing on luxurious disys stood many items.


    ...


    [Item:] Skill Level Candy (lv1-10)


    [Tier:] Epic


    [Quality:] Perfect


    [Perk:] Each time you consume a candy, the level of the skill you choose will increase by one, note that it only works on lv1-10 skills.


    [Price:] 500,000 rher coins.


    ...


    There were also other variants of this candy (which was already expensive as fuck) but these candies were just for skills with greater skill limits, for example it wouldn''t work for level 10-15, so he would need to buy the next variant.


    Basically, it was something only rich people could afford, he wasn''t interested.


    Instead... what interested him was ced in another hall,and there was a wooden sign next to it that disyed the words he wanted to read: ''breakthrough stones''.


    The halls were pretty empty, a big reason why he loved toe during early mornings.


    And only a few secondster, he found the item he wanted as it was the first one that was ced on the right.


    It was a rune with the word ''iron'' written on some sort of small magic circle in the middle, and a small aura emanated from it.


    ...


    [Item:] Breakthrough Stone (Iron-Level)


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Quality:] Normal


    [Perk:] Increases your skill level from 10 to 15 when you meet the conditions to do so.


    [Price:] 1.2 million rher coins


    ...


    "Holy shit," Stark let out, resulting in some eyes falling on him, "Who decided to make these things so expensive...?"


    This would take around half of what he had gotten selling all the items from the secret rift.


    ''Oh well... no other way,'' he took the stone from the disy, then had to go to a screen right at the entrance of the market to scan the item and then buy it using his card (he could of course go to a real receptionist to buy it but it was faster like that).


    He stored the [Breakthrough Stone] inside of his [Spatial Inventory] and then left the trading association.


    They didn''t have any ingredients rted to Alchemists in there as it was probably another building that held all of it, this building was the one for general purposes, but all sses (except for Domination) should have buildings of their own.


    It really did seem like Alchemist and Domination were the sses with the least amount of items and equipment rted to them because of how unknown thetter was, while the former is just about making potions, so not much beside armor and rings.


    Your level of alchemy is based on your level and skill level, so an equipment piece couldn''t increase that (some were able to but they were rare and expensive).


    Passing through the crowded streets of ssifiers excitedly talking about the bunny-masked man, Stark reached his other destination:


    "Alchemist All-in-One Association", it was another giant building, not quite as big as the trading association one, but still fairly big and enough to amodate everything that is needed.


    Inside the alchemist association building was located a ce to sell your ingredients, as well as an auction house for alchemists to try and acquire rare items to create new potions/existing ones.


    But what he was interested in was... the first section.


    [Beginner Alchemist Section]


    He guessed that this was it since he had just acquired this ss, and so he entered it without hesitation.


    A massive screen greeted him.


    [Wee, new alchemist, please pick your starting ingredients, we rmend you to take enough for the beginning level potions as you need to get used to crafting!]


    Almost seemed like a tutorial, but he ignored it and began looking for what he wanted.


    While walking toward the ingredients section, Stark realized that this wasn''t all the beginner section had to offer.


    There were also ''Potion Recipe Scrolls'', which worked just like skill scrolls except it was to unlock a potion as an alchemist.


    Of course, as to not make it too overpowered, many requested a minimal alchemist level to use, much like items.


    ...


    [Name:] Potion of Damage


    [Perk:] Will deal 5000 damage to an opponent when throwing it on them


    [Required level:] 5


    [Price:] 450,000


    ...


    [Name:] Fly Potion


    [Perk:] Can fly with perfect control for one minute


    [Required level:] 8


    [Price:] 792,000


    ...


    This was only the beginner section, but there were some rather interesting potions, Stark could only imagine what would be inside the middle section or even high tier one.


    And what about potion recipe scrolls at the top section, they could probably deal hundreds of thousands of damage with one bottle (although the materials would be expensive and very hard to find).


    This was a very interesting ss.


    He decided not to stare too much as the thought of buying a potion was already on his mind even though he hadn''t even tried to check if it merged well with domination.


    [Beginner Ingredients]


    On hundreds upon hundreds of disys stood many ingredients that beginners could use to begin their alchemist life, they were rather cheappared to the rest, which was good.


    Many people around Stark were also busy inspecting ingredients and checking theur panels to see what they needed, and so he did the same.


    ''Ogre Ear... Wolf Teeth... Flowers...''


    It didn''t take long for him to find everything he needed for his three potions, and every time he took an item from a disy, another one would immediately reappear like some sort of generator.


    The ingredients when bought individually weren''t much of an issue, but it was when he bought many at once that it became visible his wallet was taking a hit.


    ...


    [Ingredient:] Ogre Ear


    [Price:] 1200 rher coins


    ...


    [Ingredient:] Wolf Teeth


    [Price:] 1360 rher coins


    ...


    [Ingredient:] Strength Flower


    [Price:] 5700 rher coins


    ...


    He took enough ingredients to make 10 of each potions, just to test them out, then left the ''Alchemist Association''.


    ''Very useful ce, I''ll need toe back,'' Stark smiled as he left.


    "Oh~ we got a newbie alchemist it seems!" but as he left, he heard a voice behind him,ing from near the entrance of the building.


    "Ah shit, here we go again," he shrugged, expecting another group of ssifiers trying to cause problems.


    But this time, he was wrong.

 Chapter 91: Crafting the First Potions

    As Stark turned around, he saw a figure d in dark robes approaching him. The stranger''s hood obscured their face, but their presence exuded an air of mystery and power.


    "New to the world of alchemy, are you?" the hooded figure spoke in a smooth, melodic voice that seemed to echo in the street, Stark was still cautious of whoever this was, but their voice somehow made him feel at ease.


    "Yeah," Stark shrugged, raising his eyebrow.


    It was clearly a woman, extremely noticeable from her voice, long purple hair, and also¡­ well¡­ her curves, there was no denying that


    "Interesting," without wasting a single second, the hooded woman used her [Potion Crafting] skill to summon her table.


    And it was¡­ well¡­ impressive.


    Instead of his wooden table with a badly shaped cauldron and brewing stand, her''s was on a whole other level.


    The table was made out of blue tinum, it''s shape glinting in the sunlight, and intricate runes were etched into its surface.


    On her table was a set of ingredients that seemed to glow with an ethereal light, emitting a soft hum that reverberated in the air.


    The cauldron she had was giant, and made of pure diamonds, while the brewing stand she had was so big andplicated that there were magic circles surrounding it.


    But¡­ Stark wasn''t impressed, instead his face turned cold.


    "Trying to flex on me?" he asked, tilting his head as there was no such reason to show him any of that.


    The hooded woman chuckled softly, her violet eyes gleaming with amusement. "Not at all, dear neer. I simply appreciate the art of alchemy and like to work with the best tools avable to me," she exined, her voice soft yetmanding.


    ''A tool¡­?'' did she just call him a tool? Or was she just referring to her brewing station.


    "Well, see youter," she waved her hand before heading in the opposite direction.


    "Weirdo¡­" Stark groaned as he hailed for a taxi and went back to his hotel.


    "Goodbye¡­ CHOSEN," the woman lips grew into a giant smile as soon as Stark left inside that taxi, saying his code name.


    She drank a potion and immediately vanished in a trail of blue smoke.


    Stark didn''t know it yet, but there were already people aware of who he was.


    And his recent conquest of the Secret Rift helped them out a lot with that.


    ***


    Stark went to the market and bought lots of pre-made food, as well as enough fast food and such tost him upwards to two-three weeks.


    The reason was obvious: he nned to stay a very long time inside of the ''Memories Museum'', grinding against the bosses he had already beaten in the hopes of improving his senses and movements.


    Being able to take just two of the bosses he had fought and struggled against before simultaneously would prove that he had indeed improved a lot.


    After around an hour, he arrived back at his hotel room, having ced everything inside of his [Spatial Inventory] meant he didn''t need to move anything, and that everything would be avable once he was there.


    "Phew¡­" Stark sighed, lying on the bed and looking up to the ceiling, "¡­"


    He wouldn''t do anything other than just fight, fight, and fight, for the next two to three weeks, so he was getting mentally ready.


    It would surely take him a while before deciding to enter-


    "Ok, i''m ready," he shrugged almost instantly, not even five seconds after getting on the bed, and summoned the ck door which led to the ''Memories Museum''.


    It appeared before him, surrounded by a dark aura, and Stark opened it wide, passing through the threshold with determination in his eyes.


    The familiar sensation of being pulled through dimensions washed over him, and as he emerged on the other side, he found himself back in the vast, endless hallways of the Memories Museum.


    Food inside of the [Spatial Inventory] doesn''t rot, so he wouldn''t pull out anything until he really needed it.


    And to add to the immersion, he even bought a ''small tent'' from the market, which allowed him to sleep wherever he wanted.


    Such tents were only used when ssifiers knew they would be spendingrge periods of times inside a rift, but for Stark, he had decided that he wouldn''t leave this space until either his food ran out, or hepleted what he wanted to do: defeat all 6 bosses.


    [Quest: defeat all 6 bosses at the same time!]


    [Reward: +3 skill points!]


    In addition to that, as a way to encourage him, even the museum allowed him to get a reward for his efforts.


    Frankly, there was a 99.99% chance that he would never be able toplete that challenge because of the sheer difficulty, plus his level wasn''t that highpared to theirs, so almost anything would one-shot him.


    Infinite tries sounded powerful, but he couldn''t forget that time still flew normally in this space.


    He was toozy to train his muscles (useless since he had domination), and attempting to beat yet another rift felt boring, so this ''Memories Museum'' was the perfect opportunity to grow stronger all the while improving his techniques.


    This would 100% help him in the future.


    But before doing any of that¡­


    "POTION CRAFTING!"


    Stark wasted no time in getting down to business.


    He set up his makeshift alchemy station, a far cry from the extravagant setup of the hooded woman he had encountered earlier.


    Despite the humble appearance of his equipment, Stark''s determination shone through as he meticulously organized his ingredients and prepared to craft his potions.


    He took the required ingredients to craft one of each potion, and got to business.


    ¡­


    [Potion of Strength]


    [Effect: Increases the user''s strength stat by 10% for 5 minutes!]


    [Ingredients: x2 Wolf Teeth, x1 Ogre Ear, x1 Strength Flower¡­]


    ¡­


    He took out everything that was needed and ced it on the table, and immediately as he did so¡­


    [Wolf Teeth 2/2; Ogre Ear 1/1; Strength Flower 1/1!]


    [You can craft ''Potion of Strength''!]


    He clicked on that panel without a single hint of hesitation, and suddenly, the equipment on his table began to move alone, mixing and brewing the ingredients with precision.


    The cauldron bubbled and steamed, emitting a faint glow as the potion took form under Stark''s watchful gaze.


    It didn''t take more than thirty seconds for the potion to be finished.


    [''Potion of Strength'' has been crafted, please touch this screen to make it appear on the table!]


    He did as he was told, and just as exined, a red liquid inside of a ss appeared on the wooden table, which Stark took in his hands instantly.


    [Perception] showed him that it was indeed the potion he wanted, meaning that the alchemist station and all of the rted things were working perfectly.


    It was much easier than expected too, meaning that Stark could get to business and craft the remaining potions as he wanted to try them out while fighting the bosses.


    He used up all his ingredients, but¡­


    ¡­


    [Inventory:] 10x Potion of Strength, 10x Potion of Speed, 10x Potion of Regeneration.


    ¡­


    And so with everything ready, Stark put all the potions inside of his inventory void and headed toward the disys with the memories on it, ready to select them all and start his training arc.

 Chapter 92: Trial and Error Against the Six Bosses

    Stark after crafting his potions immediately headed toward the disys with the thought-shapped images.


    [Do you want to select ''The Conjoined Siblings'' as a memory to experience?]


    ''Yes.''


    Then he would move on to the next one.


    [Do you want to select ''Creeping Shadows'' as a memory you want to experience?]


    ''...''


    [Do you want to select...]


    [Do you want...]


    After around a minute, he had selected all 6 bosses that were avable to be fought inside of the museum.


    He had absolutely no strategy whatsoever, instead wanting to test out whatever would happen if he actually tried to do that.


    He would surely got demolished that''s for sure, but how badly?


    He would need a strategy, relying on sole stats and skills wouldn''t be enough as even someone that is well over level 150 would probably die against these 6 enemies.


    But he had an advantage: infinite tries, infinite attempts to do whatever he wanted.


    [You have selected ALL the memories of the museum]


    [Difficulty:] Nightmare


    [Do you want to proceed?]


    ''Of course!'' He clicked on the panel, and almost instantly was surrounded by that ck mist of memories, transporting him to another location.


    And when he opened his eyes back...


    "Haha... this is still just as terrifying," he felt a drop of sweat on his forehead.


    Before him were all the bosses he had previously defeated, and even though they wouldn''t be an issue if alone, the fact the 6 of them were here together created a powerful aura even Stark could sense was bad.


    His goal: beat them all and get used to fight powerful opponents at the same time.


    He also noticed that the arena had changed.


    It was... a mix of all of the boss''s areas?


    Water that reached a little above his feet could be seen, to amodate the ''ck Water Devourer'', the circr walls of the arena were reced by buildings, much like Mkar''s city, there were dozens of marble pirs scattered across the giant space for Judicator, and there was a ceiling with mirrors all over it, for the Mirror Master and the other two.


    Basically, this arena was a mix of all the challenges of the previous bosses, which he would also need to take into ount.


    [3...]


    The monsters grabbed their weapons.


    [2...]


    Judicator let out his giant ck wings and the devourer disappeared into the water.


    [1...]


    The Creeping Shadow, which was just a perfect replica of Stark, smiled, ready to eliminate its owner.


    [FIGHT!]


    The moment the fight began, Mkar sent his cane at him, while Judicator and the shadow dashed toward him.


    [The Purgatory Shadow took the hit for you]


    They were fast, and their sheer number was enough to take him back.


    But...


    ~FWISH~


    The devourer appeared below him and gobbled him up like he was a tasty meal.


    "18371-" even when activating his shield around his body, it wasn''t enough to tank the attack.


    And so...


    He was sent back to the museum.


    [Do you want to try again?]


    ''Fucking hell...'' Stark clicked on yes, an excited look on his face at the thought of progressing over and over again, until reaching his goal.


    ***


    (2nd try)


    "-27361" this time, instead of staying idle, he used his new equipment, [Judicator''s ck Wings], to dash to the side, avoiding the devourer and sending two aura fists at it.


    ~FWISH~


    But while he was still in midair, the conjoined warrior activated [Skeletal Aura] while being buffed by his sister using the [Buff] spell.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," Stark activated his attack immediately, and the warrior''s sword passed right through his head, taking the guardian aback.


    But Stark took this opportunity to reach for the warrior''s hand that carried his sword.


    He knew from before that taking it from him was basically making him as inoffensive as a child.


    But right as he tried to do that...


    ~BAM~


    "GAH-!" his shadow sent two crimson fists at him, and both hit him straight on as he was too focused on avoiding all the previous attacks,


    "12948! -13924!"


    He fell to the floor, his HP reaching 0.


    ...


    [Do you want to try again?]


    He was greeted by the screen again.


    ''I was so close to disarming the warrior, I just need to take care of my shadow,'' after every try, he would adapt.


    ***


    (13th try)


    "AURA SMASH!" instead of using his crimson fists on the devourer, Stark would sent them at his shadow, forcing it to use [Aura Smash] as well.


    Meaning that the warrior would be right in front of him and...


    ~CRACK~


    Stark would grab the arm with the sword and break it, beforeunching the sword far way and kicking the warrior in the face, breaking one of its heads.


    "-34817!"


    "HEAL!" the sister would obviously use that skill on her brother and give him 15000 HP back, but it didn''t change the fact he was disarmed and had no weapon anymore.


    "HAT TRICK!" Mkar would also take out his hat andunch it at Stark, razor sharp des appearing on its edge.


    But Stark had already died to that once, so he would grab the hat and send it toward his shadow, forcing it to back away yet again as if he didn''t, it would one-shot him.


    What he didn''t expect though was...


    "SHARD THROW!" The Mirror Master, which hadn''t done anything until now, charged up a giant mirror shard, twice as big as Stark''s body, and sent it flying at him while he was upied with the others.


    "28174!" a giant hole in his body was made after the shard pierced him, and he fell to the ground, dead.


    [Do you want to try again?]


    ''...''


    ***


    (78th try)


    ''Gulp gulp...'' Stark drank two of his potions for the first time, wanting to test them out to see if they would increase his odds.


    And they did.


    He reached thest point where he died rather smoothly, and even managed to avoid the Mirror Master''s shard.


    "CLONE FRENZY," he summoned his two clones, who were also affected by the potion effects as they were made of his aura.


    The strength and speed potions increased his stats by 10%, and although it might not seem much on an average alchemist, giving that to Stark with his insane stats and aura was a recipe for disaster.


    He now managed to easily avoid most of the attacks that came his way, and his movements felt smoother.


    His clones were attacking the other monsters, one of them managing to take the witch''s scepter from her hands and breaking it before sending two fists of aura toward her brother.


    [Enemy stunned]


    The warrior was stunned, and so the two clones took advantage of this opportunity to gang up on him while the other bosses were focused on Stark.


    "-18372! -19714! -17962!"


    And so, just like that... Stark eliminated the first boss.


    But...


    ~FWISH~


    With two simple p of his wings, Judicator killed the two clones and rushed toward Stark, his body was already dyed in tinum since he activated his ultimate skills already.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" he jumped out of the way as he couldn''t avoid that attack.


    But...


    "ALL-AREA STRIKE!" at that very moment, the Mirror Master decided to use his unavoidable attack, summoning the dark mes on the ceiling which all began to descend on him.


    "Ok," Stark could just shrug as he was engulfed and killed by the fire, it was in the name: this attack is unavoidable.


    [Do you want to try again?]


    ''It''s been hours... I need to keep going,'' and so he clicked on yes.


    He wouldn''t back down until he did it.

 Chapter 93: Reaching the Climax

    (117th try)


    He would get decapitated by Judicator


    ¡­


    (194th try)


    He would get pierced by Mkar''s [Dark Pulse], putting dozens upon dozens of ck sharp spikes through his body.


    ¡­


    (250th try)


    He would finally manage to kill the warrior all the while avoiding [All-Area Strike].


    But then¡­


    "CONJOINED BOND," forced to back away because of the other monsters, the warrior would get up only after a minute because of this skill since his sister was still alive, meaning that it was pointless.


    ''I need to get the clones to kill the sister too¡­'' he mumbled before getting cut by [Water Bending] from the ck Water Devourer.


    ¡­


    (381st try)


    Stark wiped the sweat off his brow as he stood up once more, determination etched into every line of his face.


    His heart pounded fiercely in his chest, echoing the throbbing ache of each of his failed attempts.


    "Not enough¡­" he sighed, he had been able to kill the warrior and witch, but it wasn''t enough.


    "AURA SMASH! THE CANE! WATER BENDING! DIVINE BLINDNESS!"


    Stark was blinded by the light, and all the other attacks came to reduce his HP to 0 again.


    ¡­


    [Do you want to try again?]


    ''¡­''


    [Do you want to try again?]


    He had seen this screen so many times by this point that he really started to dislike it.


    [Do you want to try¡­]


    ''Yeah.''


    [Do you want to¡­]


    ''Yes¡­''


    [Do you¡­]


    ''YES!''


    He sat on the museum''s floor and pulled out a giant pizza, taking his time to eat it while pondering what his next move should be.


    It felt like no matter what he did, the monsters would always coordinate to fuck him over.


    "¡­" he hadn''t used [Double Assault] or his new legendary skill [Heaven''s Wrath] yet since he kept them for the final showdown, but maybe he should try to do something with them¡­?


    Inparison to in actual rifts or fights, each time heunched a fight inside the Memories Museum, all his skills would be reset, meaning that he wouldn''t have to wait for the cooldown.


    ''Fuck it,'' he got up after eating his pizza and immediately clicked on the panel to try again.


    ¡­


    (382nd try)


    [FIGHT!]


    The moment the battle started, before any of the monsters could move, Stark unleashed his skill.


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!"


    A blinding light erupted from Stark, enveloping the entire room in a crimson glow.


    And then¡­


    That same light appeared in the sky (or ceiling in this case), growing more and more.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWIIIIIIISHHHH~


    It became so big that it took the entire area of where the monsters stood.


    And then¡­


    ~BAM~


    The entire room shook as a deafening explosion echoed throughout the arena, and a giant beam of divine light hurtled from above, except it wasn''t golden like it was supposed to, but crimson, just like Stark''s aura.


    "-28371!"


    "-34623!"


    "-29874!"


    All the monsters were hit one way or another since they didn''t expect such a thing, and the attack charged up rather quickly.


    But Judicator immediately used his wings to get away, the ck Water Devourer disappeared into the water, and The Mirror Master teleported thanks to a mirror.


    But as for the Conjoined Siblings, they were both killed, both not having the speed to avoid the attack as staying inside three seconds was enough to remove all of their life.


    And even the [Creeping Shadow] got immediately one-shotted by the attack.


    ''THIS IS INSANE,'' Starkughed, he had finally figured out a way to win.


    Or did he?


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!" he had forgotten that his shadow could copy ANY of his moves, meaning that before it died, it also used the legendary skill, sending down a beam toward Stark, who couldn''t avoid it.


    "-24273!"


    He got one-shotted too.


    ¡­


    [Do you want to try again?]


    ''Need to get rid of the shadow before using it¡­''


    He had still died, but he was getting closer to his goal.


    And so just like that¡­ a week passed.


    ***


    (One weekter)


    He had tried all sorts of strategies against the bosses, some had worked, others didn''t, but in the end, little by little, he was building up his strategy.


    And so only after a week of pure grind and repeating this cycle of trial and death¡­ he was ready to end it.


    After getting so close his previous tries¡­ he was sure this one was the right one.


    [Do you want to try again?]


    ''Yes,'' he smirked and was surrounded by that dark mist again, just to be teleported at the arena.


    "THIS IS THE FINAL TRY, I PROMISE!"


    [Inventory: x1 Potion of Strength, x1 Potion of Speed, x10 Potion of Regeneration]


    ¡­


    [3¡­]


    Stark closed his eyes, sensing the air around him.


    It was something weird he had learned while fighting: sensing the monsters'' auras became much easier for him, and adding that to Focus meant he could manage to avoid a few attacks while blinded.


    This would be useful if he ever encountered another monster like Judicator, with the ability to blind someone, he had died so many times to this that his mind and body created a counter.


    [2¡­]


    But it didn''t mean it was easy, not at all.


    [1¡­]


    All bosses stared at Stark, knowing that they needed to get rid of him.


    [FIGHT!]


    His n began the moment that screen appeared.


    ~FWISH~


    "SPATIAL INVENTORY," he took hisst remaining [Potion of Speed] from the void and gulped it down in one ago, it was rather sweet.


    The reason this was his final real try was because these were hisst potions, and he truly needed those to hopefully survive this thing, otherwise it was a game over.


    Of course, he could always leave to the market and get new ones.


    But¡­


    ''It would feel like I lost against them,'' he had vowed to not go out until he won, so he didn''t want to lose this.


    [Speed enhanced thanks to potion]


    Immediately, he dashed toward his shadow.


    ~BAM~


    He tried to punch it using his bare aura-filled fists, but it obviously just returned the attack.


    "-1!"


    The other monsters were just turning around, summoning their attacks.


    But¡­


    ~FWISH, BAM~


    "-24827!" Stark managed to hit his shadow and make it disappear as it only had 10k HP.


    The reason he was able to hit a perfect mimic of himself? Well¡­ it was the [Potion of Speed]!


    The shadow wouldn''t receive the status effect when he drank it, so he figured that doing that would allow him to fight back, no matter how strong it was.


    That 10% increase in speed was enough to make the difference: it was enough for Stark to hit the shadow first.


    And so with his shadow out of the equation¡­


    Stark looked at the others, a wide grin on his face.


    But it didn''t mean there weren''t other ways for him to die, after all¡­ he had reached this exact point two times before, yet was taken aback and killed.


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!" he summoned the beam.

 Chapter 94: The Final Run

    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!" Stark activated his skill as soon as his shadow was dead.


    It had fucked him over so many times by returning his attacks against him, so getting it out first was the best way to win.


    And now that it couldn''t return [Heaven''s Wrath] against him....


    ''I CAN EASILY USE IT!'' he grinned as the crimson light in the sky began to grow more and more, looking more dangerous by the second.


    And after only a few seconds...


    ~BOOM~


    The giant crimson beam descended on the monsters as they couldn''t do anything but watch.


    "27461! -29673! -31905!"


    Just like before, Judicator, Mkar, the Mirror Master, and the ck Water Devourer managed to get away from the beam''s range before getting killed.


    But the Warrior and Witch weren''t so fast.


    They only had 75k HP, and the HP they had when he first fought them inside the ss purgatory doesn''t change inside the museum, so it greatly helped as three seconds were enough to turn them to dust.


    [2 down, 4 to go]


    But Stark didn''t stop there.


    After all, in a fight where he was atplete disadvantage in terms of power and numbers... his sole strategy was to not let them rest.


    How could he die if they were too busy avoiding his attacks to send their own?


    The third target was Mkar since he only had 45000 HP, and also since he couldn''t allow him tounch his [Mayor''s Control] attack since hundreds of monsters woulde out of the surrounding buildings, just like when he fought him.


    All the monsters were weak, but adding that to the other bosses resulted in him dying over a hundred times to them.


    "AURA SMASH!" he sent two crimson fists at him while he was getting away from the beam''s radius, meaning he had only a few instants to react.


    "ABYSSAL SHIELD!"


    A ck barrier materialized in front of Mkar just in time to save him.


    Or did it now?


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    "-12716! -17261!"


    His barrier wasn''t even enough to endure the two attacks Stark sent, and to add to that, Stark kicked Mkar to the left while he was falling down,unching him inside the beam and reducing his body to dust just like the others.


    ''...''


    "ANGER OF THE FALLEN! BODY OF A SAINT!" the angel''s body turned to tinum, but that was expected since it already activated its ultimate skills at the start of every... run.


    ''I do wonder why these bosses don''t activate their strongest skills at the start,'' he shrugged, but couldn''t deny that under normal circumstances he would never activate [Heaven''s Wrath] so quickly.


    "EVOLUTION! REINFORCE!" the ck Water Devourer also began to transform, using his skills to shape its body, making it bigger and more menacing, but also... "TOXIC COATING!"


    Now if Stark even brushed against the surface of its body, he would receive the [Poison] effect, he had already experienced it during one of his runs and he didn''t like it at all.


    So he would need to keep his distances from the devourer and kill it from long range using his fists and spears.


    Also...


    "FURIOUS STRIKE," Judicator dashed toward Stark, both his weapons in hand as he spanned them, ready to slice the boy in half.


    But he had died too many times to that to fall for it, so he crouched to avoid the scythe, then stepped back to dodge the crimson sword.


    ''Fuck... too close...'' the reason he hadn''t used [Invincible Dodge] to take Judicator aback and deal massive damage to him was simple: the Mirror Master was waiting for that to use [All-Area Strike].


    It took him a long time, but he figured out that each time he used Invincible dodge, that damn boss would notice it and use his unavoidable attack.


    And that''s why he was Stark''s next target.


    "CLONE FRENZY," he summoned his clones, then sent them at the Mirror Master.


    But before they reached him...


    "AURA SMASH! CRIMSON SPEARS!" They all activated their long-ranged skills and... threw them at the devourer.


    6 crimson fists with a 30% chance each to stun, and 9 spears with great chances of piercing through one of the devourer''s weaknesses, were heading toward the second guardian of the domination trial.


    All of them hit their targets as the devourer was too dumb and slow to actually avoid them.


    ~BAM, BAM, BAM~


    "-31827! -21430! -24906!" and much more damage outputs came out.


    In the end, with its 120000 HPs and inability to avoid anything, the devourer fell.


    [4 down, 2 remain]


    And at the same time...


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT!" it wasn''t Stark that activated his skill since he was still avoiding Judicator''s attacks.


    But his clones...


    "-31261!" the first punch the Mirror Master received was enough to send him flying, but the clones didn''t let him rest.


    "G-GLASS SHARD, MULTIPLY, GLASS RAIN!" but no matter what he tried, the clones would avoid it all, the fact he was stressed and angry reducing his uracy by a ton.


    And so after only thirty seconds...


    "ALL-AREA STRIKE!" he used his unavoidable attack, which was easily dodged by all the Stark(s) inside the arena using [Invincible Dodge].


    "-29482" the clones punched him onest time and the Mirror Master fell, it wasn''t because he hadn''t been killed and his HP weren''t at zero that he didn''t feel pain.


    Each of the strikes from the clones took out his breath, making it increasingly more difficult to cast skills!


    [Mirror Master HP: 0/160000]


    [5 down, 1 more]


    ~FWISH~


    Judicator threw his scythe at the two clones, who were unable to avoid it and got cut in half, but there was no blood once they did, they just disappeared and went back inside of Stark (pause).


    "..." the bosses from the memories museum can''t speak, so unlike the original Judicator who couldn''t shut up, this one was much calmer (although he was more aggressive in his actions).


    ''I like him better that way,'' Stark smiled, then got ready to attack.


    "DIVINE BLINDNESS," he lifted his sword in the hopes of blinding Stark.


    But this time, the boy wouldn''t fall for it.


    ~SHUT~


    He closed his eyes, avoiding the light, but doing that was risky as...


    ~FWISH~


    Judicator immediately closed the distance between them while Stark had his eyes closed.


    ~DODGE~


    But even then, thanks to the new ability he had learned: to sense auras even when he couldn''t see anything, he managed to dodge the scythe and go right behind the angel.


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT," and obviously, now that he had theplete advantage...


    Stark easily won against Judicator.


    [All bosses defeated, congrattions!]


    He was teleported back to the museum.


    "I FUCKING DID IT," heughed, happy as it was his final try.


    [Quest: Beat all bosses at the same time... COMPLETE!]


    [Reward: 3 skill points]


    [Reward acquired]


    And so just like that...


    [Skill Points: 6 Avable], which meant that Stark could upgrade his skills.


    But before that...


    "SPATIAL INVENTORY," he summoned the void next to him and pulled out the [Breakthrough Stone].


    ''Let''s do this...''


    He put a lot of his aura inside the stone while holding it, and instantly, a panel appeared.


    [Do you want to initiate the breakthrough from iron to bronze?]


    [Y/N]

 Chapter 95: Breakthrough from Iron to Bronze

    [Do you want to initiate the breakthrough from iron to bronze?]


    [Y/N]


    ''Heh¡­ sure I guess,'' he didn''t see any reason not to do that as he had already finished his training for now, and had acquired the reward for his quest.


    He clicked on the Y option, and suddenly¡­


    [Very well, please break the stone now!]


    "Alright," he shrugged, then clenched the fist with the stone inside of it, putting more and more pressure until eventually¡­


    ~BAM~


    It shattered inside his hand.


    The runes around the [Breakthrough Stone] were glowing, and as soon as he broke it, they immediately began to fly around Stark.


    For a moment, he was surrounded by small glowing motes of power, dancing around him in an intricate ballet.


    They began to slowly but surely disintegrate as they sipped inside of Stark''s body.


    And after only a few seconds¡­ the stone and its runes hadpletely disappeared.


    [Breakthrough passed smoothly, you have high potential!]


    [Iron ¡ú Bronze]


    [Skill limit increased from 10 to 15!]


    When you tried to breakthrough using a stone that isn''t at your rank, or if you try without being at the required level, the breakthrough stone would just shatter and be wasted, and it is said that the breakthrough process can vary from person to person, some struggle, while others do it easily.


    In the end, it is all based on talent and skills, and if the stone itself while merging with your aura feels like you deserve it.


    And in Stark''s case, there was no denying the stone wasn''t going to let him have a hard time.


    Especially with [Chosen One] as his talent¡­


    ''Well, time to upgrade my skills, then,'' he smiled as he mumbled ''status window''.


    ¡­


    [Level:] 25


    [Health:] 9700/9700


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [sses:] Domination; Alchemist


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    [Attributes:] Strength 1024; Speed 1129; Mind/Soul 1273; Stamina 891; Defense 946


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv10; Focus lv5; Aura Smash lv6; Clone Frenzy lv5; Invincible Dodge lv2; Double Assault lv3; Crimson Spears lv1; Heaven''s Wrath lv1; Alchemist lv1; Potion Crafting lv1


    ¡­


    [Skill Points: 6 Avable]


    This was actually bing much more difficult to decide which skill he would need to upgrade.


    ''Rich people must have it easy¡­ they just have to buy [Skill Level Candies] to get everything at the max¡­'' he sighed.


    But he had already an idea of what he wanted to upgrade.


    Now that his skill level limit was set at 15, it meant that he could upgrade [Domination] even more, giving him more aura and more perks.


    ''Yeah, that''s a good idea,'' he nodded and reached out his hand to click on the domination skill while thinking of using 5 skill points.


    [Talent: CHOSEN ONE, ACTIVATED!]


    But¡­ his talent suddenly activated, and Stark tripped on something invisible, almost as if the universe didn''t want him to do that


    ~FWISH~


    His hand moved slightly to the right, and it ended up clicking on¡­ [FOCUS]!


    [You have upgraded ''Focus'' to level 10!]


    ''WHAT THE FUCK?'' Stark''s eyes widened.


    There was no way his talent had activated just to fuck him over like that, right?


    Upgrading [Domination] was a much better idea than [Focus], and although that skill was also good, he didn''t n to upgrade it for a while¡­


    ''I-Is there a way to go back¡­?''


    [No.]


    "WELL FUCK YOU THEN!"


    [You have upgraded ''Double Assault'' to level 4!]


    He had wasted 5 precious skill points on focus, and decided to use his remaining one on [Double Assault] since it would soon reach level 5 anyway.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Focus lv10 (Iron tier-Max)]


    [Description: Your focus is unwavering, and all the attacks thate at you seem very slow when you analyze them well, time is now your friend, and it will support you in your journey!]


    [New Perk: Able to sense danger when passing through a space, and also able to sense traps and ambushes!]


    ¡­


    ''Heh¡­'' Stark couldn''t deny that it was an interesting perk, as now no traps could work on him, but he honestly believed upgrading [Domination] was such a better option than this.


    He knew he couldn''t undo it now, so he tried to focus on the positive side - maybe there was a reason his talent had steered him towards enhancing his Focus skill.


    [Chosen One''s] second perk had two events when activating: to cause something bad/a problem to its host, or¡­ to help them out, much like with the TP pearl in the Secret Rift.


    What if it was one of those beneficial things, he couldn''t know.


    Deciding that he didn''t want to waste any more time inside the memories museum and wanting to go back to the real world, Stark headed toward the ck door that was located at the entrance of the museum''s hall.


    It had been a week since he had seen the sun, but even after all this exercise, Stark couldn''t deny he felt great, almost after a long session at the gym and knowing you did a lot to improve even though you were tired.


    He put his hand on the dark handle, ready to twist it and go back to his hotel room.


    But the exact moment he did that¡­


    [Focus, ACTIVATED!]


    His skill activated, and Stark''s eyes widened, a vortex of aura in them as he could feel that something was wrong.


    [New Perk: Able to sense danger when passing through a space, and also able to sense traps and ambushes!]


    The surrounding air crackled with energy as Stark''s senses sharpened, his focus honed to a razor''s edge.


    His instincts screamed something at him.


    And that message was very clear¡­


    "There are people waiting for you on the other side, and they don''t have good intentions."


    ''Is this why¡­ the talent forced me to upgrade focus?'' this seemed logical as the timing was way too good.


    Was it plot armor? Or his talent was really just trying to help him once in a while?


    In all cases, he knew there were people waiting for him in his hotel room.


    [They are much, MUCH stronger than you are, though¡­ =)]


    Stark could stay inside the Memory Museum for as long as he wanted, his food still enough to survive two additional weeks.


    But no¡­ he didn''t want to be forced to hide.


    And more than anything, he wanted to know what they wanted from him.


    "CLONE FRENZY!" he summoned one of his clones beside him, and sent it to open the door, this was to trick the ones looking for him.


    ''You want to y¡­ let''s y¡­'' Stark didn''t know anything for now, but he wouldn''t let himself be taken out.

 Chapter 96: Ambush and Intruders

    The clone Stark summoned was an exact replica of his body, face, and even clothes.


    He sent it toward the ck door as his [Focus] skill warned him that something was immensely wrong.


    But there was a slight problem to that n of his¡­


    HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS ON THE OTHER SIDE?


    Sending a clone was nice, and he would know if it died, but he actually needed a way to prepare for whatever awaited him on the other side.


    He stood there for thirty seconds, rubbing his chin and wondering what he should do until¡­


    [Close your eyes.]


    ''¡­?'' a panel appeared before him, and Stark was confused, how could a panel unrted to skills or anything suddenly appear?


    But it was until looking at his clone that he noticed something: it was turning its head slightly toward him, its eyes locked on his figure, a small smile on its face.


    He immediately understood that it was the clone itself thatmunicated with him as it wasn''t able to talk with its mouth.


    Stark followed its advice and closed his eyes.


    And the moment he did, another panel greeted him.


    [Now focus all of your aura, and think about being in my position as hard as you can!]


    ''¡­'' Stark''s aura began to flow around his entire body, and soon enough reached his eyes.


    Then he focused on the clone ahead, sending the aura in his eyes toward it.


    [Now open them back up!]


    He didn''t understand what any of this could do, it seemed utterly useless in his opinion.


    And yet¡­


    "HUH?" When he opened his eyes, he was no longer looking through his own eyes, but through the eyes of the clone.


    No¡­ it''s not that he was looking through his clone''s eyes¡­ HE WAS CONTROLLING IT!


    He moved his left hand upward to make sure that all his sensations were correct, and as expected, his hand did the exact movement he wanted it to do.


    No doubts anymore, he was controlling that clone.


    But if he was controlling it, then what was his original body doing¡­?


    He looked behind him, and saw that the original Stark was still standing, he was just looking at the ground, an emotionless and lifeless expression on his face, his crimson eyes void of any light.


    ''Creepy¡­'' he shrugged, but hopefully his body would just stay safe inside of the memories museum.


    The clone Stark now controlled moved towards the ck door, guided by the consciousness of the real Stark.


    The moment he put his hand on the handle again though¡­


    [Imminent danger on the other side, be careful!]


    ''That''s why i''m using a clone¡­ duh¡­'' he closed the panel and opened the door, ''Here goes nothing¡­''


    ***


    ~FWISH~


    Inside of the hotel room, the ck door that led to the memories museum appeared back in the middle of the room, fading in like it was always here.


    And suddenly, that ominous door with its dark aura opened, revealing Starking out from it, a nk expression on his face.


    "¡­" Stark looked around while trying to seem as unsuspicious as possible, but there was nobody around.


    If it wasn''t for [Focus] actively warning him about the presence of intruders, he would have surely not known.


    ''Are they waiting for me to sleep to finish me off?'' he pondered, but it seemed unlikely.


    After all, Stark could sense the aura in the air, and he was confident that they were much stronger than he was, if he was stronger he would quite literally juste out in his real body and beat their asses.


    But Stark didn''t like to take risks when they were unneeded, and he was safe inside of the memories museum.


    So he did something the intruders didn''t expect him to do: call out for them.


    There were 5 of them, and each of them hid somewhere close, yet too hard for Stark to notice under normal circumstances.


    It was safe to say they knew exactly what they were doing.


    And Stark didn''t think of it before, but their aura felt strangely familiar¡­


    ''Domination¡­'' he thought of this word as he walked toward his kitchen, there was no denying at least one of them was from the domination ss¡­ and maybe even more¡­?


    But no, he didn''t want to just sit there and wait.


    "Pleasee out, if you wanted to kill me you would have already done it," he spoke out loud, grabbing a drink from his fridge.


    He obviously couldn''t drink or eat as he was only controlling a clone, but the goal of everything he was doing was to make it seem like he wasn''t surprised or even scared of them.


    His voice carried through the room, echoing off the walls and creating an eerie silence that seemed to stretch on forever.


    Stark waited, his senses on high alert, waiting for any sign of movement or a response to his call.


    A few seconds passed, and the moment Stark wanted to call again¡­


    "Shit¡­ didn''t know that kid was smart enough to notice us!" a voice could be heard


    "Should have expected it from a high potential individual!" another answered.


    And then¡­


    Five figures emerged from different spots of his room: each of them cloaked in a dark, swirling aura that seemed to bend the very light around them.


    They were wearing casual clothes, and their faces were visible, but their bodies appeared from the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling, it was as if they had merged with the texture of his room to hide.


    "Told you it wouldn''t work!" a woman with long ck hairughed, pping the guy on her left.


    "Pss¡­ anybody would of fallen for it," he was fairly tall, reaching 190cm, and had very defined mucles, his head was balding though, and the light on the ceiling was shining on his empty head.


    "I mean¡­ what even is that door, we thought he was out of the city or country, but what the hell is that?" another man with grey hair, yellow eyes, and big circr sses mumbled, rubbing his chin.


    "Portable dimension maybe? Wouldn''t be surprising knowing what he did or must have experienced¡­" a second woman with a bob cut and purple hair sighed, she had a staff in her hands, and she was spinning it like it was a de.


    "¡­" the guy on the middle though wasn''t speaking, he had a well defined face although he looked older than the others, and had short white hair that went in all sort of directions, clearly not kept well (or maybe since he always fights?).


    But what Stark noticed with him wasn''t his clothes, or even the fact he had a katana in his left hand, but his eyes¡­


    Just like Stark''s original body, which he left inside the memories museum, his eyes were devoid of any light, almost as if he was lifeless.


    "Let''s just get down to business," he sighed, his voice just as lifeless as his eyes.


    And then¡­


    ~FWISH~


    The purple-haired girl used her staff to send a magic arrow at Stark.


    ''AH SHIT? THEY WANT TO FIGHT!''


    If it wasn''t yet again for [Focus] which allowed him to see the arrowe a few instants before it hit him, his clone would have probably just died.


    Stark folded his body backward to avoid the arrow, which came crashing against the wall behind him and destroyed it.


    "HEY, I''M GONNA HAVE TO PAY FOR THAT!" he shouted at her while pointing at the damage she had caused.


    "Calm down, Yui, we aren''t here to fight¡­" the leader gently smiled and sat on a chair around the main table, while the other four just stood behind him, staring down at Stark.

 Chapter 97: The Domination Associations Offer

    "Mr.Stark, please do sit down," the leader gently smiled while pointing at the chair on the other side of the table.


    ''Fucking hell¡­'' Stark did as he was told and sat down.


    "I seriously could of died by that arrow, you know?" the ck-haired boy immediately spoke, looking at the purple-haired girl with a re.


    Of course, he hid the fact that his current body was that of a mere clone, but it was still very close, and he knows that if they put their mind to it, he would stand no chance in winning.


    Yet none of them seemed surprised or showed any kind of emotions, they just stared at Stark with nk expressions.


    "If you died from that¡­ then it would have meant that you weren''t as good as we expected you to be," the leader, his eyes still lifeless, smiled, putting his two hands together and cing his elbows on the table.


    "¡­" Stark was confused, but he could sense all their gazes on him.


    "But it''s fine¡­ Stark Heartsouls¡­ for we were sure that as the chosen, you would avoid it," the leader smiled, "You may call me Juan."


    And the moment the man named Juan spoke to Stark and said his codename, he immediately understood what was happening.


    "Please do look at this card," Juan put his hand in his pocket, his katana beside his chair, then pulled out a crimson card.


    Stark took it in hand and began reading.


    [Domination Association]


    [Solves all problems rted to the domination ss and preserves the overall peace]


    "As you may know, mr.Stark, the domination ss is the most powerful one, but also the most dangerous, which is why our organization, which is only filled with domination users, do our best to make sure everything is fine!" Juan looked at his teammates from behind while speaking, and they all nodded.


    Stark soon realized that all of them were from the domination ss, and even Yui, the one that shot the arrow at him, wasn''t a magus.


    The Domination ss wasn''t limited to any weapon, and everyone who had received it were granted their own way of fighting.


    Much like Orasio with the shield, Hero with the flying swords, and Dreamer with his books.


    "I don''t see how any of that is rted to me," Stark returned the card; plus he didn''t like the aura around them all, as it seemed like they weren''t as peaceful as they made themselves appear to be, otherwise they wouldn''t all have their [Domination] skill activated.


    "Oh¡­" Juan grabbed his katana, an overwhelming aura that almost blinded Stark around him, then pointed his katana toward the boy, almost reaching his face, "But of course it is, CHOSEN, after all¡­ we know what you did."


    "¡­"


    "But do not fret," he didn''t retract his katana away, "You are a precious pawn after all¡­"


    All others were ring at Stark, a mix of cautiousness in their eyes even though they were much stronger than he was.


    "After all¡­" Juan''s smile grew so wide that it was became creepy, "You are the first and only person to everplete the ''Domination Trial'' on the death difficulty, aren''t you?"


    Stark stared at Juan for a moment, then rolled his eyes, they somehow knew about his achievements, he didn''t know how, but if they were part of some bigger organization, it meant they had both the power and money to take him out at any time.


    And yet¡­ Stark wasn''t scared.


    He didn''t know why, but he kept a very calm expression.


    Somehow¡­ he wasn''t scared of these people.


    "As the domination user with the highest potential out of them all¡­" Juan kept smiling, "We would love if you could join us, you will be granted money, fame, women, anything you want!"


    Anyone would of jumped in joy at such an opportunity, but Stark didn''t even think of epting for even a second.


    He pped the katana that was in front of him away, then looked at Juan dead in the eyes, "Sorry, but I think I have too much potential to be stuck in such ame organization," he smiled back.


    For a fraction of a second, Juan''s eyes twitched, surprise visible in them.


    And then¡­


    ~FWISH, CLANG, WASH~


    The four people that were behind him suddenly appeared around Stark, all their weapons pointed at him.


    Yui, the purple-haired mage, stood on the table, her staff pointed at Stark, and visible particles of magic glowing at the edge of it, meaning she was ready to throw another arrow.


    The buff bald man was behind Stark, his hands, asrge as the boy''s head, glowing with a crimson aura, indicating that he could crush him any second.


    The ck-haired woman pulled out two daggers from god knows where and stood to his side, one de against his neck and the other pointed at his crotch.


    And as for thest grey-haired man with the sses, his face turned dark, his sses being the only visible feature in his face because of the white glow in their reflection, his left hand was also glowing with a golden color, and it was opened, facing Stark, it almost felt like he was about to lift him up using psychic powers.


    "..." Stark had seen them get closer, but he didn''t for a single second show any surprise.


    Knowing that he was a clone somehow boosted his confidence to the max.


    "Know your ce," the woman with the daggers got her weapons closer to his vital areas.


    "Should we teach this kid a lesson, boss?" the tall man put his hands against Stark''s head, ready to crush it.


    But Juan wasn''t convinced, even if Stark was a prodigy, he shouldn''t be so calm against people who could actively kill him in one strike.


    "Prodigie''s Eyes!" he activated his skill, and suddenly...


    [Stark Heartsouls HP: 1/1]


    The clone was so well-made it didn''t only copy appearance, but also even tricked skills, if it wasn''t for the one HP, even Juan would have fallen for it.


    But now he knew...


    "There is no point," he smiled, talking to his friends, not Stark, "That kid is smarter than you all."


    Of course, he wouldn''t admit that he had fallen for this trick too.


    "What do you mean, boss, how can he be smarter than us?" the man with sses spoke to Juan, confusion on his face.


    "There is no point," he repeated, "This is not the real Stark, it is a mere clone, if not an illusion, basically, this kid knows what he is doing."

 Chapter 98: Scheduled a Family Meeting

    Upon hearing their boss talk, all the other members turned their heads toward Stark, just to see him with a wide grin on his face, almost as if he didn''t care if he was killed by them.


    An expression that showed that even though he was the weakest one in the room, he was still in total control.


    They instantly knew Juan was telling the truth, and so they removed their aura and put their weapons away.


    "Well... it was nice meeting you Stark," Juan smiled, and hispanions immediately disappeared to go back behind him, it was so fast even Stark struggled to see it with [Focus].


    "See ya," he shrugged.


    "You are not interested for now, and it is fine," he got up from the chair, "I hope to meet you again soon, hopefully you will not be dead by the time the second domination trial starts."


    "I won''t be," Stark confirmed.


    "Then we will be going out," and suddenly, Juan in a micro-second tightened his grip around his katana and...


    "Instant sh," he cut the clone''s head so fast that it looked he didn''t even move.


    "-483618!" the damage was terrifying, enough to take down Judicator in one strike.


    "Goodbye, Chosen," he waved from behind while the clone''s head was falling, then all of the domination users disappeared instantly in a sh.


    "Fucking hell..."Stark''s felt his world spin, he didn''t feel any sort of pain since it wasn''t his real body, but it was still confusing to know someone so strong was right there.


    ¡­


    "HAAAAAA~" he opened his eyes again as the clone''s figure seeped back into his original body: he was now back inside the memories museum in his own body, his clone was dead after all, so his consciousness was immediately transferred back.


    And as soon as he got up¡­


    ¡­


    [Skill: Clone Frenzy]


    [New Perk: By focusing your aura in your eyes and transferring it to your clone, you are now able to control the other Stark perfectly (although it would still be restricted in terms of strength and speed).]


    ¡­


    ''So you can gain perks even if you don''t level up your skill¡­?'' now that he knew that, the presence of the Memories Museum became so much more interesting as it meant that over the course of thousands of tries, he could possibly unlock a new perk for his skills using his brain, much like when he learned to see auras even though his eyes were closed.


    ''Well¡­ let''s get out of here,'' he sighed and headed toward the ck door.


    He had seen them leave, but he wasn''t dumb, so he obviously sent another clone to check out whether they were trying to double down on him.


    But even after a few minutes of analysis, he sensed no auras, so he went back to his original body, then opened the door and entered his hotel room.


    The door to the ''Memories Museum'' immediately disappeared once the original body left.


    ''My wall¡­ :('' he was madder that they actually broke down a part of his room, ''Fucking hell I don''t have the money to deal with that shit¡­''


    But¡­ after looking around, he noticed that there was something on the table.


    It was¡­ a cheque?


    ¡­


    [Cheque:] 2 million rher coins


    [Message:] Sorry for the wall, use that money to fix it up!


    ¡­


    Two million rher coins was no small amount, and it could easily cover the repairs for his damaged wall.


    But the apology apanying it puzzled him. Why would they care about covering for his room after trying to recruit him and then attacking his clone?


    ''Heh¡­ I don''t care, money is money!'' he grabbed his phone and scanned the cheque using his bank application, now all he needed to do was wait for people to notice what happened ande ask him questions, ''They are probably gonna kick me out¡­''


    He figured he should really start saving up to buy a house or even just an apartment as living in hotels wasn''t that good.


    But surprisingly, as soon as he finished scanning the cheque, putting the money in his ount¡­ hiswork came back.


    And so¡­


    ~BEEP, BEEP, BEEP~


    Dozens upon dozens of notifications flooded his phone''s screen.


    ''The fuck¡­?''


    He opened it using his passcode and realized that the notifications came from one application only: messages.


    And even more surprising, it was only one person.


    Stark could already guess who it was since he only had one person in his contact list¡­


    And he was right.


    ¡­


    [Contact:] Lana Moonless


    [182 messages, 47 missed calls]


    ¡­


    {Hey, did you see the news? You were on them!}


    {Everyone has been talking about the bunny-masked man haha!}


    {Wanna go somewhereter¡­? Of course, to talk!}


    Such messages appeared over and over.


    {Why aren''t you answering?}


    {Ignoring me now? What did I do?}


    {Are you mad?}


    That''s when she began to call him many times.


    But in the end, Stark couldn''t answer any of those messages or calls since he was inside the Memories Museum, and he had left his phone inside his inventory void since he was too focused on defeating the 6 bosses.


    He would try to make up for it, but he didn''t really know why she was so obsessed with talking to him.


    And thest message she sent, only a mere hour ago was¡­


    [Hey, if you see this¡­ wanna meet up with my family? My father wants to talk to you!]


    ''¡­''


    He had juste back from his training, and from meeting with five people who clearly had no good intentions with him as they knew who he was.


    But¡­


    ''Heh¡­ why not!''


    He would also use this opportunity to make sure to exin why he didn''t respond.


    ¡­


    {Stark: Why not, when do you want me toe?}


    He answered for the first time in a week, and the message was immediately read by Lana.


    ''Damn, does she stay on her phone all day long?''


    This was false, the reason why it was seen so quick was because Stark was the only person Lana allowed notifications to be activated on her phone, so she immediately knew it was him when she heard the BEEP.


    {Lana: YOU FINALLY ANSWER? WHERE WERE YOU!!!??}


    She went on a five paragraph rant about how she was worried and thought that he had gone on some crazy adventure again and died, which Stark promptly ignored since ''I ain''t reading at''.


    But soon enough¡­


    {I''lle get you two days from now, I''ll inform my family!}


    She seemed to be more excited than he was for that, but oh well, he guessed that spending all his time fighting and going to the market was bad for him, so normal social interactions couldn''t be so bad now could they¡­?


    {Stark: Great, I''ll be waiting for that :)}


    He had a lot of things to think about, and it was possible he would need to attend another rift soon if it opened, plus he had seen after Lana''sment that the videos of his battles had all been posted on MeeTube and were reviewed by many ssifiers and news stations, meaning that Stark was basically one of the most famous persons in the world right now.


    Or at least, the bunny-masked man was since videos showing his achievements reached tens of millions of views.


    ''Well, time to get ready for that meeting¡­ hopefully it goes well!''


    It didn''t.

 Chapter 99: The Moonless Family

    [Bunny-masked man vs Judicator (EPIC FIGHT!!!)]


    [28,413,095 views]


    The inte had gone wild after the release of the videos from Stark''s battles, it wasn''t every day that such a high potential prodigy appeared, and even more so when people realized that he was indeed at a very low levelpared to the rest of the ssifiers present, yet he had managed to conquer the rift first.


    And Stark actually kinda wished he had removed that damn mask now, but when he thought about it, he realized that the mystery of him not showing his face was what attracted many people over.


    Now it wasn''t only average citizens that praised him, but also organizations and guilds that were trying to look for him and hire him.


    ''No wonder that domination association knew who I was and came to me, huh¡­''


    {No way in hell he is level 25!}


    {I''m telling you, it must be a big-shot that''s faking his level using the [Level-Bluff] item or a skill!}


    {Or maybe it''s a powerful talent? After all he came back to LIFE!!}


    People were giving their theories over what could be happening, and Stark even saw entire theory videos exining all of his actions and the possible reason why he came back from the dead after being cut.


    Needless to say, all these videos were nonsense, but Stark stillughed at some crazy theories people woulde up with.


    {Lana Moonless: I''ming to pick you up tomorrow at 12pm, so be ready!}


    {Stark Heartsouls: Okay, see you tomorrow =)}


    It had only been one day since he had finished his training and met with those five domination users, and Stark spent the entirety of his small breakzing around in his room.


    The hotel staff came to check up on him, and after he paid the 2 million needed for the repair, he was given three days to leave his room as he was "banned" from ever buying a new one in here.


    It seemed like saying "some guys intruded my room to kill me" didn''t work as an excuse.


    Soon enough, Stark fell asleep.


    He wasn''t nervous about what could happen tomorrow, after all he was just meeting with Lana''s family since her father wanted to see him, nothing more, nothing less.


    {Lana Moonless: Goodnight, Stark.}


    He didn''t answer as he was already in the dream realm.


    ***


    The next day, Stark woke up feeling refreshed, then immediately got ready for the meeting by taking a shower and¡­ dressing up in the most average clothes ever.


    ''What am I supposed to do? I have nothing else,'' he shrugged, and he didn''t really feel the need to dress up for a mere meeting, even if it was with the ''Archer King'' or whatever his name was.


    ¡­


    {Lana Moonless: I''m waiting for you, pleasee down!}


    He did as he was told, putting everything that he owned inside of his [Spatial Inventory] and leaving his room for good: he wouldn''te back to it ever again.


    Stark made his way down to the lobby, and when he went outside¡­ he was greeted by a luxurious white car straight out of a movie.


    People around stopped just to observe the car and its owner, it was obvious that they were dirt rich to be able to afford such a thing.


    And as Stark guessed¡­ it was Lana that was currently driving.


    He didn''t say a word as he approached the car and opened the passenger door next to the driver seat, sitting down next to the blonde-haired girl.


    She was currently wearing a beautiful dress, looking both elegant and a bit intimidating at the same time.


    "Couldn''t have worn better clothes?" she raised her eyebrows while looking him from head to toe, analyzing his appearance.


    "Nah, plus I don''t really have the money!" he wanted to save cash, and he was content with his four set of clothing as they helped him get through for now, no reason to buy more.


    "Sigh¡­" Lana smiled for a bit as she heard his words, then immediately went back to serious mode when noticing that Stark was looking at her, "It''s fine I guess, but please make sure to act well, you''ll be meeting my mom, dad, and also my brother¡­"


    "Sureeee¡­ by the way you''re 16 and you can drive?" he questioned, they had just graduated from middle school and were all sixteen years old, meaning they weren''t real adults.


    "I mean¡­ you learn how to drive when you''re around 14, it''s normal," she responded, "Didn''t your parents teach you?"


    "¡­" Stark knew how to drive thanks to his past life, but he was pretty sure the ''Heartsouls'' family hadn''t even bother to sign him up for driving sses, meaning that he had no driving license, "I guess I do too¡­"


    "See!"


    And just like that, the two kept going toward Lana''s house.


    ***


    Luxury District, Ferburg


    "Are we there yet?"


    "For the hundredth fucking time, Stark, NO WE AREN''T!" Lana shouted before turning her face toward the window, "Oh, we actually are there!"


    They were in the luxury district, where all the most important and powerful families of the entirety of Ferburg resided.


    Around them were dozens of mansions, and soon enough¡­ Lana parked in the garden of one of the mansions, ten other cars next to it.


    "No space to park¡­" Lana groaned, and Stark just looked at her with a disgusted look, "W-what?"


    "Rich problems," he shrugged as he got off the car.


    The mansion before them was nothing short of grandeur with its towering pirs and intricate designs.


    At the front of it stood a massive moon that kept flickering, a weird aura around it.


    ''They realllyyyy want to show people who they are¡­'' but they weren''t the only ones as Stark noticed that some other mansions nearby also had text or some sort of sign indicating who they were by the entrance.


    "Just a neighborpetition to show who the greatest families are," Lana chuckled.


    Ferburg was one of the greatest countries in this world, not only because there were many powerful families in it, but also since there always seemed to be some sort of rift opening or problem that urred there: a perfect heaven for all those that sought thrill.


    Its poption was well over 50 million people, although the overall poption of this world was only of 1.2 billion because of the constant chaos and death, as well as the fact the outside world was filled with monsters.


    "Let''s go, they are waiting in the dining room!" Lana smiled, excited to present him to her family for some reason.


    But to be honest, all Stark could think about currently was how familiar this situation was to when he met his family when he first arrived in this world.


    Of course, he hadn''t known who they were for long, so he didn''t care, but it was just weird.


    And soon enough¡­ they reached the meeting room.


    "Mother, father, Aoki, I''m here!" she called out as she opened the giant wooden door.


    And that''s when Stark saw them: the members of the ''Moonless'' family.


    ''Hopefully no problems this time¡­'' he sighed as he advanced, revealing himself to the members, who all looked at him in the eyes, different expressions on their faces.

 Chapter 100: The Academies of Fellarburg

    "Hello!" Lana''s mother, Louise Moonless, gave Stark a warm smile as she fixed her gaze on him, she had long brown hair.


    "¡­" Aoki, the brother, didn''t say anything, and instead just red at Stark, he also had blond hair but didn''t seem to like him at all.


    Stark promptly ignored him and sat down on one of the avable chairs, which were both coincidentally right next to one other.


    "Nice to know my future son-inw hase here!" Arthur, the archer king,ughed.


    "DAD?!" but Lana didn''t seem to like the teasing.


    "¡­" Stark didn''t say anything, instead he just looked down at the table before him, it was made of pure ss, so he was able to see himself in it.


    He saw his face in the reflection and¡­ he noticed that he was sweating.


    ''¡­?'' he didn''t know why, but he had a bad feeling about this meeting.


    They seemed friendly, but beyond those smiles¡­ he saw something else.


    "Let''s start eating then we can talk," Arthurughed and pped both his hands, which resulted in a dozen butlers and maids to bring many tes filled with food on the table, "Enjoy your meal, Stark!"


    Safe to say, Stark didn''t touch his meal.


    And after half an hour since the meeting started¡­ Arthur finally talked about the REAL reason why they invited him.


    Of course, it was visible Lana didn''t know anything since she was happily smiling, not knowing why the atmosphere was so tense.


    "Oh¡­ and by the way, Stark," Arthur smiled, and the overwhelming blue aura around him suddenly grew ten times in size, from Stark''s position, all he could see was his face turning dark, while his eyes and mouth were burning with blue aura.


    He asked the question.


    "Have you thought about which academy you would like to go to?"


    Stark, feeling the weight of everyone''s gaze on him, hesitantly looked up from his now-empty te. His gaze met Arthur''s, who was waiting for his answer.


    Ferburg is home to four elite academies recognized as the pinnacle of education, even among others of this world: Rift Conqueror Academy, Crimson ss Academy, Imperial Academy and finally, All-Go-To Academy.


    Of course, as a domination ss user, Stark truly had no better way to improve his skills than by risking his life inside of rifts¡­ or joining that stupid domination association, but he had no ns to do that.


    "My daughter is going to the Rift Conqueror Academy, it is ranked top 1 in the entirety of Ferburg, and top 3 worldwide," Arthur boasted.


    "¡­"


    Inside this world, the ''ss Showcase'', which was the event where Stark conquered the [City Ruins], didn''t only serve as a start for your ssifier career, but also to show your potential to other parties.


    Depending on how well you did inside of it, you would receive invitations to academies, guilds and even associations.


    And Stark¡­ well¡­ even though he was the one to conquer the rift, he hadn''t received any sort of invitations.


    He couldn''t deny there was a small appeal to it, but he was pretty content with how he was doing currently, and there was pretty much no way for him to attend¡­


    The reason was simple:


    First, you need to be part of a big family, or prove your worth inside of rifts to be able to attend to one of them, which would be impossible for Stark since everyone knew that he was the ck sheep of his family.


    And second¡­ well¡­ there is a tuition fee, obviously, needless to say Stark would rather spend his money buying items that would actually benefit him, or ingredients now that he was an alchemist.


    But¡­


    "Would you like to attend an academy, Stark Heartsouls?" Arthur grinned, looking at the boy in the eyes, "I think you deserve it¡­!"


    "¡­" Stark had a perplexed expression on his face, "Sorry, but I have no way to prove my strength, and the tuition is way too expensive."


    "Oh yes, the tuition for these academies vary, but for the top, it is roughly around 20 to 25 million rher coins¡­" he nodded, which almost made Stark choke, this would be enough to buy a decent house or even a legendary/mythical equipment.


    By now, Stark and Arthur were the only ones that spoke, the rest just looked at them both engage in this conversation.


    The All-Go-To Academy is the best diverse academy in Ferburg, it epts any and all sses, meaning that even those not specialized in close range could benefit in attending.


    The Imperial Academy stood as the pinnacle of educational resources, it is for people who would rather stay in the back and use their brains rather than fight and risk their lives.


    The Crimson ss Academy is a bit of a special case as it only epts the top three sses in this world: Soul Wielder, Magus and Alchemist, they are considered the best as they hold the strongest individuals; any person from a different ss that attempts to ess it, no matter their potential and strength, wouldn''t be epted.


    They only want the elite of the elite, basically.


    And as for thest and final academy that was considered the ''top'' of Ferburg¡­


    It was the Rift Conqueror academy, and although this one epted any and all sses as long as you were strong, it was still the one with the highest standards, and the most difficult to enter.


    Removing the 25 million rher coin tuition fee, there were also the many other ssifiers there, and showing any signs of weakness could result in you being taken over by them, or even getting kicked out if you make a mistake.


    "We do not need failures" is their slogan, and it results in hundreds if not thousands of people getting suspended/expulsed every year, they don''t even refund the tuition, and it is even said there is a 95% failure rate as the majority of students quit (if they don''t just die).


    Getting suspended from this academy or quitting also goes on your record, meaning that it would result in most good guilds/groups not wanting anything to do with you: you would have to start from scratch again.


    It was a risk many were willing to take though¡­ because if you ever survived the two years and graduated, you were not only guaranteed sess, but also strength and connections to back it up.


    "Stark¡­ do you want to attend the Rift Conqueror Academy?" Arthur gave a chilling smile to Stark as he suddenly asked the question he had invited him over for.

 Chapter 101: An Offer From the Archer King

    "Stark¡­ do you want to attend the Rift Conqueror Academy?" Arthur suddenly smiled while speaking to the boy.


    He had already expected something like that the moment he began to talk about academies, but ''Rift Conqueror'' was the top 1 in Ferburg, and considered the top 3 in the world.


    "¡­" Stark looked at the blond-haired archer for a few seconds before sighing, "I don''t have the money or talent to attend."


    Of course, thetter was a lie since he was confident in his abilities to dominate others using the domination ss, but the money part was true.


    "Ohoh~ but I have seen you fight inside that rift, Stark, and I can promise you that you have everything you need to attend," he nodded, reminding Stark that Arthur was the leader of the crimson moon squad (although he never participates, he had just formed the team), and so that meant he knew Stark participated.


    He knew that the person before him was the bunny-masked man everyone was talking about, and he would make sure to take advantage of that.


    "Dad, you want him to attend with me, don''t you?" Lana pouted, suddenly speaking for the first time, "I don''t need protection!"


    "Princess~ it''s not about you or anything, I just feel like granting such a strong person ess to a way to get stronger is a good thing, your rtionship with him can go the way you want it to go¡­"


    She blushed at thest few words, but stayed silent.


    "I still don''t have money," Stark shrugged, confident that this would be enough to let him off the hook.


    ''To be honest¡­ it can''t be that bad¡­'' he thought, plus attending such a big school would mean the possibility to get not only stronger, but also ess better rifts.


    The 95% failure rate didn''t scare him at all.


    And maybe, just maybe, there was another domination user hiding among the crowd? After all he knew that some others existed thanks to the domination association.


    But of course, the 25 million fee was still too much, so he obviously didn''t n to go.


    Or at least, that''s what he thought.


    "Oh, but it''s fine, Stark, we can pay your tuition fee for you," Arthur smiled, his tone indicating that he had ulterior motives.


    "DAD?!" Lana mmed her fists against the table, lucky she didn''t have much strength as an archer or else it would have been destroyed, "You''re going to pay for his tuition?!"


    Louise and Aoki seemed to already know about this, so the two of them just stared at the conversation with nk expressions.


    "Princess¡­" the aura around Arthur became nauseating all of a sudden, it was one of the perks of [Focus]: the ability to sense the intentions of someone, and this meant that whatever the archer king wanted from him was no good, "Of course it won''t be free¡­"


    Stark raised an eyebrow, suspicious of Arthur''s sudden generosity, "And what do you want in return for paying my tuition fee?" he asked cautiously.


    Arthur chuckled, his blue eyes glinting with amusement, "Actually nothing¡­ but there is one small problem¡­"


    ''Here we go,'' Stark sighed, he knew there was a twist.


    Arthur ced a weird device that resembled a watch in the middle of the table, and after pressing on a button, several holographic pictures appeared.


    "Rift Conqueror has no admission test, the only way to attend is to prove your worth," he began exining, showing the image of a rift portal, "And well¡­ if you want to attend and for me to pay the tuition, you need to do one simple thing¡­"


    "And that is¡­?"


    Arthur grabbed one of the holographic pictures and increased its size, it was the picture of a cave in the middle of nowhere, and at the end of it¡­ a closed rift could be seen.


    "This rift was found recently¡­" his tone became serious, almost as if he wanted to sell something to Stark.


    "I can already see where this is going, you don''t even need to tell me¡­" Stark groaned and interrupted the archer king while he was still exining.


    "HEY ASSHOLE, DON''T INTERRUPT FATHER," Aoki suddenly took out his bow and pointed it at Stark.


    But Stark wasn''t impressed.


    They had revealed their true intentions the moment the word academy and rift was spoken.


    "¡­?" Lana looked around, confused as to why the atmosphere had be like that.


    ''They are using her rtionship with me to trick her¡­'' Stark internallyughed, they seemed like good parents, but oh well, he was wrong.


    "So you want me to go to this rift and conquer it, that''s what you want, don''t you?" Stark smirked as he mmed his fist against the table, but just using a bit of his aura was enough to crack the ss.


    Arthur raised an eyebrow at the damage Stark had caused, but continued his exnation. "Yes, that''s correct. If you can conquer this rift, not only will you gain entry to the Rift Conqueror Academy, but you will also receive a generous sum of money for your trouble."


    "So basically¡­" the aura around Stark became overwhelming, he wasn''t joking anymore, "You want me to do YOUR dirty work =)?"


    "Dad, what is happening?" Lana titled her head while asking her family, "Why would you need Stark to do that¡­?"


    "Princess~ we just need to see if he is worthy of entering the academy, that is all!"


    Arthur without even waiting for Stark to say anything else pulled out the third holographic image, and on it he could see an arrow with a white heart at the edge of it, as well as a powerful aura surrounding it.


    "We need you to bring the ''Arrows of Serria'', that is all we ask," Arthur looked at Stark, "And if you do that¡­"


    He clicked on a watch that was on his wrist, and a suitcase suddenly appeared on the cracked table, it was full of money, "We will not only pay your tuition but also give you 5 million rher coins, meaning this is a 30 million rher coins mission."


    "Go fuck yourself," Stark flipped him off with not a single moment of hesitation, he wouldn''t be sold like that by money.


    If he wanted, he could go to another rift by himself and get all the items he wanted to be rich, he didn''t need all that bullshit.


    Lana still seemed quite shocked of whatever just happened, "Father! What the fuck is happening?" she actually started to be mad, "You ask MY friend to do your work?"


    And although Stark was grateful to her for getting mad for him¡­ he still decided to leave.


    "It was nice to know you, Arthur," Stark got up from his chair and began heading toward the exit.


    "Are you sure, kid? This rift may be more difficult than the one you previously went through, but it also means a greater chance to get experience."


    "If I want experience i''ll just go somewhere else, just hire somebody else to do the work, shouldn''t be difficult with all the cash."


    "Well¡­ that is true, but the ''Arrows of Serria'' are guarded by one of the ''Godless Demon''s'' apostles¡­" Arthur scratched his chin, seemingly undisturbed by Stark''s behavior.


    "Quit it dad, Stark won''t ept such a request!" Lana crossed her arm.


    But no¡­ Stark stopped in his tracks as he had heard something that made him excited.


    The reason was simple: that old man just mentioned a godless demon apostle.


    And that meant¡­


    ''I need toplete the ApostleDex,'' it was his chance to clear one of the remaining 13 squares.

 Chapter 102: Conquer a Rift for Money?

    Suddenly, Stark turned around and went to sit back on his chair again, "I may be interested," he said, which brought a smile to Arthur, and a shocked expression to Lana''s face.


    Stark didn''t want to be used for money or to get items, but oh boy he wouldn''t let go of a chance to fight a godless demon apostle.


    After all he still had 13 more to defeat beforepleting his ApostleDex.


    And honestly, he REALLY wanted toplete it.


    ''I can kill an apostle, get experience, money, and prove myself, this is a deluxebo!''


    His ego had been too big to ept it previously as it was straight up disrespectful, but now adding something that TRULY benefited him because it was unique meant he could go in without issues.


    "Tell me all the information, old man," he sighed.


    "I knew you wouldn''t let me down, kid," Arthur smirked, seemingly thinking that money truly could buy anyone.


    Meanwhile, Lana just sighed, "I really can''t understand how you guys think..."


    She hadn''t expected Stark to change his opinion after acting so offended, but maybe something interested him in her dad''s speech.


    In the end, she just stayed quiet and looked at Stark and her dad.


    Thetter clicked on the watch again, and another row of holographic images and text appeared.


    "This watch has everything you need to know about your mission, bring us the arrows as proof that youpleted it and we will respect our promises," Arthur slid the watch on the table, and Stark grabbed it with a swift motion.


    "..." he looked at the object for a few seconds.


    Maybe this was a trap, maybe he was making a mistake, but honestly, it was up to him to judge whether he wanted to go or not, so he epted it.


    "I guess that is all for now, the next time we meet is when you bring us those arrows," Arthur smiled and he pointed at the exit door.


    ''Or never...'' Stark thought as he smiled back, it was visible in the family''s expression that there was a huge chance Stark wouldn''te back, yet they didn''t seem to care.


    "See ya..." Stark waved from behind as he opened the diner room''s door and left.


    "O-oh, let me apany him," Lana wanted to follow after him to talk, she honestly didn''t like whatever was happening.


    But...


    "Sit down, dear," Louise, her mother, stopped her, "It''s rare we eat with the entire family present, let''s take advantage of such a situation shall we not?"


    It was now clear that they didn''t want her to approach him for now, so she justplied, and instead just hoped Stark woulde out on top, like he always did until now.


    ***


    Stark found himself outside the mansion with the giant flickering moon at the entrance.


    ''Of course they didn''t even bother to hire someone to bring me back home, but oh well, i''m banned from the hotel so it''s fine...''


    He would need to find an apartment or somewhere else to stay, but he just wanted to read about the information he had gotten from Arthur for now.


    Public ces were out of the question since the watch''s images and texts were disyed for anyone to see.


    And so he just decided to go in an empty alley in an empty street, then summoned one of his clones to watch the nearby surroundings, as there was only one way people coulde in from.


    Luckily, there was nobody, and he was able to ce the watch on the ground and activate it using a button on the side.


    And suddenly... all the information he needed appeared.


    ¡­


    [Mission Rift:] Sierra''s Death Path


    [Type:] One-ssifier Run


    [Difficulty:] Level 50-75 Nightmare-Level Rift


    [Note:] There is no information for this rift other than that it is a ''One-ssifier Run'' type, meaning that only one ssifier at a time can enter to attempt and beat it, seven people have been sent already, but none havee back since.


    We have also been sent small messages by those inside before their demise, and they all usually said two sentences: "Avoid the traps" and "Don''t get hit by the arrows".


    ¡­


    This was pretty much all, and the only other image Stark could see was the one with the cave, where the closed rift was in.


    But he understood that it wasn''t because it was closed that people couldn''t enter, but because there was already someone inside (though they had died since obviously).


    "One-ssifier Run" are one of the most hated types of rifts ever, and most people don''t even attempt to go through them if they didn''t already know they had the level to beat them (and even that couldn''t guarantee sess).


    This was harsh for Stark, but when he thought about it¡­ it didn''t change much.


    Since the beginning, even inside the Domination Trial, there were always people beside him, but when he tried to conquer the [City Ruins] and [Shadow Valley], he had done itpletely alone.


    Meaning that such a rift wouldn''t change his strategy much.


    Of course, the fact that the rmended level was 60-75, as well as the fact that it was Nightmare-Level meant it would be harder than anything else Stark attempted.


    But somehow¡­ he was still excited.


    His training had helped him improve his movements, as well as unlock new perks for his abilities, but strangely enough, he felt confident.


    Plus he had gotten the ''Alchemist'' ss, meaning that he could use his potions to gain small advantages.


    ''I need to stock up on ingredients¡­'' he believed, already setting up his strategy.


    But as soon as he did that¡­


    Another giant panel came from the watch.


    [To the person reading this, this rift is set up in the mid-point to Olympia, which is the country next to Ferburg, we have already reserved your train ticket, so you have until tomorrow to prepare!]


    ''That means that¡­ I''ll be entering this rift by tomorrow night¡­'' Stark let out a quickugh, they had just told him and expected him to go do it so quickly?


    But that also meant that by tomorrow night¡­ he would enter his hardest rift yet.


    ¡­


    (Back at the dining room of the Moonless Mansion)


    "Father," Aoki spoke while grabbing a piece of meat, "Do you believe that the boy will be able to bring the arrows and defeat the boss?"


    They had given him this mission since they believed he had a chance toplete it, but it was the same for the seven others, yet they had all failed.


    Arthur didn''t speak for a few seconds, then looked at his son with a smile on his face, "It depends on the boy''s skills¡­"


    "But if you were to gauge his chances, what survival rate would you give him," Aoki smiled back, seemingly just as sadistic as his father.


    "Hm~" Arthur scratched his chin, "Although I do believe there is no such thing as luck in rifts¡­ I think¡­"


    He kept thinking every few seconds, actively trying to analyze Stark''s chance of survival.


    And once the entire family was looking at the head with their eyebrows raised.


    He finally said it.


    "I would give him a 6% chance ofpleting that rift¡­" Arthur smiled before looking back at the tes before him.


    "¡­?!" hearing that, Lana was astonished, doesn''t that mean they sent Stark to his death?


    After all¡­ a 6% chance of survival was nothing!


    "But oh well¡­ you never know, he might surprise us¡­" the Archer King shrugged before continuing to eat, his expression showing that he truly believed Stark would note back, "The ssiTop event of Ferburg is also happening in 3 weeks, so we might as well just forget about him if he doesn''te back in a week¡­"


    And so just like that, the Moonless Family kept enjoying their meal (except for Lana).

 Chapter 103: The VIP Express

    This was his goal, or at least that''s what the screen on the watch asked him to do.


    Already one day had passed since he had spoken to the Moonless Family and given this weird mission in exchange for 30 million rher coins, and also a chance to prove himself to join the ''Rift Conqueror Academy''.


    Obviously, he didn''t spend yesterday doing nothing, instead he went out to buy enough ingredients to craft 20 potions of Strength/Speed, and 30 potions of regeneration.


    And this meant¡­


    [Alchemy Inventory: x20 Potion of Strength, x20 Potion of Speed, x40 Potion of Regeneration]


    He was currently waiting inside of the train station, the train heading toward Olympia arriving very soon.


    Apparently they had given him the ''VIP'' express train, which travelled at around 400km per hour, meaning that he would arrive at Olympia in less than five hours.


    ''They really want me toplete that mission¡­ or die¡­'' he added that sentence for a reason: there was no way 7 people they had hired beforehand failed, yet they believed that some random kid with a good talent could win.


    All his items and equipments were inside of his [Spatial Inventory], but he was currently using:


    -The Crystalheart Band


    -The Soulbearer''s Embrace


    -The Purgatory Shadow Ring


    -Mirror Master''s Crystal Shard, he had never used this one before as he had forgotten about it (and also because the required level is 20), but basically¡­


    [Special Perk:] You can use this crystal to cast a giant ss shard that deals incredible damage to one enemy, there is a cooldown of ten minutes between each use, and it is rmended to infuse the shard into a ring for better use.


    And finally¡­ Judicator''s ck Wings, as they gave him a boost in speed with the [Dash] perk.


    He had equipped everything he had (that he didn''t sell) except for the Warrior''s Cloak as it was just annoying to wear.


    ~ATTENTION PASSENGERS, THE VIP EXPRESS IS ARRIVING, IN DIRECTION OF OLYMPIA!~


    There weren''t many people in the station, possibly since this was a line only for the rich and powerful people of Ferburg, but he didn''t mind.


    ~FWISH~


    As the train arrived and stopped, he stepped aboard and found his own private cabin,plete with afortable chair and a small table.


    He had noticed that some people were giving him weird looks, maybe they didn''t expect a moner'' that dresses in moner'' clothes to be here?


    In the end, it didn''t matter as Stark sat down on the chair and ced the watch Arthur gave him on the table.


    ~ATTENTION, PASSENGERS, THE TRAIN IS ABOUT TO START, PLEASE ENJOY YOUR RIDE!~


    Stark nced out of the window as the train started moving, watching the scenery blur past him.


    ''It indeed is really fast¡­'' only a minute had passed, yet the train had already reached its peak speed of 400KM per hour, he couldn''t even enjoy anything after that since it was just too fast.


    But at the same time¡­


    ~BEEP~


    The watch on the table suddenly activated by itself, and a single screen appeared in front of Stark.


    [You have sessfully entered the train to Olympia!]


    [Time left before arrival: 3 hours 52 minutes]


    [Please get off the train when the watch tells you to, the directions of the rift will be given shortly afterward.]


    ''¡­'' Stark sighed, at least he wasn''t left in the dark, Arthur really seemed to have had everything nned for him to reach his destination safely.


    As the scenery whizzed by outside the window, Stark couldn''t shake off the unease that gnawed at him.


    ''If seven people supposedly stronger than I am went through that rift and didn''te back¡­ it means there is a trap somewhere¡­''


    First of all, what were those ''Arrows Of Sierra''? And why did the Moonless (a family of archer) want them so badly?


    Of course, it was always good to have different types of arrows as an archer, and even better to have unique ones with special perks.


    But¡­ what could they be¡­


    The train ride seemed endless as Stark''s mind raced with thoughts and questions about the mission ahead.


    [Time left before arrival: 2 hours 18 minutes]


    The time passed smoothly, and Stark had nothing better to do than use his phone (wifi was included) or just check out his weapons and equipment.


    [Time left before arrival: 54 minutes]


    He could hear the joyful talks andughs of the people inside their cabins, or just on the train''s public seats.


    ''Lucky them¡­''


    And after a while¡­


    He arrived at his destination.


    [You have arrived, leave the train¡­]


    ''¡­'' the closer he got to the rift, the bigger that feeling inside his stomach became, yet Stark, with a nk expression, still got up from his sit.


    But that''s when he realized¡­ that the train was still going, and that there was still well over an hour of travel before arriving at the terminus station.


    ''¡­'' Stark''s eyes widened as he realized what this meant, and his pupils slowly shifted back toward the watch as the screen changed.


    [Jump off the train, you have arrived.]


    ''Sigh¡­ this better be worth it,'' he got out of his cabin, then headed toward the emergency exit, which was a door that you were only supposed to open if the train stops and there is an issue.


    "Hello sir, what are you doing-" an attendant smiled as she saw Stark, but that smile immediately vanished as Stark used his aura to forcefully kick the door, opening it abruptly.


    "SIR, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING?" there was no danger for the passengers on board to open this door, the only real problem now was that he would need to jump from a speeding train that was going at 400KM per hour.


    Other passengers from rich and powerful families heard themotion and came to see what was happening.


    But Stark, not wanting to show his face more than he already had¡­ suddenly jumped.


    "SIR?????!!!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK?" he heard them shout from behind, but the moment he jumped out, the train was already going so fast that he couldn''t hear or see them anymore.


    ~FWIP, THUD~


    "-1837!" he rolled on the ground as he took damage, but thankfully enough he was still rtively okay.


    [Good job on jumping! Now please follow the arrow!]


    And suddenly, another panel appeared in front of Stark, it was a 3D red arrow that was meant to show him where he was supposed to go.


    [Distance to Rift: 3.5KM]


    He wiped the dust from his pants and shirt, then began walking toward the direction the arrow was pointing.


    ''Let''s get this over with¡­''

 Chapter 104: Semi-Danger Zone

    [Please follow the arrow!]


    Stark had been walking for around five minutes, and now that the train was gone, his surroundings became eerily quiet, there were no people in view, and no monsters either after all, he was in the middle of nowhere, with nondmark other than that red arrow that pointed toward some random direction he was supposed to follow.


    [Stark HP: 7463/9300]


    He had received around 1800HP of damage since he jumped out of a train going at 400KM per hour, and there were some bruises on his elbows and knees, small drops of blood pouring out from them, but it felt quite numb to Stark, maybe since he had received injuries that were much worse?


    ''Maybe I could use that...'' he thought as he opened his [Spatial Inventory] and pulled out...


    Two [Potions of Regeneration]!


    Each of them were supposed to give him back 1000HP, and he had never tried it, meaning this was a perfect opportunity to do that.


    He opened the two bottles with the green liquid and started gulping them at the same time using both hands.


    ~SLURP, GULP~


    The potion was rather sweet, and it felt great to drink, almost as if his entire body was recovering from that.


    And it was.


    "+1000! +1000!"


    The cuts on his elbows and knees began to slowly disappear as he drank the potions, and by the end of it, they werepletely gone.


    [Stark HP: 9300/9300]


    ''Works really well... and I still have 38 of those,'' Stark smiled, of course they couldn''t save him from a one-shot attack, and using them during fight was pretty much suicide, but outside of that it was fine.


    Or so he thought... but he would only realize thatter.


    [Distance to Rift: 1.1KM]


    Stark was currently in deserted ins, no trees in view or even flowers, it almost felt like this part of the world was... deste.


    ''I mean... duh, I jumped out of the train, meaning that I must be in some random ce almost no one visits...''


    [Distance to Rift: 1KM]


    And suddenly... far ahead of him... he could see that cave he had seen in the images from the watch.


    [Rift in view, advance cautiously...]


    Much like the ruins of the [City Ruins] rift, these monument that held rifts seemed to appear out of nowhere alongside their portals.


    Plus it wasn''t even a cave, just the start of one, and the opened portal at the end made it impossible to go further, meaning there wasn''t even anything beyond it.


    [Distance to Rift: 400M]


    ''...''


    [Distance to Rift: 200M]


    ''Wait a damn minute...'' Stark remembered something.


    [Distance to Rift: 100M]


    ''Why would the watch ask me to advance cautiously when there is nothing-'' he remembered the words he had seen on the watch.


    And suddenly...


    ~BOOM~


    A crimson panel appeared in front of him as he heard the explosion ahead.


    Crimson meant that it was his own status window, not the watch''s.


    [You have left the safe zone!]


    And at the same time...


    "GREEAAAOORRR~~~" he heard a giant roar, and a lizard-like creature at least 10 meters in size got out of the ground.


    [You are currently in a semi-danger zone (meaning only a few amounts of monsters wille out!)]


    The lizard was big, with dark green shells and patterns all over its body, it had sharp teeth that already had saliva drooping from them after noticing the human.


    ''...'' Stark got ready to fight, the cave wasn''t that far anymore, so as long as he could gain space slowly, he would reach his destination without any issues.


    [Name: Sneaky Lizard]


    [Level: 40]


    [HP: 54000]


    [Strength: 1127]


    [Stamina: 349]


    [Speed: 544]


    [Defense: 906]


    [Skills: Bite, Scale Armor, Lizard Call, Roar, Sonic Beam, Hide...]


    ''...'' it was alone, and its level was so low that it wasn''t even a threat to Stark, even though he was only level 25.


    "AURA SMASH," he sent his two fists toward the lizard, who obviously wasn''t able to avoid thanks to its very low speed.


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    "-32823! -34761!"


    Needless to say it didn''t survive this attack.


    [You have in one "Sneaky Lizard lv40", gained 36619EXP!]


    [Distance to Rift: 60M]


    He was getting extremely close to the portal now, and he could already sense the crackling aura in the air that surrounded it, as well as that feeling that wanted him to head inside.


    [Distance to Rift: 40M]


    But...


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    A session of explosions could be heard around him and...


    "BITE!" a lizard that was using the [Hide] skill to camouge in the ground suddenly jumped toward Stark.


    "Focus..." but the boy calmly stepped to the left as he had seen that attacking from a kilometer away.


    ~PUNCH, PUNCH~


    "-29837! -28904!"


    Two quick punches to the face ended the lizard''s life before it could do anything else.


    But by now, he was already surrounded by at least seven of them.


    ''Sigh... let''s get this over with...'' he advanced toward the portal, now only 30 meters ahead of him, ready to get rid of those who had the balls to try and attack him.


    ...


    [You have in one "Sneaky Lizard lv40", gained 35829EXP!]


    [You have in one "Sneaky Lizard lv40", gained 34914EXP!]


    [You have in one "Sneaky Lizard lv40", gained 35976EXP!]


    Only three of the lizards attempted to attack Stark, but they were all killed quite easily, resulting in the rest of them to not even approach the boy anymore.


    ''It was not worth it'' was what they thought, and so they all left.


    ''...'' Stark didn''t mind if his experience points left, after all he had something much more promising in front of him...


    [Distance to Rift: 10 meters]


    He was now inside of the cave, and before him was the white portal.


    All the previous ones were of crimson color, yet this one was white somehow, maybe since it was from a different type?


    In the end, it didn''t matter, and so Stark stepped forward, traversing the rift that was supposed to be his hardest one yet.


    At the same time, the watch began to shake violently, and a screen appeared.


    [You have arrived to your destination, good luck on the mission!]


    And...


    ~BEEEEEPP~


    The watch suddenly broke, it didn''t explode, but it had malfunctioned and couldn''t be used anymore.


    But it didn''t matter since Stark''s already now fully inside of the portal.


    ...


    ~FWISH~


    After the nauseating feeling of being transported to another dimension ended, Stark opened his eyes again.


    And he was greeted by three white panels.


    [Wee to ''Sierra''s Death Path'']


    [Level 60-75 Nightmare-Level Rift]


    [Don''t get hit by the arrows, and have fun!]

 Chapter 105: Serrias Death Path and the Arrows

    Behind him was¡­ nothing?


    There was a ck line, and beyond it nothing could be seen, almost as if the limit of the world was set.


    [Wee to ''Sierra''s Death Path'']


    [Level 60-75 Nightmare-Level Rift]


    ''Sure¡­'' he sighed as he shook his head and began walking.


    Inparison to the other rifts where there was somewhat of a safe zone at the beginning where he could gather with others.


    This one was different, first of all since there was nobody else, but also because he was already ced inside of an area.


    [Level 65 Area: ''The Beginning of Death'']


    The silence was eerie, broken only by the asional rustle of leaves in the wind.


    Inparison to the forst inside of the ''Shadow Valley'' though, it wasn''tpletely filled with trees, instead the stone path Stark was on didn''t have any obstacles on it, meaning that he could advance safely, while the forest was on the edges.


    But of course, it was a nightmare-level, it couldn''t be this easy.


    After only taking 10 steps in the direction of the exit of the first area¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Behind one of the dark trees near the stone path¡­ appeared a white figure with ck eyes.


    "M¡­Moooveeee~" it spoke in a spooky and distant voice, even though it was so close to Stark.


    The figure''s body waspletely white, except for a pair of ck wings, and its ck eyes that seemed to absorb the light around them.


    ''¡­'' Stark stared at the figure for a few seconds, expecting it to be a monster he would have to fight.


    But it didn''t move.


    "Perception¡­" he activated his skill as he wanted to know what that was, its gaze on him making him feel uneasy for some reason.


    ¡­


    [Name: Victim of Sierra]


    [Level: 65]


    [HP: 10000]


    [Strength: 1]


    [Stamina: 1]


    [Speed: 1]


    [Defense: 1]


    [Skills: Soul''s Suckle, Despair¡­]


    ¡­


    Without dy, Stark assessed the situation.


    The appearance of the ''Victim of Sierra'' was perplexing, as its stats suggested it was a creature with no offensive capabilities, or any capabilities at all to be honest.


    However, Stark''s instincts warned him that there was more to this encounter than it seemed.


    "AURA SMASH," he sent one fist toward the monster, expecting it to die instantly thanks to his high damage against its low defense.


    But¡­


    The fist passed right through the ghostly creature, not even fazing it as it kept looking at Stark, the dark vortex of despair in its eyes not stopping.


    ''Huh¡­'' Stark decided to keep walking, if he can''t hit it and it''s not attacking there was no reason to try and fight it.


    But¡­ after taking three steps.


    ~FWISH~


    Another ''Victim of Sierra'' appeared, peeking from yet another dark tree.


    ''¡­?''


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    In a matter of seconds, dozens¡­ no¡­ HUNDREDS of ''Victims of Sierra'' appeared from behind a tree one after the other.


    By the end of their sudden appearance, every single tree around Stark had one of these monsters behind it, peeking at him.


    The forest was now filled with an eerie atmosphere as the ''Victims of Sierra'' surrounded Stark from all sides, their ck eyes fixed on him.


    Despite their seemingly harmless appearance, a feeling of unease crept up Stark''s spine as he realized the sheer number of these creatures that had materialized out of thin air.


    Plus he was in a nightmare-level rift, who could say they wouldn''t suddenly be able to attack him?


    Which was why Stark increased his cautiousness by a mile while he kept advancing through the stone path, just wanting to get out of this area as soon as possible.


    A few minutes passed¡­ but nothing happened.


    More ''victims'' would keep appearing, yet none of them would do anything.


    [Don''t get hit by the arrows]


    This panel suddenly appered before him again, it was the phrase that all the previous ssifiers who attempted to conquer this rift said.


    And the moment Stark turned his eyes toward the ''Victims of Sierra'' again, making sure none of them had any weapons in hand¡­


    ~SHHH¡­ FWISH~


    In the distance, the faint sound of an arrow cutting through the air reached Stark''s ears thanks to [Focus] and its new ability to detect ambushes.


    [Avoid it]


    He turned his gaze in the direction he felt the auraing from, and right before his eyes was a white arrow with a white heart on its edge, a string of aura surrounding it.


    ''It''s¡­ an ''Arrow of Sierra''!?'' his eyes widened as he saw it so close to his face.


    [AVOID IT!]


    Time seemed to slow down as another panel suddenly appeared, doubling down on its warning.


    But what scared Stark the most¡­ was that it was not the end of it.


    [AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT AVOID IT]


    Hundreds of crimson panels surrounded his view as the arrow got closer.


    He had understood with the first one that he needed to make sure not to be touched, but after all of this¡­ even being close wasn''t an option.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" he rolled to the side, avoiding the arrow which passed right through him.


    ''What the fuck¡­'' he looked back at the ground where the arrow fell, and some sort of white mist was in its ce as the arrow had exploded shortly after hitting the ground.


    [Do not inhale the mist, do not be touched by the arrow, or else¡­]


    ''¡­?''


    [Game over]


    And suddenly, the panel disappeared as an arrow came shooting through it, appearing before Stark at an incredible speed.


    ~DUCK~


    Stark crouched to avoid the ''Arrow of Sierra'' again.


    "Perception!" he tried to analyze the arrow before it fell to the ground, but it was too fast for him to discover anything.


    Meaning¡­


    ''If I want to find out what these things are¡­ I need to grab one while its in the air,'' this was so risky that most people wouldn''t do it.


    And this time, even Stark hesitated, he had done soem crazy stuff during his stay in this world, and risking his life to do something stupid wasn''t that rare of an urence for him now, and yet¡­ this time for some reason he had a bad feeling.


    But if he wanted to survive this rift, he would need to know everything about it and its traps.


    And so he took a deep breath, closing his eyes and waiting for the next arrow toe at him, wanting to sense its aura and thus sharpening his senses as it was too fast to even see ite.


    ~FWISH~


    He heard the subtle noise of the arrow being attached to the string, and then being fired in his direction by an unknown entity.


    This time, it was either sess ot failure, and he didn''t even wanna think about kind of fate awaited him if he got hit or inhaled that white mist.


    ''Come at me,'' he opened his eyes suddenly as the arrow was centimeters away from his face, they were glowing with a crimson aura that indicated Stark was now more serious than ever.


    He would get it, it''s do or die now!

 Chapter 106: The Beginning of Death

    ''...''


    [AVOID IT]


    A panel appeared right next to Stark as he was standing still, ready to catch the arrow that was flying at him, only centimeters away from his face.


    The entity that was shooting them really wanted them to hit him somehow, and it only increased his theories as to what would happen if he were to get hit on inhale that white mist.


    "Focus, don''t let me down..." he mumbled as he focused his aura on his eyes and hands to be able to see the arrow slowly go toward him.


    And then...


    ~FWISH~


    Right as the arrow was in front of his eyes, ready to pierce him... Stark with lightning speed moved his right hand to grab the shaft.


    This essentially stopped the arrow''s momentum while it was now only millimeters away from piercing Stark between his two eyes.


    ''Phew...'' luckily, grabbing the arrow before it hit the ground or somebody didn''t activate its perk, meaning that Stark was safe for now...


    Without wasting a single second, he activated [Perception] and read the arrow''s status panel to learn more.


    ...


    [Item:] Arrow of Sierra


    [Type:] Arrow


    [Quality:] Perfect


    [Special Perk:] If this arrow hits you, you will be infected by the ''white mist'' and slowly turn into a ''Servant of Sierra'', basically... you''ll be a monster, the mist infects your brain and breaks your mind to transform you.


    [Note:] There is no known cure or way to resist the ''Arrow of Sierra'' once it hits you, so avoid it at all cost.


    ...


    ''Servant of Sierra...?'' this was a different name than the ''Victims of Sierra'', meaning that thetter must truly be monsters from this rift, while the servants would be humans that were hit.


    ~FWISH~


    He didn''t have too much time to think about it though as not just one, BUT THREE arrows came rushing at him.


    ''This little shit is really trying to get me...'' Stark sighed as he avoided all three arrows by taking a few steps.


    It seemed hard in the beginning, but now that he knew someone was trying to attack him, even when the arrows came from directions, he could still somehow sense and avoid them.


    Plus...


    [Avoid it]


    Focus on maximum level alert, so it would tell him every time an arrow wasing.


    Stark stored the [Arrow of Sierra] inside of his [Spatial Inventory] to keep it safe, then began running through the first area.


    He needed to get out of here quick since there was no saying these monsters behind the trees wouldn''t attack, and adding that to the constant firing of arrows would be terrible.


    Stark ran through the stone path as fast as he could, dodging arrows that came from the sky, the distance, from behind the trees and even sometimes from below.


    He understood now that Hell-Level rifts and Nightmare-Level ones are different worlds apart, thetter being at least 5 to 10 times harder.


    [Keep going.]


    Sometimes, the entity would fire up to 5 arrows at the same, in the hopes of tricking Stark, but he wouldfortably avoid them all, or use [Invincible Dodge] when it was just too close.


    And after a few minutes of running through the path and forest that seemed stretch forever, with no end to it...


    Stark encountered his first monster.


    "..." it didn''t roar or do anything for it''s entrance, instead it just jumped out of the right side of the forest with the ''Victims of Sierra'', and blocked Stark''s way.


    It was arge beast, and inparison to everything he had seen yet, its skin waspletely dark/grey, with only its eyes being white, void of pupils.


    "GRRAOOUUU~" the wolf-like beast stepped forward.


    ''Is it also under the influence of Sierra or just a normal monster...?''


    ...


    [Name: White Moon''s Werewolf]


    [Level: 65]


    [HP: 90000]


    [Strength: 1362]


    [Stamina: 1827]


    [Speed: 2174]


    [Defense: 891]


    [Skills: White Moon Transformation, White ws, Beam st, Red Fury...]


    ...


    After reading its name and status window, Stark instinctively looked up.


    The sky was pitch ck, its darkness looming over this entire rift.


    Yet somehow... there was still light, and it wasing from...


    A giant white moon.


    Its edges were moving like waves, and it was so big that it must have been extremely close to the ground, the moon taking well over half of the space in the sky while still being up.


    ''Werewolf of the white moon huh...'' Stark mumbled, after all it was indeed a full moon currently.


    The white moon was theplete opposite of the ck sun it seemed, as it didn''t try to corrupt you.


    Instead...


    ~FWISH~


    "WHITE CLAWS!" the werewolf suddenly dashed toward Stark while he was observing the location of the next arrow.


    Stark spotted the arrowing at him, and at the same time, with the calmest of expressions, summoned his crimson spears and sent them toward the monster, not even looking at it.


    ~DASH, DASH~


    The werewolf avoided the first two spears by dashing to the sides, but Stark predicted that and ced the final one right in front of the werewolf while it was still avoiding the first two.


    "-25727!" it hit it in the face, exploding one of its eyes and leaving a visible hole on its head.


    "..." meanwhile Stark used this momentum to spin and catch a second ''Arrow of Sierra'' in mid-air, ''The moment I catch who''s sending these... they''re dead...'' he groaned.


    "RED FURY!" the wolf had been humiliated, and so it used another skill, making itsst remaining eye burn with a crimson aura, there were no pupils so it looked like it was just set on fire.


    And then...


    "BEAM BLAST!" it opened its mouth, charging up a white attack that was on the verge of exploding.


    It grew more and more after each second, and it was almost as if the monster... was sucking up the power of the ''Victims of Sierra'' since the trail of aura that powered up the beam came from them.


    ~FWIIISHHHSHHH.... BOOOOOOM!!!~


    The werewolf its attack, its whole body visibly suffering from using it.


    This was an extremely powerful attack, yes, but in exchange, the werewolf would have to feel a lot of pain too.


    ''...'' Stark sighed as he avoided yet another arrow, ''CLONE FRENZY!''


    He wanted to end this quickly, as frankly, these arrows were beginning to seriously annoy him.


    "Let''s go, me" Stark pointed at the werewolf and its beam while summoning one of his clones, which immediately understood the situation.


    And so the two dashed toward the wolf, nning on facing the beam that could one-shot them both head on.

 Chapter 107: The White Moon Werewolves Ambush

    The beam of the werewolf was way more deadly than anything a mere level 65 mob could ever hope to achieve, meaning that there was some other power at hand, something much more powerful that aided it to be much stronger than it should be.


    Or maybe it was just since he was in a Nightmare-Level rift?


    ~CRASH, BOOM~


    The trees, the path, anything that came in contact with the beam, which seemed to never stop, would be destroyed.


    Even the ''Victims Of Sierra'' seemed to disappear when hit by the attack, although Stark believed that was only because the trees they were behind were cut.


    But even through that¡­


    ~FWISH~


    A multitude of arrows would still being at him and his clone, forcing them not only to avoid the beam at a hair length each time, but also put themselves at risk to not get hit by the arrows which could transform them into monsters.


    Yet, Stark noticed something: after every 10 second, the beam would diminish and flicker, meaning that the werewolf was gathering energy back.


    And Stark would use that opportunity.


    "AURA SMASH!" his clone sent two fists at the werewolf, who easily avoided them.


    [Red Fury] seemed to greatly enhance its speed, allowing it quite easily avoid both fists and spears the two Stark sent at him.


    ''Why is this fodder monster actually putting a challenge¡­?'' of course, without the [White Beam], it would of died in less than ten seconds, but now it was actually getting annoying.


    Plus, the fact the wolf was moving its head randomly, not even caring about aiming for Stark or the clone, meant that they were at higher risk of being hit.


    ~BOOM, FWISH~


    The werewolf swung its head, resulting in the beam rushing at Stark.


    ''¡­'' he was forced to crouch down as the beam passed above it.


    But at that very moment¡­


    An arrow was fired, one he hadn''t heard or been able to see early since he was too upied with the wolf.


    ''SHIT SHIT SHIT,'' he shouted as he saw it right in front of him.


    But¡­


    [Wings perk, activated!]


    ''DASH!'' he pped [Judicator''s ck Wings] in the opposite direction, granting him a boost and allowing him to move from the arrow''s path.


    ''Ok, now this is annoying,'' he gritted his teeth and looked at the werewolf with his eyes full of aura, ''I''m ending this shit.''


    He opened his [Spatial Inventory] and pulled out a [Potion of Speed] from it, then gulped it down, giving him a 10% speed boost.


    And so without even caring about the beam¡­ he dashed toward the wolf.


    The werewolf, surprised by Stark''s bold move, tried to redirect its beam towards him but failed as Stark swiftly evaded it.


    The clone followed close behind, providing a distraction for the monster.


    And before the werewolf could even realize what was happening, Stark was already behind it.


    "Goodbye," the boy smiled before grabbing the wolf''s jaw and closing its mouth while the beam was still being used.


    ~BOOOOOMM~


    "-93872!" the wolf''s head exploded instantly after being hit by its own attack.


    ''At least I know how to get rid of them easily now¡­'' he had found their weaknesses, now they wouldn''t be an issue in the future.


    [You have in "White Moon''s Werewolf lv65", gained 71982EXP!]


    [Experience: 223711/500000]


    He still had a long way before leveling up, but for now, his goal was to reach level 30 by the end of this rift, it shouldn''t be that hard after all if each monster would give him around 70K experience, although he couldn''t promise that the amount of experience needed wouldn''t increase way too much for him to reach.


    [Speed (+10%) effect: 3:48 remaining]


    He summoned back his clone, avoided another ''Arrow of Sierra'' more easily than before, then began dashing forward, really wanting to get out of this first path, since it had already been a nightmare (heh) for him even though he had only fought one enemy.


    ''I SEE IT,'' after running for a few more minutes, he finally saw the end of the path in the distance as the forest suddenly stopped, there was still around a kilometer of running, but he was close.


    And yet, as if to mock his hopes and dreams¡­ the rift summoned more problems to fuck him over.


    "GAROUUU~" not one, not two, hell not even 5, but 8 ''White Moon Werewolves suddenly appeared from behind the trees and blocked Stark''s path.


    Some also appeared from behind, and the rest stared at him from the darkness of the forest, ready to strike the moment they saw an opportunity that could end the human''s life in one blow.


    But they weren''t the only enemy¡­ as another type of monster appeared: the ''Shadow Stalkers''.


    They were creatures that lurked in the darkness, with glowing red eyes and razor-sharp teeth, they had human figures, but no head, instead¡­ their entire torso was reced by a giant mouth and a pair of eyeballs were located inside of that same mouth.


    ''Disgusting¡­'' Stark stepped back while activating [Perception].


    ¡­


    [Name: Shadow Stalkers]


    [Level: 64]


    [HP: 40000]


    [Strength: 1371]


    [Stamina: 1927]


    [Speed: 1473]


    [Defense: 1780]


    [Skills: Devouring Darkness, Shadow Meld, Morph, Assemble (STRONG TRANSFORMATION), Shadow Limbs¡­]


    ¡­


    Counting them all, Stark noticed there was 5 of them, each hiding in the darkness of the forest as well, it was in their names after all, and they seemed to be more of the ''ambush'' type.


    ''Final battle before I can get away of this shithole¡­'' Stark sighed while summoning one of his clones and also avoiding another arrow.


    It had actually be muscle memory for him to avoid these arrows, and he didn''t even bother to act annoyed anymore with them being sent relentlesly.


    ~FWISH~


    His clone also avoided the arrows quite easily, only moving its head to the right when one came rushing at it.


    But now¡­ he needed to face against the 14 monsters surrounding him.


    ''¡­'' the clone got in position before he did, and he followed right after.


    "AURA SMASH!" he sent two fists at two ''Shadow Stalkers'' that were hiding in the distance, maybe believing that he couldn''t see them, but too bad, Stark could see auras.


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    "-33847! -34982!"


    Both were hit from the attack, taken aback as they didn''t expect the human to be able to detect them.


    But this wasn''t enough to kill them, even with their low HPpared to all other monsters their level.


    ''At least I know two of them only need one more attack¡­'' he smiled.


    And now that he had attacked¡­ all the other monsters rushed at him.


    "WHITE CLAWS, RED FURY, WHITE BEAM!"


    Three of the wolves used [White ws] and rushed at Stark and his clone, also activating [Red Fury] to increase their speed, while the rest all immediately activated [White Beam].


    And this meant¡­ that 6 of the werewolves had opened their mouth, charging up their deadly attacks.


    Even Stark knew that this was bad, he wouldn''t be able to avoid 6 beaming at him from all directions, all of their powers being charged by the hundreds of ''Victims of Sierra'' in the forest.


    And so that meant¡­ he needed to find a solution in the following ten seconds, or it would be over.

 Chapter 108: The Shadow Stalkers

    ''...?'' the clone turned its head toward the smiling Stark, and almost immediately understood what it needed to do.


    They were surrounded by 9 [White Moon Werewolves], 6 of which were currently charging up a [White Beam] attack while the other three tried to waste Stark''s time with close-rangedbat.


    Under normal circumstances, it would be almost impossible to get away, even while knowing the weakness of the werewolves...


    And yet...


    Stark''s clone immediately put its hands together, then drew a circle in a location where many werewolves were currently located.


    And then... it hit the palm if its right hand with a fist of its left.


    ~FWISHH~


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!" the skill immediately activated once the clone did that, and the giant crimson sparkle in the sky grew more and more above the heads of five werewolves.


    They really wanted to activate their beams, so they didn''t even bother to get out of harm''s way...


    And as after only a few seconds, before the monsters could even channel their energy...


    ~FIOOOU- BOOOOM!~


    The danger circle erupted, and the crimson beam that could take out anything inside of it came out of the sky, heading toward the monsters.


    "-41625! -39847! -40491!"


    None of the five werewolves that thought they could endure this attack survived.


    ''That''s why you don''t stay grouped in one ce...'' Stark smiled, after all these monsters had deliberately moved close to each other in hopes of taking Stark aback with the sheer amount of beams.


    [Heaven''s Wrath] was truly an incredible attack, being able to kill all these things in three seconds was a feat many ssifiers can''t achieve after all.


    And the best thing of all... IT WAS STARK''S CLONE THAT USED IT! Meaning that the original body still had his saved up.


    But of course, this didn''t mean he could rx.


    "WHITE CLAWS!" the three werewolves that were rushing at him didn''t stop, instead jumping in the air as their ws began to glow with an otherworldly white aura, it was probably the moon that powered them up so much.


    ~FWISH~


    He avoided the attack of one of the wolves, its speed thanks to [Red Fury] almost allowing it to hit him.


    And as for the clone... well...


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" it was a ''lesser'' version of Stark, so it was forced to roll away after the first attack.


    But... the second werewolf also attacked it, maybe it was bad luck, or maybe they sensed that its HP was low?


    In the end...


    ~SLASH~


    "-19371!"


    The werewolf''s ws shed the clone''s body into three pieces, and it seeped back into the original Stark.


    ''...''


    Not wasting any time, Stark summoned his three spears, and sent them toward the wall farthest from him.


    "WHITE CLAW!" another one obviously tried to attack Stark, but he saw iting and...


    ~BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM~


    He avoided the attack then kicked it in the stomach before finishing it with three quick attacks to the face, leaving it with no time to breath or do anything.


    "-29837! -32914! -31098! -33110!"


    It obviously killed it, and as for the spears...


    ~FWISH, PIERCE, PIERCE~


    It avoided the first one, but unfortunately slipped and received the other two straight on, the first piercing its stomach and the second its neck.


    "-18272! -37927!" the one in the neck obviously did more damage.


    But at the same time... the one wolf that had been spared from [Heaven''s Wrath] finally charged up its beam and...


    ~BOOM~


    It shot it intensely at Stark, who was busy defending himself against the other wolves and also avoiding another arrow.


    ~FLAP~


    Under normal circumstance, he should have been hit, but [Judicator''s Wings] automatically used [Dash] to get him out of the beam''s way, saving his life.


    ~PUNCH~


    "-32751!" he ended the life of the werewolf that had been hit by his spears in a single blow, sending it flying against one of the trees, scaring one of the white figures behind it.


    And so that reduced the amount of monsters to 2 [White Moon Werewolves] and 5 [Shadow Stalkers], there were still many of them in view (not counting the ''Victims of Sierra'' as they did nothing), but Stark was still confident.


    Thetter were doing absolutely nothing , instead their giant mouths were just contorting into a creepy smile as their dark bodies shook, they seemed to be... celebrating?


    ''Shit...'' he ducked to avoid the beam.


    But surprisingly...


    ~BOOOOM~


    The other werewolf, which had been running around Stark, was hit by the beam as it tried to jump at its prey, and its entire body exploded.


    "-99999!" it obviously immediately died.


    The other monster didn''t seem to care about killing itspanion as it continued to randomly aim its head in different directions.


    "AURA SMASH!'' at the same time, Stark shot two crimson fists at the ''Shadow Stalkers'', he didn''t like the fact they were smiling and celebrating so vividly.


    But...


    "DEVOURING DARKNESS!" the two monsters that had been aimed by the attack suddenly activated a skill and morphed their body, cing their giant mouths in front of the giant fists.


    ''...?''


    ~GULP, GULP~


    And they actually ate them.


    ''??????'' Stark was confused.


    Then only a few momentster, the Shadow Stalkers that ate his attack began to lick their mouths with their pitch-ck tongues.


    It was frankly disgusting.


    Stark really wanted to sit down and think deeply about what he had just witnessed, but no time for that since the werewolf was still firing the beam.


    And as for how the ''Shadow Stalkers'' survived the deadly beam while it was hitting them constantly... well... they also just ate it, their big mouths absorbing the white ray as if it was the most delicious thing in the universe.


    Stark did notice by their expressions that they prefered his crimson attacks though.


    He decided not to send any more attacks at them as it was a waste of time, he would deal with themter.


    "Now, werewolf, it''s time to die," Stark cracked his neck and smiled at the werewolf as it kept shooting the beam.


    The ''Shadow Stalkers'' and ''Victims of Sierra'' were pretty much just spectator to the fight for now, and so Stark nned to give them a good show.


    ~FWISH~


    With incredible speed, he dashed toward the werewolf, using his wings and pping them once to give him a boost in the air, allowing him to momentarily float.


    And just like that¡­ Stark was now behind of the werewolf.


    It tried to turn its head, but¡­ Stark grabbed its neck and locked it in ce using his amazing strength.


    Now it was done for.


    "Bye bye," the boy manically smiled as he slowly began to close the werewolf''s mouth, enjoying its panic as it knew what the human was doing.


    Then¡­ he closed it.


    ~BOOM~


    The head obviously exploded, and its remains were sttered all over the floor, and some blood even ended up on Stark''s shirt and face.


    ''Blergh¡­'' he was disgusted.


    But at this very moment ,as if they had been waiting for Stark to finish off the werewolves¡­


    The [Shadow Stalkers] stepped out of the darkness, revealing their grotesque bodies and mouths, but this time, they weren''t celebrating anymore, instead they looked amused, and ready to fight.


    ''Phew¡­ I knew this couldn''t be easy,'' Stark now knew why so many ssifiers had died in this ce before.

 Chapter 109: The STRONG Shadow Stalker Trio

    "Hihihihi~" smallughter escaped the mouths of the ''Shadow Stalkers''.


    ''Clone frenzy¡­'' Stark didn''t waste time and summoned his second clone to aid him in battle.


    He knew that these ck monsters could eat pretty much any of his attacks, and he sure as hell didn''t want to be their dinner either.


    "Crimson Spears," Stark''s clone calmly sent three spears toward different monsters, wanting to gouge out their reactions.


    "Devouring Darkness!" but all three of them ate the spears, then smiled, happy they were allowed to taste a 5-star meal out of nowhere.


    But the biggest problems of all for Stark was¡­


    ''I''m sure I hit two of them until they were one hit away from dying, yet they all look¡­ fine?''


    Something was going on, and even when he checked their HPs¡­


    All of them had the same number:


    [Shadow Stalker HP: 40000/40000]


    All of them were at full health, and Stark''s confusion grew even more.


    Not knowing what could be the cause, he decided to investigate the only skill they had used up until now¡­


    ¡­


    [Skill: Devouring Darkness]


    [Description:] When this skill is activated, the Shadow Stalker can absorb most iing attacks using its mouth and heal itself by 100% of the absorbed damage.


    [w:] None


    ¡­


    ''Ah shit¡­'' the ones that had been damaged probably ate the fists, as well as the [White Beam], and so they regained their entire health.


    Stark grit his teeth in frustration. The fight was turning out to be a lot more challenging than he had anticipated.


    ''Long-ranged attacks are out of the question now, meaning that I have to get close¡­''


    He didn''t want to use [Heaven''s Wrath] as it was an intense waste against such opponents, plus even if his clone used it, their speed would be more than enough to easily avoid the attack.


    He needed to find an opportunity¡­ or create it.


    "Hihihihi~" all the shadow stalkersughed at Stark again as they saw him struggle.


    And then¡­


    "Shadow Limbs!" two of the monsters'' stepped backward beforeunching arge ck arm toward Stark, its texture was disgusting, but the boy knew he couldn''t afford to feel such an emotion.


    ~SLAM~


    He deflected the first arm using his palm, then sent an [Aura Smash] fist toward the second to destroy it.


    "Hihihihi~"


    And then¡­


    "MORPH!" all of them used this skill, and their bodies began to twist and change.


    It really did seem like they could change themselves however they wanted.


    Their bodies were liquid, yet somewhat still a bit solid.


    ''Slime¡­'' was Stark''s guessed as it was the closest thing he could think of when hitting that arm with his palm, ''Well¡­ no time to think about this, I need to kill them¡­''


    Without wasting time, while their bodies were still changing, he dashed toward one of the ''Shadow Stalkers''.


    But the monster he was rushing suddenly transformed into¡­


    "A FUCKING HAMMER??!"


    That same monster had now the perfect form of a hammer, with its giant mouth located in the handle.


    ~FWISH~


    In a sudden motion, the ''Shadow Stalker'' moved its body, trying to hit Stark away.


    But he wouldn''t allow that.


    ~DASH~


    Stark using his wings and momentum began to slide on the ground, avoiding the hammer monster''s head by a hair''s length.


    And now that he was behind it¡­ he wouldn''t let it go.


    With all his determination at hand¡­ he grabbed the handle of the monster, resisting the urge to drop it because of the ck texture which even seemed to go on his hands and arms and then¡­


    "KILL IT," he ordered his clone, and it immediately sent two fits at the ''Shadow Stalker'', which was unable to eat them since Stark was constantly moving around.


    "-32736! -34827!"


    Its tongue dangled from its mouth the moment its HP fell to zero, but Stark wouldn''t let it end like that.


    Using the momentum, he began to spin around at intense speed, making both him and the hammer-like monster spin.


    And after a few seconds¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Stark let go of the dead monster, sending its body, which retained its final form as it died since it couldn''t morph anymore, toward another ''Shadow Stalker''!


    It obviously couldn''t eat one of its own, and it was toote for it to escape.


    ~BOOM, CRASH~


    The head of the hammer hit its mouth, causing it to receive massive damage, and then the momentum sent it flying against a tree, sshing against it and making both monsters explode into a massive amount of ck slime-like texture.


    ''¡­'' Stark removed some of the ck goo from his arm then turned back to face the remaining ''Shadow Stalkers''.


    "¡­" they weren''tughing anymore; proof they weren''t as confident as before.


    But it didn''t mean that they were done¡­


    And so before Stark could do anything else to kill them¡­


    They decided to use their most powerful skill.


    "ASSEMBLE!"


    The ''Shadow Stalkers'' began to merge their bodies together, forming a massive, grotesque creature that towered over Stark. Its mouth began to open wide, revealing countless rows of sharp teeth.


    It was as if their three bodies hadbined into one giant one, dozens of giants mouths spread throughout its gooey body, they could devour a tree easily, and the amount of goo texture tripled.


    ¡­


    [Name: Shadow Stalkers Trio (STRONG)]


    [Level: 64]


    [HP: 120000]


    [Strength: 1837]


    [Stamina: 2121]


    [Speed: 2062]


    [Defense: 2104]


    [Skills: Shadow Limbs, Devouring Darkness, Morph, Darkness Hypnotize¡­]


    ¡­


    ''Yeah¡­'' Stark nervouslyughed as he saw the beast before him, it wasn''t an elite monster, but it was just one category below it, and he even dared to say it was stronger than the elite monsters he had encountered inside of the [Shadow Valley].


    Its stats had also increased, and it had gained one more skill, its HP also tripled (probably since the three monsters merged).


    And now in this Nightmare-Level rift, Stark was surrounded by iprehensible figures hiding behind trees, arrows that could transform him into a beast if he was just grazed by them, and now an almost-elite monster that would dly eat him up (pause, not in that way), right at the first area of this rift¡­


    He knew that this wouldn''t be an easy mission.


    ''I swear to god if I get out of here, I''m beating up that Moonless family...'' he groaned as he got ready to face the STRONG monster in front of him.


    "HIHIHIHIHI~" theughter of the now transformed shadow stalkers echoed through the forest and path, their confidence now at its peak as they got ready to swallow the human.


    But in return¡­ Stark smiled back, it was a cold smile, one that sent shivers down the spine of those monsters.


    "I''m getting rid of you in five attacks," he confidently said as he marched forward, now he wasn''t ying any more games.


    And his clone followed closely after, it was smiling just as coldly as its owner.

 Chapter 110: The Weakness of the Trio

    The grotesque beast let out a low growl, disying its readiness to attack.


    "SHADOW LIMBS!" a massive amount of goo was suddenly sent toward Stark, which, just as before, transformed into a giant hand that wanted to grab him.


    ''Aura Smash!'' the clone immediately answered back, sending two fists at it.


    But¡­


    "DEVOURING DARKNESS!" a mouth suddenly appeared on the hand, eating both attacks.


    ''What the actual fuck,'' this was bing nonsensical, and Stark frankly hated that monster, much more than any other monster he had seen before.


    And no, it''s not because its ck (lol).


    The fact that it could swallow him and end his life so easily, with ho chance to be revived even with his [Chosen One] talent frankly angered him, and the fact that it couldpletely control its body like that felt unfair.


    ''It must have a weakness though¡­'' he clearly remembered reading this panel, which said that there is ALWAYS a way to kill a monster without its HP reaching 0.


    ~BOOM~


    [The Purgatory Shadow took the hit in your ce]


    The shadow of himself appeared from the ring and deflected the attack, but¡­


    ~FWISH~


    The hand suddenly turned back toward Stark, rushing back at him.


    ''They have better control over it since they merged¡­'' Stark grunted as he quickly thought of a way to defeat the monstrous creature.


    He avoided the hand, but it woulde again, and again, AND AGAIN.


    Touching it wasn''t an option either because of the massive mouth.


    ''Think Stark¡­ THINK¡­''


    They had also sent a long trail of goo toward his clone, which was also upied as it needed to avoid them all.


    This battle truly seemed unwinnable.


    And that was what Stark believed, until¡­


    ~FWISH~


    He heard the sound of an [Arrow of Sierra] being sent toward him, and so he instinctively crouched down to avoid it.


    But¡­


    ~BAM~


    The arrow hit the mouth of the shadow stalker''s elongated limb.


    And suddenly¡­


    The arrow exploded and the white mist began to surround the ''Shadow Stalker Trio''s'' limb.


    Sensing the danger, the original body immediately cut off the limb it had sent, knowing that keeping it connected to the original would be instant death


    And after only a few seconds¡­ the ck goo limb began to turn white, its surface being taken over by the perk of the arrow, and convulsing repeatedly as if it was being taken over by an unknown force.


    ''So it also works on monsters¡­'' Stark''s eyes widened.


    He had found it, the weakness of this monster.


    The convulsing limb writhed and twisted, until it some sort of white ss crystal began to take it over, and with a loud CRACK, it suddenly exploded.


    ''Humans transform into monsters¡­ but monsters explode¡­'' Stark smiled.


    It meant that if he ever touched it with a single arrow¡­ it would die, or at least be stopped long enough for him to use [Heaven''s Wrath].


    "Spatial Inventory¡­" he mumbled, and then¡­ he took out the two arrows he had grabbed from it.


    He sent one of them toward his clone, who grabbed it, inspecting it, while he kept the other one in his hands, holding it like a knife.


    Trying to throw at the monster was a bad strategy since it could easily morph its body, but if he managed to stab it inside its body¡­ it would be game over.


    The monster''s (many many) eyes widened in shock as it registered the effectiveness of the arrow, but it quickly recovered itsposure: all it needed to do was not get hit.


    But the clone and Stark wouldn''t let it do that easily.


    ~FWISH~


    The clone suddenly threw the arrow toward the ''Shadow Stalker Trio'', not caring about the strategy Stark thought of.


    But no¡­ it wasn''t doing anything reckless, after all it had Stark''s intelligence.


    "MORPH," the monster immediately created a giant hole in its body to let the dangerous arrow pass through.


    But of course it wouldn''t be easy.


    "AURA SMASH!" the clone sent two fists at the monster, and even though it would be dumb under normal circumstances¡­


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    "-23726! -21827!" the punches actually hit since the monster was too busy morphing its body to avoid the deadly arrow.


    ''I get it now¡­'' Stark smiled.


    But of course, the arrow the clone had sent hit the surface of a tree and exploded into white mist, meaning he didn''t have anymore.


    Or did he?


    ~FWISH~


    An arrow came rushing toward the clone from above, and¡­ he grabbed the handle using his speed, meaning that he had yet another one to throw at the STRONG monster.


    Clones do not fear death since they know that they are clones, meaning that it actually had the guts to do things even the real Stark wouldn''t do.


    Basically¡­ the entity that was throwing these arrows at them was effectively giving them a chance to survive.


    ''Infinite arrow glitch,'' Stark smiled as he understood why his clone threw that precious arrow so easily now.


    "I said I would beat you in 5 attacks," he smiled as tightened the grip around the arrow, "Give me just one!"


    The clone immediately sent another arrow toward the monster, immediately scaring it.


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT," and then both of them activated one of their legendary skills.


    The ''Shadow Stalker Trio'' yet again morphed its body to avoid the arrow, but without wasting time, sent dozens upon dozens of limbs toward Stark''s clone as it feared it would damage him again.


    But¡­


    "I won," Stark mumbled as he now stood right behind the monster, which hadpletely ignored him, both because [Double Assault] made him too fast, but also since the Shadow Stalker targeted the person that sent the arrow.


    And so¡­


    ~PIERCE~


    The [Arrow of Sierra] Stark was holding pierced the monster''s main body, and the reaction was immediate: the white mist began to enter the goo, and after a short while, the ck goo began to turn white, restraining the monster as it couldn''t move well anymore.


    And so without wasting time¡­


    Stark''s clone''s hand began to shine as it drew a circle at the monster''s location, it smiled at the monster as its dozen of eyes and limbs were now too slow to even reach it.


    It was truly fucked.


    ''¡­'' the clone kept smiling as it hit its palm with its other hand''s fist, making it shine with a crimson aura.


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!" the sparkle in the sky appeared, and the crimson beam began to power up.


    ''¡­'' the ''Shadow Stalker Trio'' looked up, unable to avoid the attack since its body was being taken over by that shitty mist.


    It knew it was fucked, no matter what it did.

 Chapter 111: Over One Million Experience?!

    With the crimson haze of [Heaven''s Wrath] rippling through the air and the beam of destruction locked onto its target, the Shadow Stalker Trio could do nothing but watch as its end approached.


    ~FWISH~


    And so after only five seconds of this dead silence¡­


    ~BOOOOOMM~


    The [Heaven''s Wrath] finished charging up and the crimson beam descended on the ''Shadow Stalker Trio''.


    "AAAAAAAHHHHHHH-" they couldn''t speak since their monster intellect wasn''t high enough for that, but the dozens of mouths scattered throughout its body screamed in agony as its body was disintegrated.


    "-58378! -57462! -59824!"


    It obviously died before the perk of the arrow that pierced it could even make it explode.


    After the beam disappeared, there was nothing left at the spot the STRONG monster was in, it was as if it had been erased from existence, none of it remained, and Stark preferred that, he would rather such a disgusting existence to just disappear from the face of the earth


    ~FWISH~


    Stark avoided another arrow that came at him, probably trying to take him off guard since he was happy after eliminating the monster that had caused him trouble.


    ''Sneaky,'' he smiled, but of course he wouldn''t let his guard down.


    He also couldn''t help but notice that the ''Victims of Sierra'' that were located inside the range of the beam had also disappeared, were they dead too?


    [You have in "White Moon''s Werewolf lv65", gained 70387EXP!]


    [You have in "White Moon''s Werewolf lv65", gained 71948EXP!]


    [You have in "White Moon''s Werewolf lv65", gained 71244EXP!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [You have in "Shadow Stalker lv64", gained 79831EXP!]


    [You have in "Shadow Stalker lv64", gained 80403EXP!]


    And finally¡­


    [You have in "Shadow Stalker Trio (STRONG) lv64", gained 319279EXP!]


    ¡­


    ''¡­?'' Stark''s eyes widened upon seeing all these notifications appear, and especially the amount of experience he had gotten.


    Because with all of this¡­


    [+1,124,780EXP!]


    Suddenly, he was enveloped by the golden glow that signified a level up not once, but twice.


    [Your level has increased to level 26, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 27, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 313491/569000]


    ''This is¡­ amazing,'' he couldn''t help butugh.


    He had risked his life and almost died, but just seeing his level go up so much made it all worth it in his eyes.


    And in addition to that, it seemed like the ''Shadow Stalker Trio'' dropped one item as there was a ck glow in the ce its body was disintegrated, he took it and immediately put it inside his [Spatial Inventory] without checking what it was.


    ''Gotta go now¡­'' he mumbled, of course he wanted to take his time to check his status window and attribute his skill points to a skill, but it wasn''t possible in here, not with so many arrows being thrown at him, and the possibility of more monsters approaching.


    Stark resumed running to the end of the area as it was extremely close now.


    And after only a few minutes¡­ he had reached it: the end of the ''Beginning of The End''.


    He was now out of the stone path with forest around it, and found himself in a clearing filled with tall, towering trees that reached up into the sky.


    The sunlight filtered in between the branches, casting dappled shadows on the ground.


    But the asional trees were the only thing present in this clearing, and there weren''t much of them, it was just that they were so big they took up lots of space.


    And very far, Stark observed¡­


    ''A cave!'' at the very back was a cave that resembled the one he used to reach this rift, probably the final area.


    [Level 70 Area: ''The Giant Trees Challenge'']


    ''Solo-type'' rifts seemed to be much smaller than normal ones or secret ones since they could only be used by a single person at a time, and this one only had three areas, as well as a low amount of monsters to fight.


    It was still extremely difficult since it was Nightmare-Level, but it wasn''t big enough to worry about monsters, in all cases, the difficulty of this rift mostly came from the fact that the arrows can one-shot you.


    Stark took a step forward, stepping in the second area of ''Sierra''s Death Path'', ready to take care of anything that came his way.


    But suddenly¡­


    ~FWISH~


    He heard the sound of an arrow and got ready to avoid it, but¡­ the arrow wasn''t aimed at him this time.


    ''Huh¡­ did they miss¡­?''


    No¡­ they had sent over a hundred arrows at him until now, yet none of them missed, all were perfectly aimed to hit him if he didn''t avoid each time.


    So why¡­?


    The arrow exploded normally like it should, and then the giant screen of white mist appeared like usual, which Stark made sure to stay away from obviously.


    But this time¡­ it was different.


    Once the mist began to slowly clear, a figure was standing there, appearing out of nowhere.


    "Haaa~" the figure, its appearance and body still hidden by the mist, smiled, "Seems like you''re better than I thought~"


    "¡­" Stark just looked at her with a nk smile, he was referring to the figure as her since she had a feminine voice, "Monster that can talk?"


    His mind immediately thought about the fact that it was rare for a monster in a middle area to speak humannguage as the only one he had encountered before was Judicator since he was ''Godless Demon'' apostle.


    ''Wait a damn minute¡­'' it clicked in Stark''s mind as he realized that this could mean only one thing, and he looked up as the mist fully cleared.


    [Sierra, The Crystal Archer (BOSS)]


    ''¡­?!'' Stark''s eyes widened and he took a step backward the moment that panel appeared before him, he hadn''t used [Perception] at all, but it just automatically appeared, just like it did when he met a boss/mini-boss/elite, meaning that it was the real deal.


    He instinctively activated his [Domination] aura in case a battle would break, but he was sure nothing major would happen since he wasn''t at the boss area.


    ''Sierra'', the boss of the rift, was a woman (or at least it had a woman''s body), long white hair, and a blue/white long dress, as well as ''snowke'' earrings and crystal blue eyes.


    She was very beautiful, and her overall aura could be described with one word: chilly.


    In her hand was a white bow, an arrow attached to it, and she was holding it with her two hands, smiling at Stark.


    And then¡­


    ~FWISH, PAW~


    At lightning speed, she pointed the bow at Stark then shot the arrow at him.


    "Invincible Dodge!" he rolled to the site since at this distance, it was hard to avoid it, even with the wings.


    "Hahahahaha~" Sierraughed, "Looks like you''re really good at avoiding things~ better than the 7 others at least," she mocked.


    Suddenly, she stopped grabbing the bow with one of her hands and¡­


    "Sierra Arrows!" she used one of her skills to create an [Arrow of Sierra] in the hand that was now free, a cold aura enveloping her and seeping into her hand to form into the shape of the arrow with the white heart at the edge of it.


    ''She can create as many of them as she wants,'' Stark understood now, and it was terrifying to think about.


    And so just like that, Stark was in front of the final boss while still being only at the mid-part of the rift.


    "Haha kid~ show me what you''ve got, alright?" Sierraughed as she pointed her bow at Stark again.

 Chapter 112: Early Meeting with Sierra

    Stark gritted his teeth, focusing all his attention on the boss thaty before him. He had no time to think about the implications of the situation, as Sierra already had her bow pointed at him, only a few meters away from him.


    "Well well~ you held on better than the others," she shrugged, "You''re actually quite interesting¡­"


    "¡­" Stark didn''t answer, he red at the rift boss.


    "I also see that you have Judicator''s wings, don''t ya~?" she giggled, "I always thought he was too arrogant."


    "¡­"


    Stark tried to use [Perception] on Sierra to check out her skills and overall stats, but¡­


    [You are not allowed to check this monster''s stats yet!]


    A crimson panel came to stop him.


    ''Fuck you¡­'' he didn''t abandon, and instead pushed through, opening his eyes wider, they were filled with determination.


    If he was to fight this monster right now, he was sure that he would die without knowing of her stats, HP, or skills, after all they were things that always helped him predict what they would do.


    Plus it also cleared the fear of not knowing whether a monster has more skills or not, since he could already check all their names beforehand.


    And so¡­ as Stark pushed through that warning, he was granted two pieces of information.


    ¡­


    [Name: Sierra, the Crystal Archer (BOSS)]


    [Level: 80]


    [HP: 315000]


    [Strength: ???]


    [Stamina: ???]


    [Speed: ???]


    [Defense: ???]


    [Skills: ???]


    ¡­


    He was allowed to see her level and HP, which was more than any other monster he had encountered yet, but all other info was hidden from him.


    "Quit ring at me like that~" Sierra maniacally smiled and took a step forward.


    Immediately, Stark answered that simple move by two skills of his.


    "AURA SMASH, CRIMSON SPEARS," he sent all 5 attacks at the archer, who just smiled.


    "Crystal Shield," she grabbed the arrow that was in her hand and with lightning speed poured out a different aura inside of it, changing the shape from a heart to a circle.


    Then¡­ she pointed her bow down, toward the ground next to her feet and shot the arrow.


    ~BOOM~


    Instantly, the moment the arrow hit the ground, a crystal wall appeared in front of Sierra, blocking all 5 of the attacks.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    ~CRACK~


    Of course, the wall cracked and crumbled, but it had still protected her.


    "Attacking me while I''m only approaching you~" she tried to act cute, "That''s really mean!"


    "Quit the act, you''re too old to do that sort of shit," Stark answered, not breaking his fighting position, but still finding a way to shoot something at her, although it wasn''t physical.


    "O-Old?!" Sierra looked surprised for the first time, "I don''t look old at all!"


    And before Stark could even say anything else¡­


    ~FWISH, PAW, PAW, PAW!~


    "Arrow Barrage!" Sierra pointed her bow at Stark and began to shoot dozens of arrows toward him, each time she shot one, another would instantly materialize, and her movements were too fast for the naked eye to discern.


    ''FAST!''


    Stark couldn''t dodge them all, but his upgraded [Focus] allowed him to anticipate the iing arrows and adjust his movements ordingly.


    He grabbed three arrows that were heading toward his face with simple movements of his hands, while he avoided the rest using his speed.


    Then he began to run in circles around Sierra, it was the only way to constantly avoid the arrows as being too close meant less time to dodge.


    "No point in trying, boy~ just give up~~" Sierra seemed to mock him, not stopping her barrage of arrows at the boy.


    "¡­"


    "You know~ I really enjoyed seeing the faces of the seven others as they were transformed into beasts~" she mocked.


    "¡­?" Stark didn''t stop running, but his pupils'' aura grew stronger.


    "They will never see their families again, forced to be stuck in this ce with me for all eternity, until I am able to escape that is of course, and I will some day, just like all the other apostles who are still alive!" Sierraughed, still shooting arrows at Stark.


    "¡­"


    [Do not be angry.]


    Each arrow that was sent at him, and each word Sierra uttered, only served as fuel to his aura, and it was increasing more and more.


    Stark knew that even with all the power he had, he was still weakpared to many other people and monsters, but he still needed to keep going.


    If one arrow could transform him into a monster, and if there was no way for him to leave¡­ then he just needed to win.


    "Aura Smash!" he sent two fists at the archer.


    But¡­


    ~FWISH~


    In response, Sierra shot two arrows at the crimson fists, and the moments these arrow hit, the two fists turned white and vanished.


    "None of your attacks will work," Sierra continued in her speech, just like the viin she was.


    "Crimson Spears!" he sent three spears, they were shorter than the fists so he thought they would be able to hit.


    But¡­


    ~PAM, PAM, PAM~


    With expert precision, Sierra shot down the three spears, not missing a single one of them.


    "They don''t call me the ''Expert Archer'' for no reason!" she boasted, puffing out her chest.


    ''You''re too prideful¡­'' Stark''s aura was growing more and more, and he was bing annoyed.


    "Those 7 adventurers that came here were all transformed into monsters¡­ how sad¡­" Sierra giggled, "Five of them instantly got hit at the start since they didn''t expect it¡­"


    ''¡­''


    "¡­And the two others traversed the forest, but once they reached me¡­ THEY ALL TURNED INTO BEASTS!" she maniacallyughed.


    ''¡­''


    "And do you want to know the best thing about all of it?" she stopped shooting Stark for a few seconds, pointing her slender hand at him while he was still running in circles.


    By this point, Stark was at his limit, and the aura that surrounded his body was so overwhelming that even he had a difficult time containing it: he hated when monsters talked so arrogantly.


    What Sierra said next¡­ was the final straw.


    "One of the adventurers was a woman¡­ and after she began to transform into a beast, her body beginning to crystallize and turn white, do you know what she did?" Sierra''s smile grew so wide it was scary.


    ''Kill¡­''


    "She PLEADED, not for herself, but for her UNBORN CHILD, HAHAHAHA~" Sierraughed andughed, thinking that she was on top of the world.


    ''Ok,'' Stark understood everything, he wasn''t even mad about the woman actually, but just tired of Sierra''s attitude, and so¡­


    ~BAM, FWISH~


    In a fraction of a second, he was right in front of Sierra, his fist centimeters away from her face.


    "As I thought, you need to die quick," he sighed, his face hidden by his aura, and making him look as terrifying as ever before.

 Chapter 113: Dominations Anger

    "As I thought, you need to die quick," Stark, his anger so great that his aura covered his entire body, spoke.


    After hearing Sierra''s final phrase, he snapped, which was something extremely rare for him thanks to his mental fortitude.


    And before the archer could even finish her full sentence about the transformation of a pregnant ssifier woman and the death of her unborn child, he was already right in front of her.


    ''?!''


    Sierra being an archer meant that her vision and speed were far greater than any other ss or types of monsters as she needed both to aim and also avoid.


    She could see all of Stark''s attacksing, which was why she was confident.


    And yet¡­


    She didn''t see that attacking.


    Before she could even realize it, with speed faster than even she could discern, he was already in front of her face.


    "Join that arrogant angel, won''t you," Stark smiled.


    ''SHIT!'' Sierra couldn''t avoid this attack, it was too fast.


    ~BOOOOOOOMM!!!~


    The explosion of Stark''s fist on Sierra''s face was deafening, and the entire rift shook by it.


    "-69382!" the damage output was also beyond anything a mere level 26 could achieve.


    [Sierra HP: 245618/315000]


    She wouldn''t die from this, but she was sent very far away, and the impact was so strong that she even traversed three of the giants trees inside the clearing, breaking their trunks and making them fall.


    Her face was a bloody mess, a few teeth were broken, her mouth was bleeding, and her nose was probably broken.


    The only thing that was fairly intact were her eyes, and that was only since they were more resistant than the rest.


    Her bow still in hand, Sierra immediately got up, she still retained her consciousness, and all she needed to get rid of the human was one simple arrow touching him.


    "You... you monster..." she whispered, her voice barely audible as she looked ahead, seeing Stark slowly approach.


    "You won''t do it again," was all that Stark said, his aura pulsating around him.


    ''I- I can''t shoot any arrow, it won''t hit¡­'' she had pointed her bow at him, but she didn''t even have the confidence to shoot anything anymore.


    No¡­ it wasn''t that she lost her confidence¡­ it''s just that she saw she couldn''t win against Stark in his current state.


    ''I''m out of here,'' she gritted her teeth, running away was humiliating, but it was better to run and survive than be arrogant and die.


    "ARROW ESCAPE!"


    Sierra grabbed an arrow, then transformed its edge using her aura, going from a heart to a triangle.


    Then she shot it down and disappeared in a blur of motion.


    "See you at the end, human," she wasn''t smiling anymore, her face cold: it was an invitation, and she awaited Stark at the boss area.


    And just like that, she was teleported to the ce she was supposed to be in since the beginning.


    ''¡­'' Stark didn''t care that she ran away as they would meet up again soon enough, he couldn''t leave this rift until killing her and getting that stack of arrows after all.


    The aura around his body was slowly beginning to dissipate, but he still walked toward the cave, as calm as ever.


    That anger he had just felt waspletely different from his normal self, but he didn''t really dislike it since it allowed him to be stronger.


    But as soon as Sierra disappeared and he began walking toward the cave¡­ he heard rustling in the leaves of the giant trees, their shadows casting a sickly green glow over the clearing''s floor.


    He stopped in his tracks, his senses tingling as he knew that something was off, then he looked up.


    And suddenly¡­


    ~SCREECH, CRASH~


    A bunch of monsters jumped from all the nearby trees, attempting to stop Stark in his tracks.


    They had been hiding inside since the beginning, just waiting for the human to pass to possibly trap him.


    There were three types of monsters: the first were green-skinned, scaly beasts with sharp ws and a venomous bite, they looked like chameleons but more aggressive.


    The second were brown monkeys with branchesing out from many parts of their bodies, they were rather tall, standing at around 3 meters.


    And the third were vicious squirrels, of course much bigger than normal ones, they had red eyes and their skin waspletely dark, they looked like demons and they were thirsty for bloods.


    ''Perception¡­'' Stark, knowing that he would have to fight lots of them before reaching the cave, activated his skill to check out all their panels.


    ¡­


    [Name: Aggre-Meleon (get it?)]


    [Level: 68]


    [HP: 82000]


    [Strength: 1479]


    [Stamina: 1734]


    [Speed: 1327]


    [Defense: 1231]


    [Skills: Poisonous Bite, w Attack, Camouge, Tongue Launch, Hypno-Eyes¡­]


    ¡­


    [Name: Branch Monkey]


    [Level: 66]


    [HP: 76000]


    [Strength: 1827]


    [Stamina:1373]


    [Speed: 789]


    [Defense: 1501]


    [Skills: Monkey Charge, Parkour, Jungle Roar, Grapple, Spiky Body¡­]


    ¡­


    [Name: Demonic Squirrel]


    [Level: 69]


    [HP: 91000]


    [Strength: 1298]


    [Stamina: 1883]


    [Speed: 1903]


    [Defense: 874]


    [Skills: Small Bite, Pounce, Demon Tail, Blood Eyes, Shadow Dodge¡­]


    ¡­


    Stark sighed, seeing that he would have to face this entire array of monsters.


    Without hesitation, he readied himself for the fight, since even though the aura from his anger was slowly dissipating, some of it was still there, and he had lots of frustration he wanted to take out on those things.


    It was pretty convenient so many monsters hade as they would be his punching bags.


    Looking around him, he noticed at least 18 monsters, 6 from each kind.


    ''Clone Frenzy,'' he summoned his clone next to him, and it immediately got into position.


    He was surrounded and outnumbered, but it didn''t really matter.


    ''Aura Smash!'' both Stark sent four crimson fists toward a group of four ''Branch Monkeys'' since they were the slowest monsters and also regrouped.


    ~BOOM, BOOM!~


    "-31824! -34827! -21380! -23019!"


    Turns out this was the right choice since two of them immediately them from the impact, and the other ones inside the group also received a bit of damage since [Aura Smash] was an attack that hit its surroundings too.


    [Enemies Stunned]


    Both ''Branch Monkeys'' had been stunned, and so Stark and his clone immediately rushed to finish the job before the other monsters could attack.


    Stark''s anger was still there, deep inside of him, but his expression was neutral and cold: all he wanted was to enter that cave, traverse the final area, and meet with Sierra again.


    But this time¡­ he would make sure to annihte her for good.


    ~PUNCH, PUNCH~


    "-38371! -34827!" after two quick punches from each Stark, the two stunned ''Branch Monkeys'' died.


    Then they turned toward the remaining 14 monsters, who all began to rush at them.


    ''Let''s get this over with,'' they positioned themselves again.

 Chapter 114: The Giant Trees Challenge

    "Tongue Launch," all 6 Aggre-Meleons began their attacks at once,unching their long, sticky tongues at Stark and his clone.


    And at the same time¡­


    "Demon Tail, Pounce!" the squirrels'' tails suddenly began to burn with a crimson fire, and their red eyes red at Stark even harder as they allunched themselves at him.


    The two remaining ''Branch Monkeys'' wouldn''t just stand idle after seeing theirpanions die either.


    "Jungle Roar!" they stood on their two feet and began to repeatedly tap their chests while shouting, the sheer intensity of their voice creating some sort of supersonic wave around it.


    ''Jungle Roar'' is a skill used not only to boost the monster''s attack and defense, a way to motivate them basically, but it also was supposed to cause the [Intimidation] or [Fear] status on the enemy target because of their anger.


    But of course it wouldn''t work, not only since Stark was from the domination ss, but also because¡­ his anger was far greater than the monsters'' one.


    [Not affected by ''Fear'']


    Their n was to all attack him at the same time while he was affected by the ''Fear'' effect, but they didn''t expect that their n wouldn''t work, and that was their biggest mistake.


    "Invincible Dodge!" both he and his clone rolled away to avoid the tongues of the chameleons.


    But¡­ ~GRAB~


    Stark grabbed one of the tongue while it was returning to its owner''s mouth, restraining it.


    Meanwhile, his clone was busy avoiding the attacks of several squirrels, their tails aimed to hit it as they would cause the [Demonic Burn] status, which was basically an upgraded version of [Burn].


    Of course, some of them obviously aimed at Stark, but he was also too fast for them to even dream of hitting him face on.


    He didn''t let the chameleon''s tongue go, and it was beginning to struggle now, trying to pull Stark toward it.


    ''Disgusting¡­'' he groaned, and instinctively¡­ he began to pull it too.


    After a few seconds of struggle¡­


    ~CRACK~


    The tongue broke, separating from the monster''s body and causing the Aggre-Meleon to wince in pain and immediately fall dead.


    "-82000!" it did the entirety of its health, and Stark immediately understood of this monster''s weakness.


    Now the only problem left were the squirrels, they were probably the most terrifying of the trio as they were both fast and strong, plus their appearance also presaged nothing good.


    But even then¡­


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," Stark''s clone summoned them, and sent them all toward a squirrel who was currently jumping at it, meaning that it couldn''t avoid them no matter what.


    "-43827! -39482! -40301!" all three pierced its head, and it did immense damage not only because its defense was low, but also since its head seemed to be its weakness, a single spear hitting its brain would be enough.


    "Monkey Charge," seeing that their roar did nothing, the two remaining ''Branch Monkeys'' used their boost in attack to rush at Stark.


    But he didn''t even bother to avoid it.


    ~CRASH~


    He took in the two monsters by himself, stopping them with one hand each, and even though he was pushed back for a bit, he still retrieved the advantage.


    "AURA SMASH," the clone, while still avoiding the squirrels, sent two fists at the two monkeys to aid its owner.


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    "-32762! -37265!" each of them received damage, in addition to the after-shock from both attacks damaging the other one too.


    [Enemy stunned]


    Now that one of them was gone, Stark easily overpowered the second.


    "SPIKY BODY," but the monkey didn''t want to get beaten by a human, after all it was supposed to be strong!


    A wooden spike came out of its chest and headed toward Stark, it was a surprise attack and the speed was so great that it would have been difficult for many to avoid it from this clone.


    ~FWISH~


    ''Holy, that was close,'' but Stark managed to move his head at thest second, ''Almost got me¡­''


    ''Gulp¡­'' the monkey looked at Stark, it had failed to kill the human with its final strategy.


    ~PUNCH, PUNCH~


    "-31731! -32730!"


    He punched its head two times sessfully, resulting in it immediately falling to the ground.


    Then without wasting anytime, he jumped in the air using the momentum of the first monkey falling, span around, and kicked the second who was stunned before finishing it with crushing its head.


    "-34632! -44794!"


    Now all ''Branch Monkeys'' had been wiped out, with 5 ''Aggre-Meleons'' and 5 ''Demonic Squirrels'' left.


    But despite the loss of their kin, the remaining enemies did not falter in their aggression.


    The five ''Aggre-Meleons'' lunged at Stark and his clone.


    "HYPNO-EYES, POISONOUS BITE!" the former attack made it so that if you ever made eye contact with the chameleon''s spinning pupils, you would immediately get the [Hypnosis] status, decreasing your precision by a ton, it was basically game over.


    In the other direction, the ''Demonic Squirrels'' continued their relentless charges, their tails aze with demonic fire.


    Stark and his clone adapted to the new threat quickly, they didn''t even bother to avoid the chameleons'' pupils as they [Hypnosis] effect didn''t affect them, and so all they did was dodge their bites.


    ~KICK~


    Stark kicked one of the Aggre-Meleons away; sending it flying against one of the giant trees, then without wasting time¡­ he did something risky out of nowhere.


    While the chameleon''s mouth was still full of poison, and while they were still attacking him¡­


    He dashed toward one of them, then forcefully opened its mouth using both his hands, before grabbing the tongue inside of it and pulling it as hard as possible, causing the monster to let out a painful, startled cry as the tongue was detached from its mouth.


    "-82000!" of course it died.


    Meanwhile, Stark''s clone was against the ''Demonic Squirrels'', and it managed quite easily to avoid them all.


    ~PUNCH~


    "-28373!" it would evenunch a small punch or kick at one of the squirrels as a counter-attack, meaning that slowly but surely, both their HP and stamina were depleting.


    And so after only a few minutes of back-and-forth, whilepleting abusing of the strategies and weaknesses they knew¡­


    "-40398!"


    They finally managed to kill off all the monsters.


    ''Phew¡­'' Stark sighed, his clone hadn''t even died, maybe it was just as determined as he was?


    ¡­


    [You have in "Aggre-Meleon lv68", gained 76103EXP!]


    [You have in "Aggre-Meleon lv68", gained 74985EXP!]


    .


    .


    [You have in "Branch Monkey lv66", gained 71029EXP!]


    [You have in "Branch Monkey lv66", gained 72914EXP!]


    .


    .


    [You have in "Demonic Squirrel lv69", gained 79338EXP!]


    [You have in "Demonic Squirrel lv69", gained 78102EXP!]


    .


    .


    And so just like that¡­


    [+1,357,413EXP!]


    ''Holy shit¡­''


    [Your level has increased to level 28, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 29, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 508904/628000]


    Stark was beginning to level up extremely easily, and it almost became scary, was this the power of a Nightmare-Level rift?


    [Skill Points: 8 Avable]


    In addition to that, the fact he was now getting 2 skill points per level meant that he could stack them and possibly upgrade a skill all the way in one go.


    ''Time to finally upgrade Domination,'' he smiled as he had more than enough skill points to do that, plus some spare in case he wanted to upgrade anything else.


    [Do you want to use 5 Skill Points to upgrade Domination to Level 15 (MAX)?]


    [Y/N]

 Chapter 115: Domination Level 15 (Bronze-Max)!

    [Do you want to use 5 Skill Points to upgrade Domination to Level 15 (MAX)?]


    [Y/N]


    Without hesitation, Stark clicked on the Y option.


    ~DING, DING, DING, DING, DING~


    And after five notifications¡­


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 15 (Bronze-Tier Max)!]


    But of course, reached a new milestone also meant¡­ a new perk!


    ¡­


    [Skill: Domination lv15]


    [New Perk: Dominated Status]


    [Description:] This new perk doesn''t serve much purpose under normal circumstances, but if during a battle, the user somehow manages to turn the tides against an enemy stronger than they are, and their aura increases by that, there is a chance that the enemy will receive the ''Dominated'' status.


    The ''Dominated'' status reduces defense and movements, and gives the user a 10% stat boost against the dominated enemy.


    [Note:] When entering a battle against an enemy weaker than you are, or if the enemy in itself fears your aura, there is also a chance they receive the ''Dominated'' status, further reducing their chances of victory against the person they feared =)


    ¡­


    ''Holy¡­'' Stark scratched his chin, his eyes burning with excitement.


    If he had gotten this perk before, then he was confident his anger against Sierra would have guaranteed for her to get the ''Dominated'' status.


    In the end, the basis of this perk worked if, and only if the enemy before Stark suddenly became more wary/scared of him, otherwise it was useless.


    With that in mind, Stark moved on to the three other skill points he had.


    [You have upgraded ''Double Assault'' to level 5!]


    [You have upgraded ''Aura Smash'' to level 8!]


    With this¡­ he had everything he needed, but the fact ''Double Assault'' reached level 5 also meant a new perk on it as well¡­


    ¡­


    [Skill: Double Assault lv5]


    [New Perk: Double Impact]


    [Description: When using ''Double Assault'', there is a very small chance that each attack will count as two hits (deadly), causing double the damage, but also double the status effect or knock back on your opponent.]


    [Note: a crimson replica of yourself (much like the clones) will temporarily appear to deal the second attack, then will disappear right afterward]


    ¡­


    ''I don''t know the chance, but it must be very low,'' Stark mumbled as he closed all the panels and began heading toward the cave.


    He heard rustling in the leaves while passing the dozens of giant trees scattered throughout the clearing, but none of the monsters jumped out for some reason.


    He would have seriously enjoyed checking out that ''Dominated'' status on the monsters, but oh well, he will seeter.


    [Alchemy Inventory: x20 Potion of Strength, x19 Potion of Speed, x38 Potion of Regeneration]


    He hadn''t used his potions much since it was difficult in the heat of such situations, but maybe he should begin to drink them before the battle?


    Thinking of that, and while still heading toward the cave, Stark pulled out four potions: 2 of strength, and 2 of speed, holding them with his hands.


    He was confident no monster would attempt to attack him, so he didn''t even bother to free his hands.


    And so just like that, he managed to reach the entrance of the rock/crystal cave.


    The walls were made out of gray solid rock, but all around these very same walls were hundreds upon hundreds of white crystals, glinting in the darkness.


    They were [Crystals of Sierra], and they were used to make those arrows, Stark guessed that''s why Sierra was called the ''Crystal Archer'' in her boss name.


    The cave seemed to go down into a very long and dark tunnel, and so before heading inside of the final area of this rift¡­


    Stark opened up all four bottles in his hands, then began gulping down all their contents.


    He had wondered if drinking two potions of the same type at the same time would mean an increase in stat boosts.


    But¡­


    [+10% strength for 10 minutes]


    [+10% speed for 10 minutes]


    It would be too op, so instead stacking up potions meant that the effect time you had would go up.


    He had drunk 2 potions of strength, and each was supposed to give him 5 minutes of strength boost, so drinking two meant 10 minutes, if he drank 5 it would have been 25 minutes, etc¡­


    ''Interesting¡­ but I need to find new recipes or buy them¡­'' he mumbled as he finally entered the cave.


    [Level 75 Area: ''The Crystal Cave'']


    The darkness within the cave was almost suffocating, but the faint, silvery-white light that came from the crystals illuminated his path slightly.


    He went down, and now before him was a giant tunnel that seemed to endlessly stretch forward.


    No monsters in sight, nothing.


    Stark carefully moved along the tunnel, his senses heightened and his eyes scanning the darkness for any signs of movement.


    But of course, it wouldn''t be this easy, it couldn''t be.


    No matter what¡­


    ~FWISH~


    In the distance, Stark saw a sh of light rush at him at intense speed, like a bolt of lightning.


    ''¡­'' Without hesitation, he prepared to defend himself.


    And so using [Focus] and his boost in speed, Stark grabbed the [Arrow of Sierra] that had been sent to him as it was centimeters away from his face.


    ''She doesn''t give up, does she¡­'' he sighed, and noticed that the many more shes of lightning wereing, ''Is she struggling because she knows she is about to die? Or does she really believe she can hit me and win?''


    With a swift movement, Stark dodged an arrow, then another, and a third one.


    "ARROW BARRAGE!" from the safety of her boss chamber, Sierra used her archer eyes to keep sending dozens upon dozens of arrows at him.


    In such a case, the human was totally overwhelmed, and even though there seemed to be no monsters, the sole fact that the boss was targeting was already enough.


    A Nightmare-Level rift wasn''t only described as such because of its high difficulty, or because there were strong monsters there, but many other factors yed a huge part in it: its size, its category, the unfairness and how likely someone was to clear it were also factors.


    And in this case¡­ it was because a single arrow could send you to your death that it was this hard, and why so many people failed before.


    Basically¡­ it was really unfair.


    But¡­


    ''How is it gonna work on me if i''m faster,'' Stark''s eyes glew with a blue aura as the speed potion took effect, increasing Stark''s speed, and allowing him to easily avoid all the attacks that were sent at him.


    "Just you wait Sierra¡­" he grinned as he ran through the tunnel.

 Chapter 116: The Crystal Cave

    Sierra''s eyes widened as she saw Stark narrowly avoiding her arrows that were being scattered in all possible directions in the tunnel, hoping for just one of them to hit his shoulders or any part of his body at all.


    She clenched her fists and whispered, "Not today, human¡­"


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    ''I just need one¡­''


    ~FWISH~


    ''Just one arrow is enough to end this¡­''


    ~FWISH~


    ''PLEASE!''


    Much like Judicator, Sierra was a ''Godless Demon'' apostle, but also a boss, meaning that she wasn''t supposed to be scared, instead supposed to be boasting of confidence and power, this was why she showed herself early in the rift to challenge all humans and kill them.


    But she had been forced to run away from Stark as deep inside of her mind, his aura at that time was truly overwhelming, and her face still hurts a bit from the punch he had sent.


    At that time, even she, for a quick second, thought: ''what if he wins?'', which was why she didn''t take the risk to continue the fight and instead went back to her boss area.


    ''¡­'' Stark had the nkest of expressions on his face, no trace of anger or any emotions at all as he kept rushing through the tunnel, avoiding all the arrows, and even having the guts to catch some of them to store inside his [Spatial Inventory]


    ''FUCK YOU!'' Sierra''s body began to be surrounded by her aura, and it was growing more and more, ''Let''s see how you like this!"


    And then¡­ she snapped her fingers, sending a blue shockwave throughout the entire tunnel.


    "¡­" Stark''s eyes narrowed as the shockwave hit him, but it barely fazed him, he felt no pain and he was still able to move with the same agility.


    The reason he hadn''t avoided it was because [Focus] didn''t alert him of any danger, meaning that it wasn''t an attack meant for damage.


    He wondered what Sierra was nning now, knowing she was up to something.


    After all¡­ she wasn''t shooting any arrows anymore¡­.


    And suddenly, just as he thought of that¡­


    ~BIIIIIM, FWISH~


    Every white crystal scattered throughout the walls of the cave tunnel began to glow with a white aura that almost blinded Stark because of the sheer amount of it.


    ~FWISH~


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" Stark heard the sound of an arrowing, and focus alerted him of danger, but he couldn''t see anything, so he was forced to use invincible dodge to guarantee he wouldn''t be hit.


    And it looks like it was the right decision¡­


    ''Huh¡­? The arrows passed right through him¡­?'' Sierra was making sure that whatever she saw was right, ''I didn''t shoot all this time to charge up fifteen arrows but he just avoided them all like this while being blinded¡­?''


    Deep inside, Sierra knew that the human before her was weird.


    But this explosion wasn''t everything that the ''The Crystal Cave'' reserved.


    And suddenly¡­ right as the light faded and Stark was able to see¡­


    He noticed thating out of each crystal was a figure, one he had already seen before.


    They were [Victims of Sierra], and there were hundreds of them scattered throughout the walls and ceiling of the tunnel.


    Their pitch-ck lifeless eyes stared at him, and their ck wings were idle.


    From all directions now, he had this sense of difort he couldn''t really describe.


    ''Great¡­ now he''s going to get blocked by them¡­'' Sierra smiled as she began pointing her bow at Stark again.


    The [Victims of Sierra] were all the people Sierra previously infected with her arrows ignoring the 7 ssifiers as they became another type of monster, and they were in a constant state of agony, forced to followed everything their ''queen'' ordered them to do.


    This was why the ''Crystal Archer'' was so confident, their sheer number all over that cave would distract Stark and hopefully she would hit him.


    But¡­ something strange happened this time.


    When Sierra ordered something, every [Victim of Sierra] was forced to follow it as if they didn''t, they would just suffer more, she wouldn''t give them death, it would be a reward.


    All they wanted was for her to die.


    ''STOP HIM, MY MINIONS,'' she internallyughed as she ordered them all to make as much movement and noise as possible.


    [Victims of Sierra] cannot be killed with attacks, but they also can''t harm, so the best thing they could do was obstruct Stark''s vision.


    And yet¡­ they didn''t move.


    Instead, they just kept staring at Stark, before all pointing at the end of the tunnel, where Sierra was located.


    ''I SAID STOP HIM, YOU FUCKING-'' the archer shouted again, inflicting pain on all of them.


    But they didn''t budge.


    The reason such a phenomenon was happening is because even the [Victims of Sierra], with their puppet minds, could see Stark''s aura, and it was the most powerful one they had seen yet.


    Him being an enemy of Sierra almost meant that he was their allies.


    Their sole goal was for the apostle to die, so that they can also vanish and go rest, which was why they didn''t budge.


    They saw potential in Stark, and so they believed in him.


    "Go¡­ human¡­" through the entire tunnel, Stark heard such a whisper, and it sent a chill down his spine.


    Sierra, finally realizing the gravity of the situation, knew she had to make her move: the [Victims of Sierra] didn''t budge no matter how much pain she inflicted on them, she had never seen them so determined.


    And the worst thing of all¡­ was that the human was still running toward her, his crimson aura burning brighter than before.


    Sierra''s eyes narrowed as she tried to understand the situation.


    She had never been so utterly ignored by her minions, and it made her uneasy. But she could not afford to be distracted; she had to end this so-called "human" once and for all.


    "ARROW BARRAGE!" she only needed one arrow¡­


    ''JUST ONE ARROW DAMN IT!'' and so she kept shooting them like a machine-gun, not even a fraction of a second between each reload.


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    But Stark would avoid them all, his speed potion massively helping him.


    And the [Victims of Sierra] were still looking down at him, pointing their hollow arms toward the boss area.


    "You¡­ are¡­ close¡­" they whispered after two minutes.


    And so just like that¡­ the final sh was about to happen as Stark looked up and noticed that he could see the silver fog from his current distance: meaning that the boss area was right in front of him.


    ''I GOT YOU, SIERRA!'' he shouted as he increased his pace.

 Chapter 117: Sierra, The Crystal Archer

    Sierra, feeling threatened, could not believe that her "minions" were actually helping the supposed enemy.


    And no matter how many arrows she shot from the safety of her area, Stark would avoid them all like it was nothing.


    Yet his stamina didn''t seem to go down, actually it was the opposite, after every dodge or grab, his determination would grow.


    And so just like that¡­ Stark reached the end of the tunnel, and dashed through the silver fog without even taking a second to rest before the boss.


    He was yet again surrounded by that weird feeling of being transported to another ce as he passed the fog, and after a few seconds¡­


    ~FWISH~


    He emerged on the other side.


    And as soon as he did¡­


    [You have entered the BOSS area!]


    [Boss Area: ''Sierra''s Crystal Lair'']


    These two panels greeted him, but that wasn''t all¡­ since before he could even check his surroundings or see where the boss was¡­


    A bow was right in front of his face, almost as if it had been waiting for him toe inside of the boss area to ambush him.


    And so he bumped into it as [Focus] somehow couldn''t detect ambushes while passing through the fog.


    ~FWISH~


    "IT''S MY WIN, HUMAN," Sierraughed as she shot Stark, this time the arrow was so close that she was confident Stark wouldn''t be able to avoid it.


    But she never learns, does she?


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" he activated his invincibility frames, not even bothering to move as if it so close he didn''t even need to time it, and the arrow fazed right through him.


    "Coward," Stark smiled before sending his fist toward Sierra''s face.


    Every boss until now had waited for Stark to enter its area before appearing, and yet¡­ Sierra had waited just to ambush him.


    Basically¡­ she tried to win in a dirty way.


    "And you call yourself an apostle of the Godless Demon," he mocked as he punched in her direction.


    ~SLAM~


    Sensing the fist, and getting shbacks from the immense damage she had gotten previously, Sierra blocked the attack with her bow by cing it sideways, but the impact still sent her back.


    "-0!" she didn''t receive any kind of damage though.


    Stark took the small amount of time to check out his surroundings, after all he was now in the final area, ''Sierra''s Crystal Lair''.


    The cave space around him was adorned with countless sparkling crystals, and there was a faint silver trail on the ground, leading to arge central tform.


    On that tformy a massive crystal throne, which was where Sierra was supposed to be if she was an actual normal monster/boss.


    The boss area was massive, and there was enough space for the two to fight at their full potential inparison to the ''Shadow Monument'' which was limited by the walls.


    After analyzing everything he needed, Stark turned his head back to Sierra, who was now a few meters away from him thanks to the knock back of his punch.


    "Sigh¡­" Sierra shook her head lightly, then she began heading toward her throne, "Has anyone told you that you are annoying?"


    "Only monsters like you," Stark smiled as he saw her sit on her crystal throne, her bow still in hand.


    She crossed her legs, and it was almost as if she wasn''t gonna have the battle of her life in a few instants.


    "Very well¡­" Sierra sighed, "Then¡­ I guess it''s time to do it the hard way," she suddenly got up, and her ocean eyes began to glow with an ethereal aura, her entire body surrounded by a powerful aura as well.


    ''Did she just sit, just to get back up?'' Stark pondered, but decided not to think too much about it.


    And that''s when the panel finally appeared.


    [Sierra, The Crystal Archer (BOSS)]


    Stark decided to immediately use ''Perception'' as he hadn''t been able to see her entire panel before.


    ¡­


    [Name: Sierra, the Crystal Archer (BOSS)]


    [Level: 80]


    [HP: 245618/315000]


    [Strength: 1492]


    [Stamina: 2783]


    [Speed: 3401]


    [Defense: 2245]


    [Skills: Shoot, Arrow Creation, Arrow Ray, Arrow Barrage, Archer''s Focus, Crystal Burst, Teleportation, Crystal Shield, Puppet Control, Sierra''s Final Stand, Crystal Transformation¡­]


    ¡­


    "It''s just you and me now!" Sierra span her bow around, throwing it from hand to hand in a very stylish way, maybe trying to prove that she is a master archer, and that she hasplete control over her bow movements.


    "ARROW CREATION! SHOOT!"


    She tried to shoot an arrow at Stark after creating an arrow out of crystals and aura, but he obviously just avoided it.


    ''Spatial Inventory,'' in return, Stark opened his inventory void and pulled out 2 potions of Strength and 2 potions of Speed, then he drank them all quickly.


    He wanted to guarantee he would have the effect during the entire fight since his potions from before had already stopped working.


    "AURA SMASH, CRIMSON SPEARS!" Stark retaliated by punching the air twice in Sierra''s direction, sending two fists of aura and all his spears to her.


    "Crystal Shield," but just like she did before, the archer transformed one of her arrows and shot it down to create a crystal wall that blocked everything.


    "-0! -0! -0!"


    ~DASH~


    Not wasting time, Stark dashed toward Sierra while she was defending herself using the crystal wall as a shield, and the moment it got destroyed¡­


    "Hey there¡­" he appeared from behind the debris, taking the archer by surprise.


    But it didn''t mean that she couldn''t get out of such a situation, after all¡­ Sierra may be in an archer, but she is just aspetent as most ''Warrior'' sses in hand-to-handbat.


    ~FWISH, KICK~


    She used her bow to block the punch again, and as soon as Stark tried to use that opportunity tounch his second hand at her¡­ she spanned and kicked him out really hard in the stomach, sending him flying in the opposite direction.


    [The Purgatory Shadow took the hit in your ce]


    "-0!"


    He was stillunched away, but received no damage whatsoever.


    ''What the hell was that thing¡­'' Sierra wondered as she saw a shadowe out of one of Stark''s rings to protect him, ''This boy is weird¡­''


    ''But¡­'' she suddenly grinned as she saw Stark retrieve his bnce using his hands, ''This is exciting!''


    And so just like that¡­ for the first time in a very long time, Sierra was beginning to enjoy the thrill of a battle.


    But that meant that it would be much more difficult for Stark.


    "ARROW RAY, CRYSTAL BURST!" she activated two skills at the same time all of a sudden, and the aura around her grew even more.


    Her bow was beginning to be surrounded by an electrifying blue aura, and five giant crystal shards appeared behind Sierra, spinning around her in circles as well.


    "It''s time to end this, human," she shrugged as her grin grew even wider.


    ''CLONE FRENZY!'' but Stark wouldn''t let this go, and so he summoned only one of his clones as the other one was still on cooldown for 5 minutes.


    ''I''m gonna send you to hell,dy,'' he smiled as well, his eyes burning with a deep aura, "You''re gonna join the mayor and the angel soon," heughed, and her eyes slightly twitched upon hearing that.


    And so just like that, Stark got ready to fight the opponent that could transform him into a monster with one single arrow.

 Chapter 118: The Effect of the Arrows

    Stark''s clone nodded as it saw the rift boss use all her powerful attacks, her bow and body surrounded by an electrifying blue aura, and also five crystal shards turning around her in rotation.


    "DIE!" she pointed her bow at him, and a giant arrow, at least ten times the size of the others, began charging up inside as she pulled the string.


    Stark wasn''t dumb, and so instead of letting her charge an attack that could potentially kill him, he immediately dashed toward her.


    "AURA SMASH," his clone also sent two fists at her to give Stark a chance to attack.


    But¡­


    Two of the crystal shards rotating around Sierra intercepted the fists, then immediately crumbled, meaning only three were left.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," but it wouldn''t back off, so the clone also sent three spears again, in hopes of eliminating all the shards.


    But¡­


    ~BAM~


    Like a baseball bat, one of the shards conveniently ced itself horizontally in front of the spears, and as if it was controlled by an invisible creature, it swung to make all three spears disappear, in exchange the shard obviously disappeared.


    [Crystal Burst] was an incredibly powerful attack, not only since it granted the user the ability to summon 5 shards that could pretty much block any attack, but also because when it is set on [Attack] mode, Sierra can send all the shards toward a target, and if they ever hit him (or an area close to him), then it would cause massive damage as they would explode.


    ~PUNCH~


    Stark tried to take advantage of Sierra''s attack charging up to punch her and cancel it, but yet another shard came to interrupt him, and it shattered as well as it blocked his strike.


    Stark knew this would happen as he had seen his clone''s attacks being blocked, but¡­


    The thing he didn''t expect though is for the shard to suddenly move while he was in midair, unable to dodge, and then¡­


    ~BAM, CRACK~


    The shard mmed into Stark''s chest, sending him flying backward and crashing into the ground.


    "-7837!"


    He felt a sharp pain as some crystal debris teared the fabric of his clothes and cause manor injuries.


    Luckily, Stark had activated his [Domination] shield, which sessfully blocked 5K points of damage, meaning that he had overall ''only'' received 2837 points of damage.


    [Stark HP: 8363/11200]


    Thanks to his level increase, his HPs had already gone well over 10000.


    After all, the more a ssifier levels up, the higher the amount of HP they would get to amodate for the bigger challenges they would faceter.


    Stark''s clone helped him get up instantly, like the truepanion it was, but¡­ it was already toote.


    "GOODBYE, HUMAN!" Sierraughed maniacally as her giant arrow attack charged.


    And suddenly¡­


    [AVOID, AVOID, AVOID, AVOID]


    The crimson messages appeared all over, but they quickly subdued as another one appeared, and it was extremely unusual.


    [CANNOT AVOID, ELIMINATE BOSS QUICK!]


    ''Huh?''


    Not understanding, Stark immediately used [Perception] on Sierra''s status panel, and specifically on the [Arrow Ray] skill.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Arrow Ray]


    [Description:] A powerful ranged attack that needs 30 seconds to charge up, but if the user ever seeds in doing that, then a giant crystal arrow will appear and transform into an unstoppable beam.


    [Note:] This skill cannot be stopped unless it hits someone (it will still go if hitting an object), so it would be advised to watch out as the arrow beam works just as the normal ones.


    ¡­


    And suddenly, as soon as he read that¡­


    ~FIOUUU, BOOOOOM!~


    Sierra fired the giant arrow at Stark, which created a trail of white aura so overwhelming it could make many ssifiers faint upon sensing it.


    "DASH!" it was fast, but Stark immediately moved out of the way by pping Judicator''s wings.


    But of course¡­ it wasn''t like the other arrows.


    Since as soon as the arrow met the wall on the other end of the cave boss area, it didn''t explode or disappear like the others, instead, it turned around and flew back toward Stark.


    ''It''s going to follow me until it hits something¡­'' Stark''s eyes widened as he crouched to avoid the arrow again.


    And in the meantime, Sierra didn''t sit down and watch him struggle.


    "ARROW BARRAGE," she began to create more arrows andunch them at Stark and his clone while they were busy avoiding the giant arrow.


    ''This can''t keep going,'' Stark mumbled as he kept moving in all directions, many arrows almost hitting him, ''But if the arrows need to hit something then¡­''


    He looked at his clone, and suddenly, something came to mind.


    Back at the Domination Trial, something like this happened before, where either he or Orasio needed to sacrifice themselves to pass to the final area, and at that the time¡­


    He had used one of his clones so that they both pass.


    So maybe¡­ just maybe¡­ his clone could be considered as a person?


    And so¡­ he took the risk.


    "Hey," he shouted to his clone, and it immediately understood as it suddenly began to run in the opposite direction, toward Stark.


    "FOOLISH, DIE, HUMAN!" Sierra didn''t stop shooting her arrows, confident in her imminent victory now.


    But right as the [Arrow Ray] was centimeters away from hitting the original Stark¡­ the clone pushed him out of the way and took the hit.


    "-837!" these [Arrows of Sierra] didn''t do that much damage as their perk was already overpowered.


    ''Dumbass, he wasted a clone,'' Sierra maniacallyughed, even stopping her onught of arrows to enjoy the show.


    But what she didn''t expect¡­ was for Stark''s clone to be so close to the original, and made from his aura, so it would be considered as if hitting someone.


    And so the giant arrow exploded upon contact with the clone''s body.


    But before it disappeared¡­ it received the effects of the [Arrow of Sierra] perk.


    ''Oh¡­ I can see what it does now,'' Stark smiled.


    The white mist engulfed the clone, and its body suddenly began to turnpletely white, crystal shards growing on its skin too, its aura also began to flow around the area, as if trying to escape and bing aggressive.


    ''WHAT THE?'' Stark was taken aback.


    And so after a few seconds¡­ the clone''s body began to crystallize, the shards spreading and covering its entire form.


    And the moment the crystals merged with its figure, the clone''s eyes becamepletely ck, and a pair of wings grew from its back.


    It had be a [Servant of Sierra], and although Stark couldn''t know about the pain, the aura of the clone moving so much during the transformation meant that it was extremely painful.


    ''I''m sorry,'' he sighed, speaking to his clone before calling it back, resulting in its aura seeping back into his body, and for the white mist/crystals to drop to the ground as the bearer of the ''perk'' had disappeared.


    But¡­ now Stark was mad, and the aura from the clone that merged with his increased his anger as it sought for revenge: it wanted Sierra dead, it wasn''t even about the mission anymore.


    "Nice try, but now I''m truly gonna end this," Stark dashed toward Sierra, taking her aback as she hadn''t expected for the clone to be able to affected by her arrows.


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT!" he shouted, activating his legendary skill.

 Chapter 119: Double Assault and Double Impact are STRONG!

    "ARROW BARRAGE," Sierra sensed that something was wrong with Stark as soon as he activated [Double Assault], after all his aura just became twice as imposing, and it made even her ufortable.


    She didn''t want to admit it, but she now understood why Mkar and Judicator had possibly lost against this human, he was strong, there was no denying this fact.


    ''But I beat humans stronger than he is¡­'' yet she didn''t give up, after all, all the ssifiers she had infected before were over level 100, and during her life out of this rift, she managed to beat some powerful foes too alongside the ''Godless Demon'' and other apostles.


    She couldn''t lose against this human, not now, it was impossible.


    [9 seconds left for ''Double Assault'']


    Before Sierra could even create her first arrow and shoot it, Stark was already in front of her, his eyes burning with determination.


    ''SHIT,'' this brought back memories to Sierra as thest time such a thing happened, she had beenpletely destroyed: she couldn''t allow that to happen again.


    "TELEPORTATION!" she had the time to create an arrow with a triangle shape at its edge, then she quicklyunched it to the other side of the room.


    ~SLAM~


    Stark punched the air in Sierra''s direction, but she disappeared in a trail of smoke right as his fist reached her.


    ''She used that arrow to teleport away,'' he immediately thought, but didn''t care enough to actually think too much about it as his time using [Double Assault] was counted.


    And during the split second Sierra took to assess her surroundings again, she opened her eyes and¡­ Stark was right in front of her again.


    ''Too fast!'' she can use [Teleportation] repeatedly, but this time there was absolutely no way for her to do anything.


    And so what had to happen happened.


    ~PUNCH~


    Stark punched her face before she could even react.


    "-58372!" the damage rose up.


    Still¡­ somehow it didn''t do as much damage as when Stark was angry, even when he didn''t have [Double Assault] activated at that time, was there the possibility that he didn''t know something about the [Domination] ss¡­?


    Sierra was sent flying for dozens of meters after that punch, but Stark wouldn''t let her go this easily.


    He caught up to her while in midair using his speed, and smashed her body to the ground using his two hands.


    "-38372! -11029!"


    "TELEPORTATION," Sierra, even though she was hurt, sent another one of her triangle arrows to the other side of the cave, resulting in her teleporting away from Stark again.


    [3 seconds left for ''Double Assault'']


    "AURA SMASH, CRIMSON SPEARS," Sierra was bleeding, and her body was slightly trembling, maybe she feared that Stark would be able to catch up to her again?


    The two crimson fists and three spears rushed at Sierra, but yet again, she activated [Crystal Shield] to defend herself from the attacks, then quickly used [Arrow Creation] and [Shoot] to stale for time.


    "ARCHER''S FOCUS," the eyes of an archer are supposed to be perfect, and 10/10 vision is a must, which was why this skill was even able to detect for how much time an ability can go on for, and predict the enemies'' movements.


    This was why she had been so confident at first: she was able to see all of Stark''s movements no matter what he did, yet when he was suddenly able to catch up to her in the surface and still manage to hit her while the skill was active, she knew that something was off.


    ''SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!'' she kept shooting arrows so fast that her hand movements weren''t visible to the naked eye.


    And yet... in less than a second, Stark had managed to avoid them all and was already in front of her.


    "CRYSTAL SHIELD," she shot an arrow down, creating a crystal wall to protect her.


    But¡­


    ~SLAM~


    Stark destroyed it instantly.


    "DIE!" Sierra tried to use the chaos and momentum of Stark destroying the wall to shoot another arrow, but¡­


    "DASH!" he pped [Judicator''s Wings] upward, and so he avoided the arrow, looking down at the archer from above, a cold gaze on his face.


    [1 second left for ''Double Assault''!]


    ''It''s fine¡­'' Sierra still had the guts to smile, ''Only one second left for that shitty skill¡­ then I can use "them" to win¡­ he can only attack me once with that time after all¡­!''


    She had given up the idea of avoiding the attack since Stark''s speed while using [Double Assault] was just too much, and so she was ready to get punched.


    And she did.


    ~SMASH~


    Stark smashed her head while he was in the air.


    "-48372!" she almost fell to the floor because of damage and pain, but she still thought that it was possible toe back from this as [Double Assault] couldn''t be used anymore.


    ''AND NOW, IT''S TIME FOR ME TO WIN'' she immediately tried to get up, a wide grin on her bloody face.


    But¡­


    ''Huh?''


    [''Double Impact'' activated!]


    [Description: When using ''Double Assault'', there is a very small chance that each attack will count as two hits (deadly), causing double the damage, but also double the status effect or knock back on your opponent.]


    Sierra''s smile faltered as she looked up and saw a crimson copy of Stark, it''s eyespletely white, and a trail of white aurae out from them.


    ~SMASH~


    The copy, which was the result of ''Double Impact'', smashed Sierra''s head and did just as much damage as the first attack.


    "-48372!"


    And with all of that¡­


    [Sierra, The Crystal Archer HP: 41101/315000]


    Stark would have loved to finish her off this instant, but his stamina was depleting really fast after all of these movements, and the fact he avoided so many arrows took a toll on him, which was why he decided to back away for a few moments to recover everything.


    After all¡­ that boss was pretty much done for.


    "¡­" Sierra was looking down to the ground, her bow still in hand, but she wasn''t moving at all, almost as if her spirit had been broken.


    But no¡­ this couldn''t be it, no way in hell such an arrogant piece of shit like her would give up.


    And he was right, since even though from the outside, it looked like Sierra was giving up, on the inside¡­


    ''HAHAHAHAHAHAHA,'' she wasughing like a maniac.


    "I''M GOING TO FUCKING RIP YOU APART, AND WHEN YOU TRANSFORM INTO ONE OF THOSE BEASTS, I''LL MAKE YOU INTO MY SLAVE," she shouted as hard as she could while getting up, a creepy smile on her face.


    And so... she activated her ultimate skills.


    ''Ah shit¡­'' Stark sensed the atmosphere of the room change, and even though it looked like Sierra was done for after everything he had sent her way, she still had the determination to keep going.


    "CRYSTAL TRANSFORMATION, SIERRA''S FINAL STAND," she activated her two ultimate skills, and suddenly, the aura around her, much like when Stark used [Double Assault], grew at least five times in size and power.


    But Stark wouldn''t back down.


    "Hah~" he mocked her while seeing the surrounding space distort, "I would love to make you my ve to teach you a lesson, but too bad I''ll kill you before that~" he mocked her previous statement.


    And so just like that, the final showdown of this battle could begin.

 Chapter 120: The Seven Servants of Sierra

    "CRYSTAL TRANSFORMATION, SIERRA''S LAST STAND!" her HP reaching its final quarter, Sierra knew she couldn''t just stand idle while the human eliminated her like her otherrades, she was much better than them after all, she was stronger than Mkar and Judicator!


    ''...'' Stark had a nk expression on his face, just waiting for her to try more things: he wanted her to do everything in her power to stop him, yet miserably fail, and when she will be in the depths of despair, he''ll kill her.


    This wasn''t cruel, after all he was just giving back what she did to all those humans she transformed, and if torture was possible, he would dly do it.


    And so... Stark looked at Sierra as the space around her became to distort.


    Then suddenly... [Crystal Transformation], one of her ultimate skills, took effect as it needed to charge.


    The other one also needed to charge up, but it would take a much bigger amount of time.


    And so...


    "CRYSTAL TRANSFORMATION!" Sierra shouted, and her aura became much overwhelming, then...


    Many crystals around the walls of the boss area began to shake.


    ~BRRRRRR~


    It created a very annoying sound, but it ended after only five seconds since all the crystal immediately removed themselves from their spots in the wall, meaning that all around Stark and Sierra were hundreds upon hundreds of them.


    ''...going to attack me with them?'' Stark thought, after all there was a chanceing in contact with those crystals was deadly as they were what made the arrows.


    But no... it couldn''t be it, otherwise she could have done that since the beginning.


    Instead, hundreds upon hundreds of crystal shook again, then all began to fly toward Sierra.


    It was a beautiful sight as each of them left a trail of white mist behind.


    And so after all the crystals of the cave reached the boss... they began to merge with her skin.


    ''No...'' Stark was wrong, ''They''re not merging... they''re... creating an upperyer of protection...?''


    Every crystal that reached Sierra''s skin added something to that mysticalyer, and it was like some sort of crystal armor was forming itself around Sierra.


    And that was exactly what was happening, since when Stark finally decided to use [Perception]...


    ...


    [Skill: Crystal Transformation]


    [Description:]This exclusive skill allows Sierra tobine many crystal shards around her to create an armor that gives her protection against any attacks, note that hitting the armor doesn''t infect you with the ''crystal mist''.


    [Note:] The armor has 100K HP, and it is impossible to hit Sierra until it is destroyed.


    ...


    ''Yeah... Basically she gave herself an additional 100K HP,'' it wasn''t that annoying since two good hits meant that the armor would be destroyed, but it also meant there was a chance Sierra coulde back from this.


    And by the time the crystal armor was finished... it was already shining, an ethereal aura around it.


    It waspletely white, and covered up Sierrapletely, except for her head as her ocean eyes were still visible, although there was a crystal helmet on it.


    "Feels better," Sierra smiled lightly, bold of her after getting beat up by the very human she underestimated.


    But by the sheer aura around her... Stark knew that something was wrong.


    "I''m impressed," Sierra pped her hands, "Very impressed, human, you''ll make a fine ve, my OWN premium ve!" sheughed.


    "..." Stark looked at her with a nk expression, and he took a step forward.


    "Don''t even think of taking another step in this direction if you don''t want to have a bad time."


    ~STEP~


    Stark didn''t care and took two more, his expression not changing.


    "You know," Sierra shrugged, "I realized that you only got angry when I talked about those transformed humans, and especially that pregnant woman, were they yourpanions?"


    ~STEP, STEP~


    "Maybe if you ept to be one of my ves, I''ll let them go, you know?" she smiled, pointing her bow at Stark.


    ''Liar...'' he had clearly read in the arrows'' description that people who are transformed cannot go back, and either way he wasn''t ying to do that for some strangers.


    ~STEP, STEP, STEP~


    Every step Stark took now left a burning mark on the cave ground.


    ~FWISH~


    Sierra shot an arrow at Stark, but he just avoided it before returning to his original position.


    "You just won''t give up..." Sierra smiled, a malicious glint in her eyes indicating she was preparing something, "Well, let''s see how well you do against ''THEM''!"


    And suddenly...


    "PUPPET CONTROL!" the bow in her hand flew behind her and began to float while spinning, and on the other hand, Sierra lifted both of her arms up, a white electric auraing out of each of her fingers.


    ~STEP, STEP~


    Stark didn''t stop though.


    And so¡­ as he kept walking, the electric auraing out of Sierra hit the ground seven times in front of her, and¡­


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    From the ground emerged seven figures, they werepletely white, but inparison to the [Victims of Sierra], it was still possible to distinguish that they were human.


    They were the so-called [Servants of Sierra], basically, the seven ssifiers that had attempted to beat this rift but all failed.


    "As I said before¡­" Sierra pped her hands, and the seven figures began to walk toward Stark like zombies, "It is possible to save them, they are still alive, we wouldn''t want to kill them, would we?"


    Did she really think this bluff would work against Stark?


    Some of the [Servants of Sierra] were now right in front of Stark, and they stopped, looking at him with their ck eyes, they were much scarier than the [Victims] since they still had human features.


    ¡­


    [Name: Servant of Sierra]


    [Level: 80]


    [HP: 30000]


    [Strength: 1]


    [Stamina: 1]


    [Speed: 1]


    [Defense: 1]


    [Skills: Memories, Puppet, Despair¡­]


    ¡­


    Other than their improved HP and two additional skills, they were just like the [Victims of Sierra], mere puppets controlled by the boss.


    They couldn''t do any damage, and any hit would kill them.


    And so as all of them stopped before Stark, all he could see in their eyes was the infinite despair of being helpless against this entity.


    ''Look at him¡­ stopping once he sees them¡­ just as I knew, humans are so easy to manipte¡­'' Sierra giggled, the malicious grin on her face growing.


    But¡­


    "K-Kill¡­ us¡­" an echo escaped the servants'' mouths as they all looked at Stark, their eyes on the verge of tears yet unable to do so.


    "Ok," Stark nodded, this was the only mercy he could give them.


    The [Servant of Sierra] before Stark was the pregnant woman Sierra had mentioned beforehand, and so¡­


    ~PUNCH~


    Stark punched her face as lightly as he could.


    "-49472!" it still did incredible damage because of her 1 defense stat, and she immediately vanished.


    "Huh?" Sierra was shocked that Stark actually had the guts to kill another human, no matter how transformed it was.


    She had used this strategy several times against other people, using their loved ones as bait to transform them too.


    "Let''s get this over with," Stark advanced, he was tired of her dirty tricks, and if killing her was the sole solution to free all the creatures she transformed, then he wanted to do it fast.

 Chapter 121: The Ultimate Skill: Sierras Last Stand

    ~PUNCH~


    "-49372!" another [Servant of Sierra] vanished.


    "Haha~ you try to act as if you''re righteous," Sierra''s smile did falter for a second, but she kept herposure as she summoned back her bow in hand, it was floating right behind her.


    ~PUNCH, PUNCH~


    "-51938! -50281!"


    "You think you''re some hero of justice, don''t you?" she continued.


    ~PUNCH, PUNCH~


    "And yet¡­ I can see in your expression that you never cared to begin with!" she pointed her bow at him, "Now all I need is for you to get hit once, then it''s game over!"


    ~PUNCH~


    Stark punched the final [Servant of Sierra], making it vanish into thin air as it could finally rest, then he looked up at Sierra, a vortex of aura in his eyes.


    "Stop talking so much, my god," he groaned as he kept walking toward the archer.


    ''Clone Frenzy,'' he summoned his clone beside it, and it began to walk beside its owner, the same expression on its face.


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT," his clone suddenly activated the legendary skill, and dashed toward Sierra, with zero intention to let her rest.


    "I ALREADY KNOW OF YOUR TRICKS NOW!" Sierra shouted as she created three arrows and pulled the string of her bow while all three were in hand.


    "Invincible Dodge," the clone calmly avoided the first three, but was forced to use his skill on the third as it was much faster.


    [Archer''s Focus] adapts to the opponent over time, and so that meant that Sierra at some point would be able to predict even the overly fast Stark.


    That is¡­ if he gave her that time.


    Since when created five arrows this time, ready to point her at the clone.


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH," the clone didn''t let it get away with that.


    And so right as it was cornered by the arrows, trying its hardest to escape, it was still hit by one of them, transforming its figure into one of those horrifying servants.


    ''Come back¡­'' Stark didn''t want to let his clone suffer so he called it back instantly.


    "You won''t be able to do that anymore, no more clones, no more stat boosts," Sierraughed.


    But she had failed to notice one simple thing: the small crimson light in the ceiling that was growing more and more.


    [Heaven''s Wrath] had sessfully activated, and Sierra''s arrogance didn''t allow her to notice it as she thought that the clone was just trying to survive.


    Five secondster¡­ she sensed the aura and looked up.


    But it was already toote at this point.


    ~FWISHHH~ the beam had charged up, and¡­ ~BOOM~


    As if descending from the heavens to purge the monster, the giant crimson beam of aura fell perfectly on Sierra, who immediately attempted to get away from the radius of the attack.


    After all, even her [Archer''s Focus] skill had warned her that surviving this wouldn''t be possible.


    ~BAM, BAM, BAM!~


    She was hit three times by the attack while trying to get away.


    "-29382! -24827! -25045!"


    Her [Crystal Armor] was now almostpletely destroyed, cracks visible on every part of it as it only had 100K HP to protect its wearer, and the moment these HPs run out, then Sierra would be defenseless again.


    In the meantime, seeing that Sierra was upied, Stark activated [Spatial Inventory] and pulled out two [Potions of Regeneration] as he had lost some HP during the battle.


    But the moment he opened them both using his fingers and got ready to gulp them down¡­


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    Sierra sent two arrows, and this time they weren''t even aimed at him, but the potion themselves, as the sses exploded upon impact and all the liquid fell to the floor.


    "¡­" Stark wasn''t surprised, of course it wouldn''t be easy to heal yourself during a battle.


    "¡­" for the first time since the battle started, Sierra didn''t say anything either, instead she just got up, a neutral expression on her face as well, a far cry from the constant smiles and grins she had before.


    This surprised Stark, but then he sensed something terrifying.


    [WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!]


    It seemed like [Focus] detected it as well as dozens of panels appeared around him.


    And when he looked up¡­ he saw a small smile on Sierra''s face as she lifted both of her arms up, her bow floating between them like she had just acquired it inside a chest.


    "SIERRA''S FINAL STAND," her final skill had finally charged up, and so the bow between her hands began to spin at the speed of light, creating a vortex of blue aura, sending shockwaves throughout the cave.


    ~BIM, BIM, BIM~


    He began to hear noise around him.


    ~BIM, BIM, BIM~


    Trails of white aura escaped the bow, and ced themselves all over the cave.


    ~BIM, BIM, BIM~


    Upon further inspection, Stark noticed that¡­ those trails of auras were actually [Arrows of Sierra].


    And every ''BIM'' he heard was basically the warning that an additional was added.


    This honestly wouldn''t be scary under normal circumstances, but the problem was¡­ that he heard hundreds upon hundreds of BIM''s.


    And just as expected, now, all over the walls of the cave, surrounding Stark and Sierra, were hundreds, if not thousands of arrows.


    ''Huh¡­?'' Stark was confused, after all¡­ this seemed impossible to dodge.


    And as if she read his mind¡­ Sierra answered, her malicious grin back.


    "Because it''s not possible to dodge it!" sheughed.


    ''¡­''


    [This is an ''unavoidable attack'']


    If a single one of these arrows was able to kill him, then¡­ wasn''t he fucked with this sheer amount?


    [Invincible Dodge] wouldn''t help since there are too many of them, and there is no way he could avoid them all, it waspletely different from the [All-Area Strike] of the Mirror Master¡­


    And so just like that, Stark was at the mercy of the ''Crystal Archer''.


    "Phew~ almost thought it would never finish powering up, but thank ''Godless Demon'' I was able to do it!"


    "AURA SMASH, CRIMSON SPEARS!" he tried to send his attacks at her, hoping it would eliminate her as her bow was still floating, but¡­


    A dozen arrows pointed toward the attacks and flew to block them, meaning that Stark now had nothing to attack from long-range anymore.


    Except for [Heaven''s Wrath] that is, but he knew that Sierra would send all the arrows if she saw him do something suspicious.


    In the end¡­ there was no solution to this problem, he was fucked.


    And it made him angry, more angry than even back at the surface, the crimson aura around his body flowing like waves and surrounding his entire figure, as some sort of shield.


    ''¡­''


    "Well, GOODBYE!" Sierraughed as she pulled her hands down, and all the arrows suddenly flew toward Stark.


    [Death iing!]


    ''¡­''


    But Stark refused.

 Chapter 122: Unwavering Determination and Defeat of Sierra

    "SIERRA''S LAST STAND!"


    The true ultimate skill of this boss, but also the most terrifying one.


    And the reason was right in front of Stark, although he still decided to use [Perception] on it.


    ...


    [Skill: Sierra''s Last Stand]


    [Description:] Sierra gives up shooting arrows to charge many more, and if she sessfully manages to cast this skill after a while, then hundreds upon hundreds of arrows will appear to surround the enemy, leaving them with no real escape.


    [Note:] This is an unavoidable attack, so eliminate her before she does that.


    ...


    ''...'' Stark didn''t say anything, his anger was at an all-time high since he knew that he was pretty much fucked, and the worst part was that look on Sierra''s face, one that told him she was confident that she had won now.


    His entire body, including face, eyes, and even hair was now surrounded by aura, like an armor, from outside perspective, you wouldn''t be able to see his features at all, instead it would just be a red aura tracing his figure, and white eyes with blue/crimson pupils burning.


    Stark couldn''t give up now, he couldn''t lose after all of this.


    He had been sent here by that damn ''Archer King'' because of money and the possibility of joining one of the most prestigious academies in this world, but... Stark was confident that none of the students there would be able toplete this.


    Basically, he had given him a task at least thrice as hard as a normal passing test.


    Did he hope to kill him? Or maybe he really believed Stark could win?


    But he had already sent 7 people previously, and they had all died, so why...


    ''Why...'' his anger was growing as he was looking to the ground, his white eyes'' aura burning even more.


    "WELL, GOODBYE," Sierra decided to stop the suspense going and pulled down both her arms, which immediately sent all the [Arrows of Sierra] flying toward Stark at the same time.


    [Invincible Dodge] wouldn''t work, and avoiding is impossible with the sheer amount.


    ''WHY...'' meaning that Stark was fucked.


    It was game over...


    ...


    Or was it?


    ''WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY...'' he gritted his teeth, and all he could see was red.


    [Your determination to survive is outstanding...]


    A crimson panel appeared in front of him as the arrows were only a few meters away.


    [But giving up isn''t the solution...]


    ''...''


    ~FWISH, DASH~


    "Oh~?" Sierra raised her eyebrows, "Still trying...?"


    [KEEP GOING!]


    Stark began to run at terrifying speed toward Sierra.


    But... the Archer kept smiling.


    Of course, she had no reason to be scared since...


    ~CRISH, BAM, BAM, BAM~


    The arrows reached Stark, and at least fifty of them hit him from all directions.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    All the arrows exploded, and the white mist that infected anybody who came in contact or inhaled it spread all over Stark.


    ''With this, it''s over...'' Sierra smiled.


    One arrow was enough to stop a ssifier at Stark''s level, but around fifty would be enough to even stop a level 300 human or a boss monster.


    ''...'' Stark''s sudden rush stopped as soon as the arrows exploded, which stunned him and made him unable to move.


    ~CRWIISH~


    Not only his body, but also his mind, were beginning to be infected by the perk of those arrows.


    ''...''


    "Seems like it''s my win," Sierra smiled as she sat down, wanting to enjoy the show.


    But... even though his body was slowly beginning to transform, his mind on the other hand... screamed for him to keep going.


    It REFUSED to give up.


    [Keep going, this is not the end...]


    And even though that damned mist also tried to get to his head...


    [Your determination has chased the infection]


    The aura inside his head was enough to stop it from infecting his brain.


    It was a feat most would consider legendary, but for Stark, it was a question of survival.


    "Look at you, unable to move," Sierra mocked, "It''s normal after all, it''s impossible to move once you''re hit by one of my arrows!"


    Even the [Shadow Stalker Trio] from before had been unable to move once a single arrow hit its shoulder.


    But if Stark stood idle... he would surely die.


    Which was why, with the entire determination inside his body, and his domination armor shielding him... he ordered one thing to his body: MOVE!


    [MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!]


    The pain was still there even though he wasn''t being infected, and Stark struggled.


    But in the end... his domination woulde out on top.


    ~STEP~


    He took a step toward Sierra, his eyes and aura burning twice as hard.


    That [Domination Armor] of his gave him the ability to support the mist of the arrows, and his sheer determination forced him to keep going.


    ~STEP~


    "...?" Sierra''s eyes widened, after all, there was no way...


    ~STEP, STEP, TAP, RUN~


    Struggling steps turned into walking, then after a few instants into full on running toward Sierra.


    "Huh?" she couldn''t believe what she was seeing that Stark''s fist was already in front of her face, ''H-How did he move?''


    This was impossible, no one can do that!


    No one can do that, and yet... an anomaly was right in front of her.


    She couldn''t dodge as Stark''s fist hit her helmet in full force.


    ~BAMMMM~


    "-49288!" the crystal armor that protected herpletely shattered, and she received the remaining damage, sending her flying backward.


    "Cough, cough," Sierra struggled to breath, and honestly, she didn''t even have the motivation to keep going, she was supposed to win after he was hit, and yet even that wasn''t enough.


    She looked up, and she saw that Stark was already there.


    "..." his eyes were piercing her soul, and although it wasn''t visible that he was mad, the sheer aura told her that this was bad.


    [''Sierra'' has received the DOMINATED status!]


    [End her.]


    "W-wait, let me tell you something, LET ME-" she tried to gain time, in hopes that the infection inside of him could stop him, she was now fearful of Stark and his aura.


    But Stark wasn''t dumb, and so...


    ~KICK, BOOOM~


    "-8372!"


    He kicked her down, cing his shoe on her face, but making sure not to do enough damage to kill her.


    "Monster..." Sierra coughed again.


    "Your first mistake wasn''t doing everything that you did," he lifted his foot, focusing the entirety of his aura on it, "Your sole and only mistake was meeting me and thinking you would win."


    And so... he mmed her face with his foot while she was still processing what he had said, a terrified look on her face.


    "73618!"


    She died, and thest expression on her face was one of a scared prey running from her predator.


    [Sierra HP: 0/315000]


    [You have defeated ''Sierra, The Crystal Archer''!]

 Chapter 123: Mission Completed

    Stark took a deep breath and slowly removed his foot from Sierra''s face, his red aura fading slightly as he began to calm down.


    [Your body is now unaffected by the mist]


    This was good news, as otherwise he would have already been transformed, and Sierra would be the one that emerged victorious.


    He didn''t understand how he had managed to keep moving after all this, but maybe it was his will power and anger that powered up his aura enough to let him keep going.


    In the end, it didn''t matter, as he had won.


    [You have in ''Sierra, The Crystal Archer lv80'', gained 1,350,000EXP!]


    ''HOLY!'' Stark was astonished, he had never gotten this much EXP, and even the fights against the other monsters of this rift hadn''t given him this much.


    And of course¡­


    ~DING, DING~


    He was surrounded by the golden aura twice.


    [Your level has increased to level 30, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 31, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    And of course, reaching a new milestone like this meant one thing and one thing only¡­


    [Level 30 Reached: please pick a card].


    It wasn''t different from the previous times, and three green cards appeared before him.


    But this did make Stark wonder something: what about the [Alchemist] ss?


    If he had gained a new ss, aka Alchemist, then shouldn''t there be skill cards for it too?


    [The ''Alchemist'' ss is a unique one, since all their poweres from their potions, and they already have everything needed: station, ingredients, ability to see ingredients; then their way of improving mostly relies on crafting good potions and increasing their alchemist level to create more powerful ones!]


    ''So no skill for an alchemist?'' he tilted his head.


    [Wrong! There are indeed SOME skills for alchemists, although very rare, and they are all extremely powerful, so most alchemists just rely on their basic ones!]


    ''Fair¡­'' But this did mean that Stark would actually have to start focusing on how to upgrade his alchemy skills and his station from now on.


    Sighing and rubbing his face, Stark took a moment to collect his thoughts.


    Then he closed his eyes and picked a card at random.


    It was a [Domination] ss card, obviously, and once he turned it around, he saw the drawing of¡­ an arrow pointing in several directions.


    ''The fuck?'' this was the most confusing drawing out of them all.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Target Maniption]


    [Type: Epic]


    [Level: 1]


    [Description: By focusing your aura on an opponent, you can force them to move in the direction you choose: up, left, right, down¡­ The pushpletely depends on the amount of aura you put into it]


    [Note: using too much aura can deplete your stamina and tire you out, and you can only select one target at a time¡­]


    ¡­


    It was a rather interesting skill, and Stark could see some ways to make it work, but it wasn''t phenomenal either.


    He would need to try it out and see how good it truly was, after all you can''t just judge a skill by its description.


    After doing that, Stark immediately decided to use some of the [Skill Points] he had gotten from the level ups.


    [You have upgraded ''Aura Smash'' to level 9!]


    [You have upgraded ''Aura Smash'' to level 10!]


    ''I''ll keep the other ones in case I need them forter, or just to stack¡­'' he thought, he only wanted to bring [Aura Smash] to level 10 to get another perk after all.


    And he got it.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Aura Smash lv10]


    [New Perks: Three Crimson Fist + Merging]


    [Description: Not only can you now summon three crimson fists instead of two to aid you in battle, but that would be toome, so you also have the new ability to merge all three fists into one giant and powerful one thatbines the power of all three, creating an explosion that will damage all enemies hit by the attack or are near it.]


    ¡­


    ''Huh¡­'' the first perk was something he totally expected, but the second one was a nice bonus, ''Wonder when i''ll get a cooldown decrease though.''


    30 seconds between each use didn''t seem much, but in the middle of battle it could be decisive.


    His eyes then immediately turned to Sierra''s body, it didn''t disappear like Judicator, maybe even the world wanted to preserve her beauty? Although by human standards, Judicator could also be considered handsome.


    In the end it didn''t matter, since what interested Stark wasn''t her body or face, but¡­ the three glints that could be seen on top of her: it was the call of new items to get!


    And frankly, Stark expected a lot from this fight, especially after almost dying (yes, for the third time).


    He reached out for the three items, and they suddenly appeared before him.


    The first was a bow, the exact one Sierra had been using, the bow is made of shimmering crystal, each curve and detail crafted with precision and beauty. The string is taut and ready for use, gleaming in the light.


    ¡­


    [Item:] Sierra''s Crystal Bow


    [Type:] Bow


    [ss:] Archer


    [Tier:] Legendary


    [Required Level:] 60


    [Quality:] Perfect


    [Attributes:] +700 Stamina; +500 Speed


    [Special Perks:] Ability to use the [Archer''s Focus] skill, a powerful skill that allows the user to predict the movements of an opponent and also increases your precision while firing an arrow by 50%.


    ¡­


    He didn''t even need to be an archer to know that this item would sell for an incredible amount of rher coins, and this brought a big smile to Stark''s face.


    The second item was a¡­ QUIVER!?


    Stark immediately grabbed it and checked the inside, and he almost jumped in joy after seeing that it was full of [Arrows of Sierra]!


    He had forgotten about the mission since he was too busy focusing on his own survival, so it was great that he received the arrows regardless.


    ¡­


    [Item:] Arrow Quiver


    [Type:] Bag


    [Quality:] Exquisite


    [Description:] Contains exactly 100 [Arrows of Sierra].


    ¡­


    And so that left him with one item as it was the only one still on the floor, its glint inviting Stark to pick it up.


    Once he crouched to take it in hand, he noticed something strange: it was a paper.


    No¡­ it was a scroll!


    And not a skill scroll, but a potion one, meaning that it was for the [Alchemist] ss!


    ¡­


    [Potion Scroll:] Crystal Stun Potion


    [Perk:] Will know once learned!


    [Ingredients:] Will know once learned!


    ¡­


    [Do you want to learn this potion?]


    [Y/N?]


    ''My first potion other than the basic ones,'' Stark smiled, he was happy.


    And so without hesitation he clicked on Y.


    With that, his level as an alchemist was slightly better.

 Chapter 124: The Crystal Stun Potion

    [Do you want to learn how to craft this potion?]


    [Y/N?]


    ''Yes¡­''


    And as soon as he confirmed his choice¡­ another panel appeared before him.


    [You have learned how to craft the ''Crystal Stun Potion''!]


    Suddenly, the knowledge of how to craft the potion entered his head, which slightly hurt as it was the first time he experienced it, but after a few seconds the pain went away, reced by knowledge, it was weird that you couldn''t craft the potions even while knowing the ingredients if you didn''t have the knowledge, but he guessed that it was to not make the [Alchemist] ss too overpowered.


    And immediately afterward¡­ another panel appeared.


    [Potions are the sole power of an alchemist, you cannot rely on skill or stats, so your sole objective is to upgrade your level and acquire powerful potions!]


    ''Fair¡­''


    ¡­


    [Crystal Stun Potion]


    [Type:] Epic


    [Required Level to Craft:] 25


    [Perk:] Throwable potion, if you manage to hit your opponent with it, the liquid will temporarily stun them!


    [Ingredients:] 1x Crystal Shard, 1x Sparkling Water


    ¡­


    ''Huh¡­ wait a minute¡­''


    The problem with being an alchemist though wasn''t only about getting potions and leveling up, but also about finding the ingredients needed for those potions.


    [Sparkling Water] in itself was extremelymon, but [Crystal Shard] would be difficult to find or fairly expensive.


    And yet¡­ Stark was smiling.


    The reason: wasn''t he in a rift full of those very same shards?


    "ALCHEMIST!" he activated his skill as one of the basic perks was the ability to spot ingredients that could be useful for potions.


    And just as expected¡­ all around it were now hundreds upon hundreds of small points.


    Text was written above each of them: [Crystal Shard].


    Basically¡­ Stark had found himself a massive supply of one of his needed ingredients for his most powerful potion yet.


    Of course, he didn''t know the powers of this ''stun potion'', but wouldn''t that be enough to guarantee him a hit on an enemy?


    Plus, under normal circumstances, most alchemists would struggle or be forced to buy a [Storage Watch] to store all these ingredients in the limited space they had.


    Yet¡­ Stark had [Spatial Inventory], meaning that as soon as he read the text stating that the crystal shards were there, he immediately ran up to one, grabbed it, and put it inside his void.


    The exit portal had already opened on top of the tform with Sierra''s throne, but he wasn''t interested in that for now.


    [Crystal Shard acquired!]


    In addition to that, the [Alchemist] skill would inform him every time he got an ingredient.


    Meaning that each time he picked up a [Crystal Shard], he would hear a DING followed by a panel.


    This kept going for two hours as once Stark grabbed all the shards inside the cave, he immediately moved to the tunnel as it was also filled with them.


    And by the end of his ingredient search¡­


    [x1673 Crystal Shards]


    It took him a while, but now, he was confident that he had enough shards to give him as many potions as he wanted for a lifetime.


    And who knows, maybe they will be useful for some stronger potionster!


    He hadn''t really thought about it, but the idea of finding new potions and recipes was exciting, plus they would aid him in battle, so merging both the [Domination] and [Alchemist] ss could reveal itself to be much more interesting than he thought.


    ''Also¡­'' he grinned, ''I have the ''Memories Museum'' to try everything I want!''


    After doing everything that he needed to do, including grabbing all equipments and checking out all his panels, Stark finally decided to leave.


    And so he jumped inside the ocean-colored portal that appeared in front of the throne.


    ~FWISH, FIOUU~


    ''Never going to get used to this sensation¡­'' he sighed as he had the same feeling of being transported through dimensions.


    And after only twenty seconds, he emerged on the other side, feeling the rays of the sun on his face.


    ''Phew¡­ I haven''t been inside the rift for long so it''s good that it''s still day¡­'' Stark sighed.


    The [Electronic Watch] he had gotten that guided him here was still broken, so it was useless, but it also meant that Stark was forced to go back to civilization by himself.


    It mustn''t have been more than six hours since he entered the rift, meaning that he could finish his mission quickly and thus prove that he had the strength to ess that ''Rift Conqueror Academy''.


    "Spatial Inventory!" instinctively, he opened up his inventory void and grabbed his phone from it, he kept it in there since it would probably break if he kept it in his pocket during battle.


    And once he turned on the screen¡­


    His eyes widened, and his face became pale.


    ''¡­'' he looked at his phone screen for a good minute.


    And a panel even came to confirm what he feared.


    [You have been inside ''Sierra''s Death Path'' for 2 weeks 5 days]


    This didn''t make sense, but even the date on his phone confirmed that fact.


    [''One-ssifier Run'' rifts work differently than others, because as you are alone, time inside of it can move differently than inside of the real world!]


    ''Basically¡­ time moves much slower when inside of the rift,'' Stark grabbed his forehead and began tough, ''And that bastard didn''t tell me¡­''


    But Stark shook his head.


    ''No, there is a chance he didn''t know.''


    Since most ssifiers that entered the rift usually died 5¨C10 minutes after entering it, it would be around a few hours in the real world, meaning that he possibly believed that they had gone far but still died¡­


    ''That''s a good logic,'' Stark nodded, ''BUT I DON''T CARE!''


    After all he was still responsible for sending him to this shithole, he had indeedpleted his mission though, so he better get back before they all believe he died.


    If this didn''t already happen, that is.


    ''The fact he didn''t give me a watch or a way to get back to Ferburg means that he had low expectations for me to survive¡­'' Stark was assembling the pieces of the puzzle, and he was frankly beginning to hate that Moonless family more and more.


    In the end, he decided to just get back using his legs.


    He still had some food and water saved inside of his [Spatial Inventory], so now he just needed to get back to Ferburg.


    The next VIP express train won''t arrive until at least a day, since it had already passed, so there was no point in sitting around and waiting here.


    ''DOMINATION!'' he activated his skill, focusing the entirety of his aura around his legs, then began to run in the opposite direction which he came from.


    He didn''t have any panel or arrow to aid him this time, but he just followed his instinct.


    ''Just you wait¡­'' he groaned as he began to run extremely fast, around half the speed of the actual train.


    The more determination and anger Stark had inside of him, the more powerful his aura would be, and so that meant that his speed right now was enough to possibly get back to Ferburg in 10 hours.


    Until then, he just had to keep running¡­

 Chapter 125: Back to Fellarburg and ClassiTop Meeting

    (10 hourster)


    "Ahh~ Ah~~" Needless to say that even Stark with his ss and high stamina was exhausted after running this marathon, of course he had taken a break or two to replenish his stamina and to drink water, but it was still tiresome.


    In the end, though, he could see Ferburg in the distance, its modern buildings and size so big they could be recognized from anywhere close.


    It was strange to think that around this safe country was andscape of blood lusted monsters.


    During his marathon to get back here, he obviously had to face them as he was in a semi-dangerous area, meaning that enemies still spawned.


    And so, just during that time, his level went up once, meaning that he had reached level 32; although he tried hard not to fight to save his stamina, only eliminating the ones that were in his way.


    Surprisingly enough, there was no big wall surrounding the country at all, instead it was left in the open, with no guards to check if monsters were attacking.


    But of course, people weren''t this reckless, instead the reason that this giant country (and honestly most others) was in the open was because¡­ a giant dome-like barrier was set up around the entirety of Ferburg, protecting it from all monsters as this barrier was created from many ''Magic Crystals'', enough to withstand thousands of attacks.


    Of course though¡­ if the barrier went out for even a few minutes¡­ the amount of monsters who would attempt to attack would be disastrous, but luckily there has been no such kind of incidents before.


    ~PHEW, FWISH~


    Once he got closer, Stark was able to spot the blue barrier, and he carefully approached it, passing through like it was nothing.


    [Humans are allowed, monsters aren''t], this was how this barrier was set.


    And so that meant that he was finally back in Ferburg after his mission.


    "Mom, look, that man in the damaged clothes came back from the evil world!" a child spoke, the evil world seemed to refer to the outside.


    "Shh~ let''s just go!" the mother began to walk faster.


    It seemed that going outside was some sort of taboo around here, maybe since people were scared from the monsters and were only used to ssifiers fighting inside of rifts, so someoneing from the dangerous outside world seemed weird and reckless.


    In the end it didn''t matter much as Stark continued to walk.


    He wanted to go back to his hotel, but then he remembered that he was kicked out for damaging the wall, although that wasn''t him, meaning he would need to find a new ce to stay in.


    ''Is it time to buy an apartment¡­?'' he pondered, but for now he would just need to find another hotel close to his previous one.


    But while Stark was thinking about all of that¡­ the air suddenly became heavier out of nowhere.


    ''???''


    Stark didn''t stop, he looked down and kept going, he had a bad feeling, and for some strange reason it felt as if his blood was boiling.


    He didn''t know why he was getting angry, there was no reason for that, after all he hadpleted his mission and was now back, meaning that he could get the 30 million rher coins, as well as ess to the ''Rift Conquerors'' academy.


    But suddenly¡­ as if to validate his feelings¡­ a panel appeared.


    [Hey, what about our revenge?]


    ''Huh?'' Stark stopped in his tracks, his face full of confusion, why was there a panel before him, it had never happened before except for when his clone spoke to him inside of the memories museum, so why¡­?


    Rher cannot talk to him through panels, he stopped doing that after Stark assimted his ss, and his [Status Window] wasn''t sentient, otherwise he would know it.


    The sole option was¡­ his aura, or maybe the doppelg?nger?


    ''Revenge?''


    [Those ''Moonless'' fools sent us to our death, we cannot allow them to get away with that!]


    ''I mean¡­ I''ll have to get to them somehow to give them the arrows andplete the mission, so why-'' he tried to argue.


    But¡­


    [WRONG! THEY DO NOT BELIEVE YOU WILL COME BACK!]


    [LOOK!]


    And suddenly, below the text appeared a single image, it was the image of a purple poster card with the words ''ssiTop Meeting 2024'' written in white.


    [Do you think these people care about us? Do you think they even remember US?]


    And suddenly¡­ a pair of crimson eyes appeared inside of another panel, much like the ones he had seen inside of the [ApostleDex], they were staring at Stark, an intense gaze that could mark his soul.


    These eyes were oddly familiar though, almost as if¡­ they were his?


    [They are out here organizing private events, leaving us to die!]


    And so before Stark could say or do anything¡­


    [You know the location, do what you want with that information.]


    Then no more panels appeared, it had said what it needed to, then disappeared just as quick as it appeared, it was a weird feeling.


    The only thing it left in view was the image of the poster card.


    Not wasting time, Stark zoomed it on that poster card to read everything.


    ¡­


    [Ferburg ssiTop Meeting 2024]


    [To the 100 TOP ssifiers of Ferburg, you are hereby invited to the 2024 edition of this special event since the ''academies entrances'' begin in a month!]


    [Want to show off your skills, levels, or children, then it is the perfect opportunity!]


    [Come join, thus we can prove to Ferburg¡­ no¡­ to the WHOLE world that we are the strongest!]


    [Address and Time: ''Campbell Institute'' at 2PM!]


    ¡­


    Stark was confused, he had never heard of such a thing, but it was only two days from now.


    And why¡­ WHY did he feel so angry all of a sudden.


    Upon turning around one of the streets, he met a giant screen, but this time it didn''t disy a fight with a ssifier or an ad, it was¡­


    "Did you hear about the ssiTop meeting happening in two days, John?"


    "Oh yeah, Maria, it is indeed surprising, but also exciting, knowing that our protectors and most powerful ssifiers can meet and discuss together!"


    "I do wish we knew what their discussions were about, but all information about this event is left private¡­"


    "That''s fine, i''m sure what they do is incredible!"


    Some news reporters were speaking, all excited about the very same event that mysterious panel informed Stark about.


    The only thing he knew¡­ was that the ''Archer King'' would surely participate.


    Arthur, the Archer King, had moved on so quick, already nning his next moves as a ssifier after believing that Stark was dead.


    It was almost funny.


    ''Campbell Institute¡­'' he mumbled as he began tough, ''They want to host a private event for top ssifiers? I hope they don''t mind me joining it then =)''


    He had no information about that thing yet, but he would surelye in with a bang, and make sure they remember him well.


    [2 days left before event]


    The entirety of Ferburg was excited about this supposed event, so it must be somewhat important.


    ''Need to find a way,'' he continued to smile as he resumed walking.


    Stark was a stubborn person, and he hated when people yed him, maybe they didn''t know that time moved slower inside of the rift, but not even waiting a month for him was insanity.


    Frankly¡­ he didn''t like any of them, except for Lana maybe, so for now¡­ he would just need to wait.

 Chapter 126: Training before Incident

    "Holy shit!"


    "What''s wrong with this guy?"


    Stark hadn''t realized it, but although he was smiling, his anger made it so that just like inside of the rift against Sierra, his aura surrounded his body like some kind of armor, and his eyes reced by pure white aura, a trail of powering out of them, warning anybody close that he was a dangerous person.


    He could see normally, but to all those around, all they saw was a human with an overwhelming crimson aura on his figure.


    Thus, everyone avoided him, and when they did talk and point at him, he would just stare back, and they would immediately shiver and go away as they didn''t want to deal with him.


    He was only level 31, but his aura made it seem as though he was over level 200, maybe because [Domination] was just too powerful of a ss?


    It didn''t take long for him to calm down and reach a hotel near the ''ssifier Trading District'' though, calming down and ordering a room for the next few weeks, he had the money for that after all.


    Soon enough, he reached his room, and copsed onto the bed, exhausted from the day''s events.


    It had only been 24 hours for him, but around 3 weeks in the real world, so the reality of this situation took some time to hit him.


    While looking at the ceiling of his room though, he opened the panel with the purple poster card.


    "Ferburg ssiTop Meeting¡­" he mumbled the words of this event.


    He knew the name, date, hour, and location, plus the Archer King would be there, so why not just go? What did he have to lose?


    Of course, entering a private property with the 100 most powerful ssifiers in Ferbug alongside their young lings would seem dumb, but for some strange reason¡­ Stark felt that everything would be fine.


    ''Can''t really stay idle and do nothing though¡­''


    After all, he still had two days to prepare for whatever wasing, and he had little to no information.


    And so what was the best solution he thought of?


    WELL! Of course it was to head inside the ''Memories Museum'' and train with new skills/potions, what else could it be?


    The first thing he did was open up the fridge inside of his hotel room''s kitchen and grab the 10 sparkling water bottles that were there, they were given to him for free by the reception, and it was amazing timing.


    "Potion Crafting!"


    [Do you want to summon your brewing station?]


    [Brewing station level: 1]


    [Y/N]


    He clicked on ''yes'', and the wooden table he had seen before appeared in front of him out of nowhere.


    Then he pulled out 10 [Crystal Shards] and put them on the table alongside the [Sparkling Water].


    ¡­


    [Crystal Stun Potion]


    [Perk:] Throwable potion, if you manage to hit your opponent with it, the liquid will temporarily stun them!


    [Ingredients:] 1x Crystal Shard, 1x Sparkling Water


    ¡­


    And immediately as he opened this potion''s panel.


    [Crystal Shard 10/1; Sparkling Water 10/1]


    [Do you want to craft 10 ''Crystal Stun Potions''?]


    ''Yes¡­'' Stark nodded to himself as he confirmed the crafting of the Crystal Stun Potions.


    The wooden table before him began to emit a soft glow as the Crystal Shards and Sparkling Waterbined, transforming into the shimmering white potions one by one.


    And after a few minutes¡­ ten sses appeared in front of him.


    [ x10 ''Crystal Stun Potions'' have been crafted]


    Not wasting time, he put everything inside his [Spatial Inventory] and summoned the ''Memories Museum'' door, which appeared before him with a soft shimmer.


    ''Alright¡­ just two days¡­'' he sighed, ''Need to get familiar with those potions and the new skill¡­''


    And so as he stepped through the threshold and entered the memories museum, he noticed that another disy had appeared, and it was obviously Sierra''s.


    ''Let''s do this,'' he gently pped both his cheeks and began to select multiple bosses to fight at once.


    [2 days before incident]


    ***


    (2 dayster)


    ''Phew~'' Stark emerged from the ck door of the ''Memories Museum'', a big smile on his face.


    He had yed with the [Crystal Stun Potions], even going outside to a market and buying 100 sparkling water bottles, and he also experimented with [Target Maniption].


    And Stark couldn''t lie¡­ both of these were extremely good.


    [Target Maniption] was what surprised him the most though, as although it looked like a skill used only to move a target in one direction, if he manages to do some things right, then it could end a battle really quickly.


    But this wasn''t all the news for now.


    Since around a day ago, when he attempted to craft yet another potion¡­


    THIS panel appeared:


    [You have proven your basic skills as an ''Alchemist'']


    [You can now upgrade your ''brewing station'' to level 2!]


    [Y/N]


    ''Level 2¡­'' Stark muttered to himself as he read the panel before him in the Memories Museum.


    He obviously clicked on Y and¡­


    [Good job, Alchemist! Your brewing station is now level 2, you can now craft 2 potions at once!]


    The appearance of the ''Brewing Station'' didn''t change much except for the fact the table, cauldron, and brewing stand looked less damaged than before.


    But that new perk to craft 2 potions at once massively reduced his crafting time as he would have usually been able to craft only one potion at a time, taking up precious time.


    ''This is good¡­''


    And to add to that¡­


    [You have upgraded ''Alchemist'' to level 3!]


    [You have upgraded ''Potion Crafting'' to level 3!]


    He used up his skill points to give these skills a boost in level as they had been stuck at level 1 for a while.


    But now¡­ today was the day the ''ssiTop Meeting'' was happening.


    He put on his normal clothing, as well as his [Crimson Moon Bunny Mask].


    The reason wasn''t to hide his identity, but to guarantee him safety, after all not even those all powerful ssifiers would attempt to defeat someone with as much potential as him.


    This was his logic, and it was well¡­ interesting, but also wed, since if someone just wanted to get rid of him, then they could do it.


    Anyway, it was better than showing his face and being targetedter.


    He checked the time, it was 13:45, and it would take him around 30 minutes to arrive to his location as the ''Campbell Institute'' was a giant dome-like building where only the elite are allowed, so it was situated in the middle of the city with many guards surrounding it.


    ''Got this¡­ and that¡­'' he checked everything before smiling and leaving his hotel room.


    He hailed for a taxi and ordered the driver to bring him close to the location of the institute.


    While looking outside the windows, he saw many screens disying the faces of the ssifiers that would participate in this ''elite'' meeting, as well as many videos showcasing their abilities.


    Stark grinned, looking at his aura-filled hands, then peering inside of his [Spatial Inventory], looking at the objects floating inside of the space.


    He would surely fight against many people, but it was fine, he was confident that he wouldn''t die after all, so as long as he managed to do ''THAT'', then surely¡­ it would be fine.


    [30 minutes before incident!]

 Chapter 127: Getting Rid of the Guards

    The ''ssiTop Meeting Event'' is something organized by almost every country in this world, and it is an event where the most powerful and popr ssifiers of that very same country gather in a huge meeting/gathering to discuss with one another about their whereabouts.


    Some use this opportunity to flex on their peers, others to get new connections, some for help with specific rifts or problems, and a few others just to put their children together as they believe that the ''elite'' can only be with the ''elite''.


    All information about this event ispletely confidential, and the only thing the outside world knows is that the top 100 ssifiers of their country are gathering to discuss on how to protect the world better.


    Of course, this was a massive lie, but it was also incredible publicity for them all.


    So now, all over Ferburg, all those that were invited had received an invitation to that event, and they sure as hell wouldn''t miss it, some of them even bringing their children with them.


    Stark stepped out of the taxi, his eyes scanning the surroundings of the Campbell Institute.


    The prestigious building loomed before him, its towering structure exuding an air of power and secrecy.


    It was mostly dark with a dome-like structure, it was standing out from the other surrounding buildings, and there was a park around it, one where people could roam freely.


    Stark''s eyes burned with determination as he entered the park and began to head toward the entrance.


    ''Yawn~'' he was already mentally and physically ready to get inside, after all it had been around thirty minutes since the event started.


    At the entrance stood two guards, the two talking with one another.


    They were the only protection this ce had as why would they bother having more guards when some of the most powerful people in the country were there?


    But this didn''t mean they were weak.


    [Guard A, level 129]


    [Guard B, level 131]


    He didn''t even feel the need to check their names or skills to be honest since he didn''t have a single intention to face them fairly.


    ''Spatial Inventory,'' he mumbled before taking out three [Crystal Stun Potions] from it.


    But that wasn''t all¡­


    ''Clone Frenzy,'' Stark went to sit on a nearby bench, then summoned his clone.


    His aura began to pulse as it created a perfect replica of himself, much like it did every time.


    The clone looked back at Stark, a wide smile on its face, it seemed to enjoy what they were doing.


    ''Focus¡­''


    Stark closed his eyes, then focused the aura around his body before sending it to his eyes.


    He had already done it once before, but it was still a weird feeling overall as it wasn''t a perk he used often.


    He sent that same aura from his eyes to the clone''s, and then¡­ once he opened them back, he found himself in the clone''s position, able to control it.


    The only other time he had done that (and when he unlocked that ability basically) was when those ''Domination Association'' people were trying to ambush him inside his hotel room, but it was a fairly useful skill in other situations as well.


    But before doing any of that, he looked behind toward the bench to check out his real body and¡­


    ''Holy¡­'' if someone passed by they would surely believe he was dead, there was no light in his eyes and no life force at all around him, ''Let''s be quick then¡­''


    ~STEP, STEP, STEP~


    The clone took the three [Crystal Stun Potions] from the real Stark''s hands and began to walk toward the entrance of the giant dome-like structure with the two guards at the entrance.


    Of course, as said before, Stark had absolutely no n to fight them head on as he would probably lose, but it didn''t mean he couldn''t use cheap tricks.


    Too busy talking andughing with one another, they didn''t notice the other Stark approaching before he was extremely close.


    ''Pretty reckless for guards¡­'' he thought.


    But the moment he entered a 10 meters radius from them¡­ they suddenly turned their eyes at him, ones that were filled with caution and aura.


    They weren''t as weak as Stark thought, and looked like they had the power to stop him if it came to it.


    "Hello?" the fake Stark spoke.


    "Get out of here kid, this is private property!" both of them suddenly pulled out their weapons, which were two swords, so Stark guessed they were from the [Warrior] ss.


    Nheless he kept walking toward them, trying to seem as friendly as possible, only stopping a few meters away from them.


    "HEY, WE SAID DON''T APPROACH!" they took a step toward him and activated their auras, seemingly ready to sh if he came any closer.


    "Hey, what is this ce," but he just pointed at the giant ck dome behind them.


    But seems like they weren''t having any of it as they both approached Stark, their bodies only a meter away from his now.


    "We''re seriously gonna kick your ass, get out of here!"


    "You didn''t answer my question," but Stark, who was still wearing the bunny-mask, smiled, "I just want to know then I''ll leave."


    The two guards (which Stark didn''t even bother to check the names of) looked at one another for a few seconds before slightly turning toward the dome and pointing at it with their thumb from behind.


    "It''s a secret, kiddo, so don''t bother us-" but turning their backs to Stark, even if it was only slightly for a single second, was their mistake.


    ~THROW~


    He aimed at the floor in the middle of the radius between him and the guards, and threw all three [Crystal Stun Potions].


    ¡­


    [Guard A stunned!]


    [Guard B stunned!]


    [YOU are stunned!]


    ¡­


    Of course, it meant that the clone would also receive the effects of the potion since it wasn''t immune to it, but it was fine since it was all part of Stark''s n.


    "THE FUCK?!"


    "THAT FUCKER!"


    The two guards were cursing, able to move their mouths but their bodies standing idle.


    And then¡­


    "Come back to me¡­" Stark deactivated the clone''s perk, transferring back his vision to himself, and able to move his original body again.


    But the first thing he did at the very moment was¡­


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!" he used the new perk of [Aura Smash] and merged all three crimson fists into a single one, which radiated an intense aura, powerful enough to overwhelm even these ssic warriors standing right in front of him.


    Even Stark had a hard time controlling this power yet though as he was forced to hold his right hand''s wrist with his left one to be able to focus on the attack, otherwise it would explode in his face (yes, it happened inside the memories museum).


    The aura around his right hand grew more and more though, and after less than three seconds¡­


    ~FWISH, BOOM~


    He managed tounch the giant crimson fist at intense speed toward the guards.


    ''Come back to me¡­'' he repeated, but this time it was to make his clone''s figure seep back into his body as he had left it in front of the guards.


    And the moment the clone disappeared¡­ the guards were finally able to see the giant fist, as big as them in terms of height, rushing in their direction.


    "Ah shit¡­" they both said, epting their fate.


    ~BOOOOOM~


    The fist exploded between the two guards, and they were each sent far away in opposite directions.


    "-73523! -78472!" the fist''s strength was incredible, although both the guards were wearing highly protective armor and had arge pool of HP.


    [Guard A is knocked out]


    [Guard B is knocked out]


    This didn''t kill them as they had equipment and armor to withstand the attack, but they still received it in the face, meaning they couldn''t stay conscious after that.


    It was fine for Stark though as he began to walk toward the entrance door and opened it.


    ''First part of the npleted¡­''

 Chapter 128: Entering the Dome

    Of course, creating such amotion in a public park would obviously attract the eyes of many people; and so all those that were present nearby stopped to look at whatever was happening.


    Many were terrified to see a giant fist attack two people, but unable to do anything as they just used their phones to film the event.


    Stark was wearing the bunny mask, so people couldn''t recognize him as he entered the dome and closed the door behind.


    And so just like that, people began to specte more and more on the fact this was possibly the real ''bunny-masked man'', and what he was doing here.


    These simple videos from the people who witnessed what Stark had done would result in the poprity of the ''bunny-masked man'' to grow even more than it already was.


    ¡­


    ''Hm¡­'' after Stark closed the door, he turned around and found himself¡­ in apletely ck space?


    I mean, literally, it waspletely dark, with no way to identify the walls, floor or even ceiling, he couldn''t see anything, and so navigating inside of this building seemed somewhat impossible.


    Maybe this was made on purpose to stop any intruders.


    But¡­


    [Wee, participant, to the Ferburg ssiTop Meeting of 2024!]


    Suddenly, as soon as he took a step forward, making sure not to hit a wall, a blue panel appeared before him.


    [Please follow the arrows to reach the ''Meeting ce''!]


    And suddenly, white arrows began to flicker on the ground, leading him through the darkness.


    It felt weird, why would they have such an borate setting for such an event, couldn''t they just make a normal building and ask people to head toward a specific room?


    ''No¡­ this feels weird¡­'' Stark shook his head.


    He still decided to follow the arrows as they were his only way to navigate this ce without hitting a dozen walls.


    And as he walked deeper into the darkness¡­ he found himself in front of a circr elevator.


    [Please select the lowest floor, and enjoy your stay!]


    The elevator was illuminated, meaning that he could see it from afar, entering it without much issues.


    ''No ambush¡­'' he mumbled, otherwise [Focus] would have warned him.


    And so he did as he was told and clicked on the lowest floor, which was named ''Omega''.


    ~VROOUUUU~


    The giant circr elevator closed and began to descend.


    But te closer Stark got to these people and their meeting ce, the more some sort of feeling inside of his heart grew.


    Was he scared?


    No, he wasn''t.


    Then was it stress? Anxiousness? Doubt?


    ''No¡­ none of those either,'' he smiled.


    Frankly, he didn''t know why he was doing any of this, he could just go out to the ''Moonless'' mansion and meet the ''Archer King'' there.


    It was needless risks that he was taking.


    Maybe it was his pride¡­?


    [You are reaching your destination in 30 seconds!]


    Another blue panel appeared while Stark was thinking.


    But it was once Stark looked down and thought really deeply about why he was doing this, his eyes yet again transforming into a vortex of aura, that he figured it out¡­


    [THEY ARE MAKING FUN OF US!]


    [DO YOU THINK THEY CARE?!]


    [They probably LAUGHED about our death!]


    These were such panels that appeared in his dreams, and they were what pushed him to do that.


    ''Alright¡­ I get it now¡­'' his face turned cold as the elevator suddenly stopped, and the sound of machinery ended.


    [You have arrived!]


    The elevator doors slid open, revealing a massive wooden door adorned with intricate carvings. It exuded luxury,plete with two golden ring handles for anyone who wanted to enter.


    ''¡­''


    Even from his stand point, Stark could feel the immense amount of auraing out from behind this door, there were waves of all sorts of colors escaping from the gaps or the sides.


    ~STEP~


    The tension was at all-time high for him, but strangely, Stark kept a pretty calm and cold face, the ground beneath his feet leaving a crimson mark.


    After evry step of his, an image or video of his previous battles appeared all over his surroundings in dozens upon dozens of panels.


    Was it his own body''s way to dissuade him of doing what he was about to do?


    It didn''t matter.


    Because even with all these images¡­ another panel would appear on top of them to keep him going, it was his determination responding.


    [Keep going] were the words that reced these panels.


    The battle against Mkar?


    [Keep going]


    The fight against Judicator?


    [Keep going!]


    Hisst encounter with Sierra?


    [KEEP GOING!]


    All these things were reced, and so Stark smiled as he reached the door.


    Meeting up with the 100 most powerful people in this country and making them know of your presence would make anyone happy under normal circumstances, but in this very context, it was overwhelming.


    Whatever would happen beyond this door, it would surely change Stark''s life, maybe for the better? Maabe for the worse?


    ''It doesn''t matter¡­''


    He ced both of his hands on the ring handles, then got ready to pressure into it.


    But as he tried to do that¡­


    [Stop.]


    A crimson panel appeared before him and interupted him again.


    ~FWISH, VIOUUU~


    He heard sounds behind him, and as he turned¡­ he saw himself.


    Well¡­ not really himself, but a replica of himself created from aura.


    [Are you really ready?]


    It asked, looks like it couldn''t speak either, so it used panels.


    Not removing his hands from the handles, Stark looked back and spoke, "Were you the one who informed of this event?"


    [¡­], the other Stark nodded.


    "Then I can guess you aren''t here to stop me, right?" Stark finally removed his hands from the rings and faced the other him.


    [¡­], this time, it nodded its head and smiled, [No, I am quite happy about what we''re about to do.]


    "Then why stop?"


    [I just wanted to say¡­ well¡­ that you should be more confident¡­]


    "¡­" Stark looked at his hands, traces of aura still visible on them.


    [Confidence is key, do not go in there thinking that it will be easy, you are me, and I am you, so just¡­], the other Stark momentarilly stopped before pointing at the door and smiling, [Prove to the world that we shouldn''t be messed with¡­]


    And just like that, it vanished, no¡­ it didn''t vanish, instead it went back into Stark.


    The moment it did, he felt a surge of energy, and his aura became much stronger than before.


    ''¡­''


    Stark then turned back toward the door.


    He could hear the sounds ofughter, talking, and even some music,ing out from there.


    [They are LAUGHING about our death!]


    He remembered that panel, and closed his eyes while smirking, and once he opened them back up, they were shining with an aura so powerful it almost seemed like it was burning his pupils.


    And so instead of opening the door the easy way like he wanted to do before¡­


    ~FWISH¡­ BAM~


    He focused his aura into his legs and absolutely smashed the door, destroying it in the process and revealing the interior of that meeting room to him.


    Immediately¡­ all eyes fell on Stark, and the music stopped.

 Chapter 129: 30 Minutes Before Intrusion

    (30 minutes ago, meeting room)


    All the ssifiers that had been invited to this once-in-a-year event had arrived, of course, there was no way any of them would miss out such an opportunity to meet up with their other strong peers as most were always busy with work/rifts.


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    Some brought their children along with them to show off, and the ''Archer King'' was no different since he also brought both his children, Aoki and Lana, with him.


    And counting everyone present¡­ there were roughly 182 people in the room.


    Once all of them left the elevator and opened the wooden door, they found themselves in a giant ck room, no different from the other textures they had seen inside this building yet.


    In the middle of that giant room was a round table big enough to host everyone.


    And after only five minutes, all the participants sat on their own chair, each person had one designated for them as there was a name te behind, their children/loved ones also positioned right beside them.


    The lighting was really dim - so dark in fact that you couldn''t see the face of a person three meters away from you, meaning that in this dark space, all they could do to see others was to check out their auras, each of their eyes burning with anticipation.


    Among them were adults, obviously, but also children, teenagers, and even elderly people, after all age didn''t matter with such a meeting as it was the top 100 ssifiers that were invited.


    And so after only another five minutes of silence, five minutes where all of them stared at one another, five minutes where nobody could say or do anything as they had been ordered not to¡­


    "HE" appeared.


    ~FWISH, FIOUUUU~


    His entry was spectacr, appearing out of thin air in the middle of the giant table in a sh of blue light all the while riding a giant blue dragon.


    The man slid down the tail of the dragon, and with a simple snap of his finger, the creature vanished in a trail of smoke.


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    Most people would be speechless at such a scene happening, but all those present were already used to this.


    And the person that suddenly appeared in the middle of the table was¡­ the strongest ssifier in Ferburg.


    Even among the crowd, their levels were majorly different, some were level 200, others 500, and some even level 900, but that man on the other hand¡­ was rumored to be over level 1000.


    His hair was a shade of gold that could rival the sun, styled in a short ponytail, and his emerald eyes held a piercing gaze that seemed to see through everything.


    His name was¡­ Drakon Greyrat, and he was in histe 50s.


    "Hello, everybody!" he warmly smiled, as although he was the strongest, he wasn''t as evil and cunning as many of the others.


    ''¡­'' nobody answered.


    "No answer huh, haha~" he scratched his cheek, "Well, that''s fine, i''m sure you all want me to start the event already as this is only the starting phase¡­"


    ''¡­''


    "I see that our Ferburg top has grown stronger sincest year, this is good," he nodded¡­


    He was the one that organized such an event in the first ce, and was also one of the most respected people in the entirety of the country, his influence even able to affect other countries as well.


    Being strong was everything in this world after all.


    "Well, if everyone is present, and there is nothing to say¡­ then no reason not to start the event and make sure all of you can talk with one another!" he pped both his hands and suddenly¡­


    ~VIOUUU~


    The giant table began to descend slowly into the ground, and all the participants were forced to exit their chairs as they began to disappear as well.


    This was a short introduction, but there was no need to keep it going for long as most of them only wanted what happened next.


    And what happened next was¡­ the FREE-TIME¡­


    ~BIM, BIM, BIM~


    Suddenly, all the lights around them turned on, finally allowing them to see their surroundings, and it was¡­ special.


    They were in a giant party room, with many tables filled with foods and beverages, all of it was luxurious, and it was big enough to hold at least two thousand people, meaning they had more than enough space to talk.


    "Have fun!" Drakon lifted both his arms in each side and vividly smiled before disappearing.


    He didn''t participate in such events after all, he only hosted them and exined to people the rules.


    And so just like that, all 100 (182 counting the children) were finally allowed to roam around.


    Instantly, they all regrouped around other people they wanted to talk to.


    And so the event could finally begin.


    ***


    "What about that rift you discovered, the one with the godless demon apostle?" a woman asked Arthur, he was surrounded by fifteen other people, and his kids were also just as popr as he was since many others tried to talk with them.


    "Well¡­ I sent 7 people and they all died after a few hours, and thest person I sent hasn''t given any signs of life for 3 weeks, so I''m confident he just died¡­" Arthur shrugged as he smiled, not giving a single care about the lives that had been lost.


    Lana hearing this felt a pinch in her heart, but no¡­


    ''Stark isn''t dead,'' she told herself.


    "I mean, why would they even ept such a mission? Seriously trying to fight Sierra, the apostle that can transform people into monsters with a single arrow¡­ it''s a suicide mission!" a man said, holding his forehead while shaking his head.


    "You never know¡­" Arthur span his wine ss lightly, his gaze indicating he knew that already.


    The 6% chance of survival he had told Lana was a giant lie, because if he had to guess it¡­ it would be 0.02% at best, he just didn''t want his daughter to interrupt Stark from going.


    Even ssifiers in this very room could die after being hit by one or two of these arrows, and that is why almost no one took up this mission, at least anyone that didn''t know of the true challenge thaty there¡­


    But one thing was for sure now¡­ he knew that he had sent Stark to his death, not expecting him toe back ever, no matter how strong you are or how talented, there was no way he could win at his current level.


    Twenty minutes passed like that, and as the party was finally getting started, with people making connections and revealing their achievements¡­


    ~BAM, VIOUM~


    They heard a loud noiseing from the entrance, and suddenly¡­ the wooden door they used toe inside this room came out of its spot, destroyed by a powerful blow.


    Immediately, all the ssifiers stopped what they were doing and looked at the door, and even the music that had been ying until now stopped as well.


    Arthur was no different, but his keen archer eyes already warned him of the possibility of who this individual could be.


    But no¡­ his aura was too powerful for a mere level 25 or 30, and he was gone for 3 weeks, it couldn''t be¡­?


    And yet¡­


    Beyond the destroyed door appeared Stark, a wide grin on his face.


    "I hope you don''t mind me joining the party, Arthur?" heughed as he entered the room like he hadn''t just destroyed the door.


    And suddenly¡­ the atmosphere around them became at least a hundred times more tense and overwhelming.


    Deep inside, many felt that this wasn''t good.

 Chapter 130: Meeting the Top 100 Classifiers

    Arthur''s expression didn''t change as he saw Stark suddenly appear, intruding this private property and even destroying the door.


    "Seems like you''re back," he sighed as he took a step forward.


    Now all the attention was on them, and the pure amount of auraing out would be enough to make most people faint, everyone present in here was interested.


    "Thought I was dead?" Stark smiled as he began to walk toward them as well.


    Many people were wary of him as they already knew who he was: ck-hair, bunny-mask, and that familiar aura¡­


    All of them knew immediately knew this was the ''bunny-masked man'' that had made it in the news all around the world.


    ''Stark!'' Lana wanted to shout, but she knew that he wanted to keep his identity secret if he was wearing the mask, so she just sobbed silently, happy that he was actually alive.


    "So¡­ why are you here?" Arthur lifted his eyebrows, "It''s been 3 weeks with no news from you¡­"


    "¡­" Stark didn''t answer.


    Of course, all ssifiers present here knew that Arthur had acquired the rights to conquer the ''Sierra''s Death Path'' rift, but hadn''t been able to for two months because of the sheer difficulty of the task.


    "Let me guess¡­ took you 3 weeks to escape that nightmare rift, heh~?" Arthur smiled, seemingly amused that Stark did all of this for no reason.


    "Seriously?"


    "I mean¡­ no matter how you look at it, there is no way you don''t get hit by those arrows¡­"


    "Yeah, he probably ran away, but at least he is alive?"


    Stark remained silent as he heard the murmurs of the crowd, they were mere spectators, but thoroughly enjoyed the drama.


    Stark took a few seconds to look at the decoration around the party room, it wasvishly decorated, with paintings and furniture all over, as well as a giant chandelier in the ceiling.


    But what was most interesting was¡­


    The giant screen panel ced in the middle of the room for everyone to see.


    It didn''t take long for Stark to figure out what it was.


    ¡­


    [Top ssifiers of Ferburg!]


    [Top 100: Naegi, The Electric de]


    [Top 99: Ursi, The Torch Woman]


    .


    .


    .


    [Top 8: Arthur, The Archer King]


    [Top 7: Junko, The Despair Queen]


    [Top 6: Ludvik, The Doom yer]


    [Top 5: Kirigiri, The White Jade]


    [Top 4: Sonic, The Lightspeed Warrior]


    [Top 3: Olya and Olye, Dream Team Twins]


    [Top 2: Kevin, The Potion Freak]


    [Top 1: Drakon, The Dragon Tamer]


    ¡­


    The giant screen would asionally scroll down and up to showcase the names of all the people present, and obviously, the higher the rank, the stronger they were.


    Arthur seemed to be the top 8 strongest person in Ferburg, and as for the others, he had never heard of them, but they were people Stark shouldn''t mess with yet.


    They each had a name, of course, but next to that name was their ''ssifier name'', something used to identify them, much like Arthur with his ''Archer King'' title.


    Stark looked around, and he could see on the gazes of all these people that they were mocking him for trying such a reckless thing as defeating that rift which had a ''Godless Demon'' apostle inside.


    And yet¡­


    ''Spatial Inventory,'' the void appeared beside Stark, and he put his hand inside without even looking, pulling out the [Arrow Quiver] that had been rewarded to him for killing Sierra.


    ~FWISH, CATCH~


    With a simple movement, he threw the quiver toward Arthur, who caught it then immediately looked inside.


    ''¡­!'' his eyes widened for the first time as he noticed that there was indeed a stack (64) of [Arrows of Sierra] inside, and immediately he lifted his gaze to see Stark smiling.


    People were confused, what was that even supposed to mean?


    "So you did in factplete that rift," Arthur pped his hands together slowly, "Didn''t expect that."


    "So you expected me to die?" Stark smiled harder.


    "¡­" Arthur didn''t speak for a few seconds, cornered, "It''s just that it''s been three weeks, so I thought that you had died," he recovered himself.


    The tension in the air was now bing palpable, and every ssifier looked at one another.


    THAT rift, which even some of them refused to enter, had beenpleted by that kid?


    And that could only mean one thing¡­


    "You didn''t get hit by a single arrow?" it wasn''t Arthur who spoke, but another red-haired ssifier, he was buff and there seemed to be sharp spikesing out of his arms, stomach, back, and also at the top of his head.


    Everyone that knew about Sierra and her rift already had the knowledge about her arrows and their special perks, which were something even level 200 ssifiers feared.


    "¡­" Stark looked at him for only a single second before turning his gaze back to Arthur, not even bothering to answer.


    He wasn''t interested in the others.


    But¡­


    ~CRASH, BOOM~


    From the same direction the red-haired ssifier spoke could be heard a giant boom, and when Stark looked at it, he noticed that another person smashed the ground.


    "Teach him a lesson, son," the ssifier that spoke to Stark smiled as his son''s eyes began to burn with aura.


    A mini-version of that ssifier appeared, he was a bit smaller in size, but his muscles and hair were the exact same.


    [ss: Warrior]


    He didn''t seem to use a weapon either, but just like his father, his entire body was surrounded by sharp spikes, although his control of them seemed to becking.


    "Holy¡­ are Derek and his son Karl getting involved¡­?"


    "I heard Karl is getting into ''Rift Conqueror'' too¡­ that boy is dead no matter what he tries now¡­"


    The entrance ceremonies for academies were only in a month, and it looked like Karl wanted to show off in front of the other ssifiers, his father also wanting to show that their family was strong.


    "¡­" Stark sighed, he knew that losers like these would appear.


    But¡­ he just needed to get rid of them.


    All the attention was now on Stark and Karl, who was approaching the bunny-masked boy, the spikes in his body shaking and moving like waves, and his silver aura growing more after each step.


    But Stark wasn''t impressed.


    ''Time to show off my new skills¡­'' he smiled as he began to breath in and out and focus.


    Since the beginning, Stark knew that the top ssifiers wouldn''t fight with him, he wasn''t an ''interesting'' opponent after all, which was why they would send off their children at him.


    [FIGHT!]


    A crimson panel appeared before him, and only visible to him, an indicator that he needed to be ready now.

 Chapter 131: Stark VS Karl Spikeford

    ''Perception¡­'' Stark finally decided to pay attention to the boy that was approaching him, his face indicating that he was ready to destroy him, but because he disrespected his father by not responding, but also to show everyone present that he was stronger than that ''bunny-masked guy''.


    ¡­


    [Name: Karl Spikeford]


    [Level: 124]


    [ss: Warrior]


    [HP: 87000]


    [Strength: 3971]


    [Speed: 3294]


    [Stamina: 2012]


    [Defense: 3825]


    [Skills: Spike Eruption, Spike Armor, Quake Smash, Spike World, Brain Focus, Coverage, Attach, Spike Chains¡­]


    ¡­


    There were much more skills, but it seems like the [Perception] skill only showed the ones that Karl used the most, or maybe they were the ones that he could potentially use during battle, he had never known how the skill selected the skills to be shown, but in all cases until now it had always worked perfectly.


    But¡­


    ''Weak¡­'' Stark tilted his head, he wasn''t that impressed, and although Karl was only 16 years old, starting his academy life (meaning his true ssifier start) in a month, it was still weak, too weak to attempt and stop Stark.


    Karl was the type of people (and also because he was forced by his family) to grind and reach higher levels than anybody else in the small amount of time he was given, which was why he was at such a high level before entering an academy, a harshparison to Lana''s poor level 63 as she was upied with other things.


    And yet¡­ Stark felt like he could take him down in one hit, it was just a strange feeling, maybe his intuition got better?


    "Aura Smash¡­ MERGE!" he closed his eyes and began to focus, holding his right hand''s wrist as to control his attack and not make it explode.


    "Hey," Karl''s deep voice rang in his ears, and the sound of his footsteps was getting closer, but Stark didn''t open his eyes, after all¡­ he could see Karl''s aura even while they were shut.


    "Spike Armor," Karl didn''t waste time, stopping a few meters away from Stark and activating his skill, which made the sharp spikes cover his entire body, making it look very¡­ unsettling, "Come at me, weakling!"


    His father behind himughed, his aura brimming with confidence.


    Meanwhile, Stark was focused on charging up the crimson fists, it took some time and lots of control to do that as at first inside the memories museum, they would instantly explode in his fist.


    After a while trying to make it work, he reached one simple conclusion: this perk was too strong, and even Stark, the host, couldn''t handle it if he didn''t train, which was why he spent the entire two days just trying to make it work.


    And in the end he seeded.


    ~VWISH, VWIISHHH, VIOOOUMMMMM~


    After around ten seconds, the aura waspletely covering Stark''s arm, and the pressure around it as so intense everyone around could sense it.


    Karl''s face didn''t look as confident as it was before when Stark opened his eyes back, which were also burning with determination.


    "AUUURAAAA SMASHHHH!" the attack, which was much stronger than when he used it against the guards at the entrance, was sent toward the boy, the giant fist much bigger than he was heading straight at him.


    His confidence was fading away by the second, and so the moment he saw the fist hurtling toward him¡­


    ''Yeahhh, no,'' he took a few quick steps to the left, he wasn''t dumb after all, and even though he had massive pride, he wouldn''t let himself get hit by that.


    But now that Karl was out of the attack''s way, what could Stark possibly do?


    "All this for that¡­?" the top 72 ssifier, Marco,ined


    "Powerful attack, but needs more range and speed," the top 64 ssifier, Albert, adjusted his sses while speaking.


    ''¡­'' Arthur on the other hand could see it clearly: this wasn''t all Stark wanted, actually, he perfectly nned that Karl would move.


    "Dumbass," Karl mocked Stark and got ready to attack, the fist which would have hit him if he stayed in ce only 3 meters away now.


    And then¡­


    "TARGET MANIPULATION!" he used his most recently acquired skill.


    [Description: By focusing your aura on an opponent, you can force them to move in the direction you choose: up, left, right, down¡­ The pushpletely depends on the amount of aura you put into it]


    And so despite this sounding pretty useless in most situations¡­ after experimenting with it for two days in the memories museum, Stark reached one simple conclusion: this skill was indeed worthless¡­ unless youbined it with other ones.


    [TARGET SET, SELECT DIRECTION!]


    ''GOT YOU!'' his aura surpassed Karl''s, so he was able to set is target on him.


    And now¡­ he pointed his right hand at him, but more precisely his index and middle finger, almost as if he was doing a gun with his hand and pointing it at Karl.


    "¡­?"


    "The fuck?"


    People were confused, had he gone insane after his attack failed? Maybe he used too much aura into it?


    ~FWISH, BIM~


    But Stark, while still pointing at Karl, turned his hand to the left with a swift movement.


    [Target going left!]


    ''Huh¡­?''


    Karl''s figure was surrounded by a faint outline of Stark''s crimson aura, and so his [Target Maniption] activated.


    As if an unknown force was pushing him, Karl was forced to go in the direction Stark pointed.


    But that also meant¡­


    "SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!!!"


    That he was heading straight onto the crimson fist.


    ~BOOOOMM~


    He was hit in full force by the merged fists.


    "-83723!" the damage output was phenomenal, almost high enough to kill Stark, and that was only since his [Spike Armor] and equipment protected him.


    Karl was sent flying backwards, his body crashing onto the ground with a loud thud, and the spikes of his [Spike Armor] had been shattered, scattering onto the ground like needles.


    [Karl Spikeford is knocked out!]


    A giant panel appeared above his body for everyone to read.


    ''As I said, I would only take one hit to beat him,'' Stark smiled as he turned his gaze toward Arthur again.


    Surprisingly enough, no one else from the ''children'' group attempted to fight Stark, maybe they got scared, the risk of losing to him too great after he knocked out Karl, who was considered a prodigy, in one attack.


    ''Stark!'' Lana smiled warmly, happy that he had won.


    But Aoki and Arthur didn''t seem to have the same opinion, as the former took the [Arrow Quiver] with the [Arrows of Sierra] inside and took a step forward.


    "I hope you don''t mind us both having a duel?" Aoki smiled.


    He already had his bow ready at any moment, and now that he had the [Arrows of Sierra], he got theplete advantage, as just a few hits from them could incapacitate even the strongest of ssifiers, depending on who shot them.


    So there is no way anybody would ept such an unfair duel-


    "Sure thing¡­" Stark smiled back, but he didn''t forget to add a few words to anger Aoki even more, "Brother-inw!"


    "¡­" Aoki''s smile disappeared, Stark had noticed it, but every time he got closer to Lana, her brother would always grimace and be mad, he was extremely over-protective.


    And so thatst sentence got him mad, mad enough to want to get rid of Stark, and he would use the very same arrows he brought here to do that.

 Chapter 132: Stark VS Aoki Moonless

    "¡­" Stark positioned himself to fight Aoki, he wasn''t scared of him if he was going to use ''those'' arrows to fight him.


    Aoki was extremely protective of Lana, going as far as not letting anybody get close to get her, and even threatening Daniel''s family when he got too close to her.


    He could be considered a good brother if that was it, but unfortunately, his obsession went beyond that, and he refused to acknowledge anybody weaker than him to be with his sister.


    "Oh~" Aoki smiled, "But we aren''t fighting like that other guy," he quickly nced at Karl, his body down as he was knocked out by Stark''s crimson fist.


    This supposed event which was organized for the countdown of the academy entrances, and also for the top 100 ssifiers to meet each other became so much more interesting all of a sudden and not a single person dared to interrupt the fights.


    They all wanted to know¡­ just how far could Stark go.


    "Youpleted a rift, good job, anybody could have done that," Aoki rolled his eyes, "Now I''ll show you that you need to know your ce¡­!"


    And suddenly¡­ everyone saw it.


    [Duel Request: Aoki Moonless]


    [Type: Deathless]


    [Y/N]


    These three panels appeared in front of Stark, big enough for everyone to see them.


    "Aoki-" Lana tried to reason with her brother, but a single nce from her father shot down her attempt.


    ''Frankly¡­ I seriously hate people who do this type of duels¡­'' choosing [Deathless] was a pussy move for Stark as it meant that even though you were ready to fight, you weren''t ready to receive the consequences if you somehow lost.


    Basically¡­ Aoki wasn''t as confident as he made it seem.


    But¡­ Stark was so confident he would win that he didn''t want to risk angering Arthur or the others by knocking Aoki out, so he pressed "Y".


    Aoki''s smirk widened as the duel began, the tension thick in the air as they faced each other.


    The giant dome-like arena appeared, it was around50 meters in size, allowing the two to fight however they liked, and ejecting all of those outside to guarantee a fair fight.


    [3¡­]


    The countdown began, and Aoki immediately started to summon his bow.


    [2¡­]


    Stark could feel the weight of the onlookers'' eyes, their anticipation palpable, yet his expression stayed as neutral as ever.


    [1¡­]


    ~FWISH, VIOUM~


    Aoki''s bow appeared in his hands in a sh of sparks, it was very beautiful, and the bow looked extremely powerful, maybe even stronger than Sierra''s?


    [FIGHT!]


    Stark couldn''t forget that inside of this room were the strongest people in all of Ferburg, and that meant that their gazes being on him right now meant that they were witnessing him in battle.


    Maybe some would hate him, others would like him, and the remainder would have a neutral opinion, it didn''t matter.


    Because all he needed to do now¡­ was win.


    Derek Spikeford didn''t even bother looking after his knocked out son either, and it wasn''t that he didn''t care, but observing Stark in action was much more important for now.


    "TIME TO END THIS," Aokiughed as he pulled the [Arrow Quiver] filled with [Arrows of Sierra] and took out one of the arrows, pointing at Stark.


    The boy just blinked though, he didn''t see any reasons to attempt anything: his victory was guaranteed since the moment Aoki started the fight with these arrows.


    ''Perception¡­'' he decided to still check out his opponent''s status window.


    ¡­


    [Name: Aoki Moonless]


    [Level: 187]


    [ss: Archer]


    [HP: 102500]


    [Strength: 2182]


    [Speed: 5973]


    [Stamina: 4024]


    [Defense: 3271]


    [Skills: Shoot, Target Lock, Element Merge, Instant Arrow, Archer''s Eyes, Sky Barrage, Hunter, Arrow Inventory, Aoki''s Ultimate Arrow¡­]


    ¡­


    Yet again, the skill showed him the overall stats of Aoki, and it was obvious he was much stronger than Karl, plus he would probably soon enough reach the top 100 of Ferburg if he continued like that.


    His stat points were also extremely high, and Stark knew that he had no chance to ever hope of winning against him under normal circumstances.


    But not this time¡­


    "SHOOT, TARGET LOCK!" Aoki grabbed three [Arrows of Sierra] and aimed at Stark''s weak points, focusing all his energy into the shots.


    The [Arrows of Sierra] when shot by a normal human didn''t have the same effect as when the apostle did it, instead, it worked like this:


    -The first time you get hit, you are stunned for a few seconds.


    -The second time, you are not only stunned, but your movements are decreased as the white mist infects your legs.


    -And the third time you are hit is game over as the mist infects youpletely and paralyzes you, your body bing white by the crystals.


    Of course you wouldn''t transform into a monster, but that pretty much guaranteed victory for the enemy as he could eliminate you easily.


    Stark didn''t move or show any sign of fear though.


    He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and got ready for impact.


    Aoki''s aura was overwhelming, and itpletely surrounded the three arrows as he shot them, making them all leave a beautiful trail of aura.


    In addition to that, Aoki added the [Target Lock] buff to his arrows, it was one of his most powerful skills, and also a big reason as to why he was recognized, it was a rare skill to have.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Target Lock]


    [Description: You can set a ''lock'' on a target, and once that lock is set, any arrow will directly fly toward it, no matter what direction you shoot at.]


    ¡­


    And that''s exactly what he did as¡­


    [A ''lock'' has been ced on you]


    Above his head appeared a crimson marksman symbol.


    "Oh¡­ he is using that¡­"


    "All he needs is three arrows to end this fight!"


    "More like one, that kid won''t survive a single hit¡­"


    But Stark just sighed, a wide smile on his face.


    He wasn''t scared of these arrows after all as he had already avoided and even got his by dozens of them.


    And this meant that since the beginning, it was an impossible battle for Aoki as¡­


    [You are immune to the mist]


    These [Arrows Of Sierra] couldn''t affect him, his body creating some sort of antivirus towards them after being hit inside of the rift.


    He would have surely won if he took other arrows as a single one could kill him, but in this very situation¡­ Stark was confident.


    And so without a single care in the world¡­ he dashed toward Aoki, which also meant taking the arrows straight on.


    The overall reaction of the crowd was¡­ IS HE CRAZY?!

 Chapter 133: Not Affected by the Arrows

    The three arrows flew toward Stark with incredible speed, their beautiful trails of aura adorning the air around them.


    Their tips were as sharp as swords and glowed with a malevolent energy.


    Stark, however, didn''t seem to be fazed at all, his eyes were locked onto his target, his expression determined and unwavering.


    ~FWISH~


    He avoided the first arrow quite easily, then the second, and finally the third.


    "AURA SMASH!" then this time, without merging his fists, he sent all three toward Aoki.


    But it was no use¡­


    ~DODGE, DODGE, DODGE~


    Aoki''s speed was still way higher than Stark''s, and there was no chance a projectile would hit him.


    ~DASH~


    Knowing that, Stark closed the distance between the two, allowing him to fight with Aoki on close-range, something an archer should never do.


    But the moment he reached him¡­


    ~VIOU, BAM~


    He was hit by an arrow from behind.


    ''Ah shit¡­ the arrowse back to the target¡­'' he had thought of this possibility, but was too focused on closing the distance to avoid.


    ''Crimson Spears¡­'' he decided to make use of his spears and hit the arrows with them though.


    The moment that happened, the mark above his head disappeared, which meant that these arrows only stopped following him if they hit something, or were destroyed.


    Was this why this skill was considered so powerful among archers?


    [Hit once!]


    ~BAM~


    While he was thinking of that, Aoki took advantage of this opportunity to spin around and m Stark''s head using his bow.


    "-12817!"


    He was sent flying in the opposite direction, and that simple attack (which didn''t even do that much damage to be honest), but¡­


    [Stark HP: 4933/12750]


    One more attack and Stark would lose, the sole reason why he hadn''t died because of the ''Domination Armor'' which blocked 5000 HP.


    ''Why does he hit so hard while not even shooting¡­'' Stark didn''t know it, but the bow Aoki had was from the ''Mythical'' ss, just as good in precision as it is in close-range because of its hard materials.


    This did indeed put Stark on one HP, but his confidence didn''t falter either.


    "INSTANT ARROW," Aoki grabbed another arrow, and at a speed so fast pretty much half the people in the room couldn''t see it, he shot it toward Stark.


    The arrow also received the [Instant Arrow] buff, which increased its speed so much it reached Stark in less than a second.


    ~BIM~


    [Hit Twice!]


    These arrows are extremely strong, and so to make up for it, they do not do any sort of damage to the target.


    "Ouch~ one more¡­"


    "Its over¡­"


    People were still interested in the fight, but by this point it was already over.


    And yet¡­ many of them wondered¡­ why was Stark still smiling.


    ''Alright¡­ should have done that since the beginning¡­''


    He didn''t like to overwhelm opponents at the start of a fight since he wanted to see their abilities and also¡­ make them understand that they can''t win against him.


    "CLONE FRENZY!" he summoned his two clones beside him, and they nodded as they understood what Stark wanted them to do.


    They traced a circle in the palm of their hands and envisioned where there wanted it to go, then¡­


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!" they both activated the skill.


    Under normal circumstances, an archer as fast as Aoki would have enough space to run away from the beam, but in this case, he was locked in an arena.


    "=)"


    Stark''s clones positioned [Heaven''s Wrath] perfectly as to not allow Aoki to go to the sides, otherwise he would just be disintegrated.


    And so, as the giant crimson sparkles in the ceiling charged up¡­


    "Hey, what are they doing-"


    His eyes widened as he felt the intense aura, and he looked up to see that at incredible attack wasing.


    ''SHIT!'' due to theck of time, he couldn''t run to the sides, and so he was forced to dash forward.


    But this was a mistake¡­


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT!"


    ~BOOOMM, BIIEMMM~


    The two giant beams erupted at the same time,ing from the sky and converging right on top of Aoki.


    The force of the attack was so immense that it created shockwaves throughout the entire arena, shaking the ground beneath everyone''s feet.


    "Wow¡­"


    "This is insane¡­"


    As ifing from the heaven''s, the crimson beam fascinated everyone.


    "YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD GET ME WITH THAT-?" Aoki almost got hit, but he smiled again as he turned his gaze back toward Stark, "Huh?"


    Because of [Double Assault] and his low HP, Stark''s domination made him so fast that he was already right in front of Aoki.


    "=)"


    ~BOOM~


    Stark punched his face as hard as he could.


    "-84827!" the damage output was something even Stark had never been able to do before, he was also soon reaching the 100,000 damage mark!


    Aoki was sent flying in the opposite direction, and he could thank the heaven''s that [Heaven''s Wrath] stopped working right as he was about to enter it again.


    ''The duration was cut in half¡­ is it because the two clones were using it at the same time?''


    As Aokinded, his entire body was shaking through the pain.


    But he still wasn''t down.


    "TARGET LOCK!" he grabbed not 3, not 5, but 10 [Arrows of Sierra] and began to pull the stringer with all of them in his hands.


    This was a difficult feat to achieve for most archers, but thanks to [Target Lock], all the arrows would indeed fly toward their target.


    ~VRIM, VRIM, VRIM~


    The 10 arrows flew towards Stark with incredible precision and speed, their beautiful trails of aura adorning the air around them.


    But this time¡­ Stark didn''t even bother to avoid them.


    He TRULY wanted to show Aoki that he didn''t have any chance to begin with, well to be honest, he would have had a higher chance of winning by simply using his bow as a weapon.


    Even though the arrows were flying at him, Stark''s face never changed expression. He stood firm and waiting for the arrows to strike.


    And when the first one hit¡­


    [Hit Thrice!]


    [Effects of ''Arrow of Sierra'' activating¡­]


    "GOTCHA!" Aokiughed, and to add to the fuel, the other 9 arrows also hit Stark, which meant that he would potentially be paralyzed for a few days if he kept him like that.


    Not losing a single second, Aoki dashed forward, wanting to step on Stark''s face and proving to everyone present that the Moonless family, and himself, shouldn''t be messed with.


    But¡­ while his confidence was at his max¡­ the unthinkable happened.


    "Do you know how I managed to defeat this rift," Stark opened one of his eyes, a burning crimson fire visible in them, a wide smile on his face.


    ''¡­?!'' the fact that he could talk was weird, after all, all his muscles were supposed to be paralyzed by the mist.


    Aoki stopped in his momentum at that moment, "No¡­ no way¡­" but he resumed heading toward Stark, this time walking.


    And right as he got close to Stark¡­ a panel that made everyone''s eyes widen appeared above the boy.


    [Determination is too strong!]


    [Not affected by ''Arrows of Sierra''!]


    Aoki''s jaw was wide open as he read the message, and the moment he gazed down at the smiling Stark, he could see that his aura was almost five times as overwhelming as before.


    And so during that brief instant of doubt¡­


    [Aoki Moonless has received the DOMINATED status!]


    He knew this guy was bad news.

 Chapter 134: Defeat of the Moonless Son

    [Determination is too strong!]


    [Not affected by ''Arrows of Sierra''!]


    ~STEP, STEP~


    He decided to back away, squinting his eyes and gritting his teeth as he looked around to find a solution.


    ~SHOOT, FWISH~


    Aoki decided to still use those arrows on him though, and he shot a multitude of them one after another, not even taking a second to take a break.


    [Hit Four Times]


    .


    .


    [Hit Twelve Times]


    .


    .


    And yet, no matter how many he sent at him, how matter how focused he was, each arrow wouldn''t do anything.


    On the other hand, Stark was slowly walking to Aoki, each arrow that failed to infect him making his smile grow as he could feel the despair in Aoki, and his futile attempts.


    But...


    "ALRIGHT, ASSHOLE," Aoki threw the [Arrow Quiver] away and... activated his most powerful skill.


    "AOKI''S ULTIMATE ARROW," aura started seeping from his body and began to create a beautiful arrow with a moon symbol on its edge: it was his only chance to win since he couldn''t use the [Arrows of Sierra] to do damage.


    [Aoki''s Ultimate Arrow] created an arrow from Aoki''s arrow, and that attack was so strong it dealt over 150000 damage point to whoever was hit, it could also pierce defense and walls, and adding the [Target Lock] buff to it made it overpowered.


    It was an attack many archers and even those outside of this ss feared.


    ''Why is he doing nothing...?'' Aoki''s pressure increased as he saw that Stark was still slowly walking toward him, not even caring about the attack, ''WELL, THAT''S GOOD FOR ME!''


    ~FWISSHHHH~


    The structure of his ultimate aura was nearingpletion, the air around it distorting...


    "I WON!" Aoki got ready to shoot as his attack was charged up.


    But...


    ''Huh?'' he felt an intense pressure from behind, something was holding his arms, not allowing him to fire.


    And as he looked behind him... he saw the two clones, both shaking their heads as if they were disappointed.


    Aoki had been too focused on Stark,pletely ignoring the two clones that he had summoned, and that was his biggest mistake.


    ~BAM, BAM~


    The two punched him at the same time, each strike sounding like a bullet being fired.


    "-32617! -34818!"


    He was sent toward Stark, and of course the boy didn''t miss a chance to finish him in a stylish way.


    ~KICK~


    He kicked Aoki''s stomach when he got closer, making his entire figure distort as it removed the air from his lungs.


    And so he was sent flying toward the ceiling.


    "-58271!"


    He was already dead from the clones'' punches, so the arena barrier disappeared and he effectively crashed into the ceiling, before falling to the ground and being caught by Arthur.


    [Winner: REDACTED (Bunny-Masked Man)!]


    A golden panel appeared in the middle of the room for everyone to see.


    And instantly...


    "NICE!"


    "That was cool!"


    "That damage is crazy...!"


    Surprisingly, many people around himplimented him, while the remainder of them remained calm.


    ''¡­'' Aokiid there defeated, his body unconscious since you would always go down to recover after dying inside of a duel.


    "Amazing¡­" Arthur smiled, even he was impressed, and he had also hoped that Stark would win (he would of course never say that to Aoki).


    But of course, winning in a duel meant one other thing too¡­


    [You have beaten ''Aoki Moonless'' in duel, gaining reward: 582437EXP!]


    And so that¡­ Stark was surrounded by the golden golem in front of everybody''s eyes.


    [Your level has increased to level 33, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 14737/712000]


    He had almost forgotten about the fact that winning a duel against another ssifier meant that he would steal some EXP, in that case it was enough to allow him to level up.


    ''He probably went down one or two levels to give me this¡­'' Stark smiled.


    ''Spatial Inventory¡­'' he mumbled before taking out three [Potions of Regeneration] and drinking them all, after all he didn''t know when any of these people would attack.


    But¡­ Stark''s intuition made him feel like he wouldn''t fight anymore.


    "Hey, Archer King¡­" Stark spoke, and all the chatter in the room suddenly stopped, all ssifiers, even the most powerful of them, wanting to hear what Stark was about to say.


    They were in front of an up-anding prodigy, many realized it.


    "Yes, Mr. Bunny?" Arthur smiled, he knew of Stark''s identity but kept it a secret as saying his name would be too easy.


    How many guild and organization leaders would love to have him as a member? He couldn''t allow that¡­


    He quickly nced at his daughter, then smiled: Stark was the perfect protection to her if something ever happened as he couldn''t always be around.


    "You know what I asked for, right?" Stark mimicked the sign of money with his fingers, he didn''t say what it was about though as asking to join the ''Rift Conqueror'' academy would make him so much easier to find.


    "Oh~ but of course, I''ll be sending all the information to you soon," Arthur smiled, "Thank you for the arrows."


    "No problem¡­" Stark nodded and turned around, "Oh! See you soon, Lana," he waved at the girl, he hadn''t paid attention to her since he was too focused on actually surviving.


    "B-Bye!"


    "Goodbye¡­ FATHER-IN-LAW!" Stark added as well as he turned his slightly toward Arthur, a wide smile on his face.


    "Bye, son-inw," Arthur went along with it, smiling just as hard, a small amount of aura pouring out from his body.


    And yet¡­ this small amount was enough to make Stark squint his eyes: he was way too strong, and it would take a while to win.


    Once Stark left the room, one of the [Magus] ss used his staff to ce the wooden doors back in their ce, effectively repairing thempletely, and stopping anybody from seeing Stark.


    But the boy didn''t turn back, instead he just went inside the elevator and clicked on the main floor, meaning the entrance.


    [Good job¡­]


    A crimson panel appeared before Stark, but he was already lost in thought, holding his head: this was a terrifying experience.


    And surely¡­ now all the strongest ssifiers in the country, as well as all their children present, knew about him.


    ''I need to be careful¡­ need to get stronger¡­'' he mumbled over and over as the elevator kept going up.

 Chapter 135: The Devil’s Abyss Key

    "So that''s your son-inw, Arthur?" Derek, the father of the boy Stark had defeated,ughed, "Didn''t know your daughter was taken¡­ and here I thought Karl had a chance!"


    "Don''t push your luck, Derek," Arthur''s smile disappeared as soon as Stark left, "Don''t ever think my daughter will get with a thug like your son."


    "¡­" Derek was ranked 45th in the ranking, which would seem great for anyone else, but in this room where everyone is strong, rank is everything, and those with lower ones needed to respect those that were stronger.


    "Who is he?" a woman asked, approaching the ''Archer King''.


    "Hm¡­" Arthur thought for a while, and everyone watched, awaiting his reaction, "An acquaintance, I guess¡­"


    And so just like that, the party resumed, although it was much more chaotic as many were left wondering who that mysterious boy was.


    He intruded this ce with no fear in his eyes, beat two powerful ssifiers, and left after talking with the top 8 ssifier, the ''Archer King'', about something.


    The Bunny-Masked Man''s reputation grew once more.


    ***


    [¡­]


    Stark was still in the elevator, but his body was sweating all over, and he was holding his head tighly, his pupils shaking like never before.


    He had acted confident in front of everyone, and even up until entering the elevator, but inside¡­ he could feel it: death.


    He made sure not to make it obvious, but he had noticed all thorough his stay inside this room that almost all of the ssifiers had their hands on their weapons.


    They were all ring at him, their auras enough to suffocate him.


    The [Warriors] had their hands on their sword''s handles, ready to cut Stark in a single second, the [Magus] had their staffs in hand, particles of magic already visible at their edges as if one single word from them could crush him, the [Soul Wielders] were already beginning to summon their hearts in hand.


    Basically¡­ everyone was ready to kill him if he ever did something wrong.


    Luckily, Stark had managed to survive by focusing most of the attention on the fight and his discussion with Arthur, otherwise it would have been game over.


    "¡­!" he put his back against the wall and breathed in and out slowly, in the end¡­ he had managed to do it¡­


    And yet¡­


    Fear wasn''t the only thing Stark was feeling, no¡­ there was another emotion he couldn''t describe inside of him, one that made him smile even with all the sweat and while his aura was shaky because of the memories of his possible death.


    Was it thrill? Excitement? Ecstasy?


    He didn''t know¡­ but at least he bnced it all out.


    And so by the time the elevator stopped on the first floor and he got out, his face was back to normal, and he managed to takeplete control over his aura.


    ''Need to get stronger¡­'' he mumbled, his eyes burning yet again, and a vortex forming inside of them, ''Stronger¡­ stronger¡­ stronger¡­''


    He kept repeating this word over and over until he reached the entrance door again, and left.


    Once outside, Stark took a deep breath and started walking home. The events of the day had left him shaken, but also energized.


    His n of showing himself to the others, while also forcing Arthur to respond positively to his return was aplete sess.


    [''Rift Conqueror'' academy entrance in one month¡­]


    He still had one month before finally beginning his REAL entrance into the world of ssifiers.


    He was frankly interested to see what this school was about as he knew that it had a 95% if not more failure rate, meaning that out of 1000 people allowed, only around 50 would pass the first year, and even less the second.


    But until then¡­ he needed to be stronger, way stronger¡­


    Karl was simply beaten since he had underestimated Stark, and Aoki didn''t have his real arrows.


    It wasn''tplete luck, of course, but it was just that Stark took advantage of the circumstances toe out on top.


    ''¡­''


    Stark reached his hotel room quite easily after hailing for a taxi and he jumped on his bed, exhausted, it was around 5pm, but he was still tired nheless since fighting decreased his stamina.


    ''Ways to get stronger¡­'' but he kept thinking of that.


    [Memories Museum] was his most obvious option, but it didn''t increase his level, and training his movements would have a limit at some point


    The second option was the [Devil''s Abyss Key] which he had gotten from killing Judicator, but he currently had no idea where it was located, and how he could open it¡­


    He still remembered that its description stated that three ''Godless Demon'' apostles were inside, and it would surely be his hardest rift yet¡­ but for now he was safe.


    He yed with the key for a little while, inspecting it to see if it had any secrets, it waspletely crimson, with traces of rust all over it, and its edge had two devil horns as well as holes which resembled a skull.


    And when he taped it with his finger three times¡­ something happened.


    ~GROOOWALLl~


    Arge sound could be heard all over Stark''s room, which surprised him, and then¡­


    A crimson panel, one that had a fire aura around it, as well as a two ck horns on top, and a moving tail on its back, appeared.


    [The ''Devil''s Abyss'' rift has not been opened yet, but it will be avable very soon.]


    [Whoever owns this key, watch out, many will try to take it from you, and trying to go inside by yourself is guaranteed death.]


    [Good luck¡­ the devils are waiting for you¡­]


    ''Huh¡­'' he had never seen that before since he immediately put the key into his [Spatial Inventory], but it seemed like that thing was much important than he expected.


    Was it another secret rift that would cause uproar? It sure looked like it if even the key warned him that people would want to steal it from him.


    In the end, he decided to put it back into the inventory and he would keep it there until he found the entrance of that rift.


    ''Last options to get stronger¡­ find amon rift people go to and level up there, or go outside to the dangerous zone¡­'' this was all he could think off as finding unique rifts like he did before wasn''t easy, and he couldn''t ask Arthur for another one after such an event today, ''Welp, I think I''ll just find out tomorrow¡­''


    He spent the rest of the dayzing around in his room, and watching videos of people analyzing his fights (narcissistic much?), he frankly enjoyed being in the spotlight.


    And so just like that¡­ it was time for Stark to sleep, the sun had sipped below the horizon and the moon rose up to watch over him in the night.


    Although¡­ the moon wasn''t the only thing watching him¡­ but he didn''t know that yet.

 Chapter 136: Announcement of the Second Domination Trial

    ''...''


    Stark slept well that night, no dreams, no nothing, justfortable sleep he greatly needed.


    ''Best sleep ever~'' he mumbled.


    And when he opened his eyes...


    "OH COME ON!"


    He was yet again in that ck void, with nothing in view for what seemed infinity.


    Then...


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    The other Stark, the onepletely made out of aura, with only his eyes and mouth visible because of the white aura, appeared.


    Crimson cracks were forming beneath his feet.


    The background around it changed, it wasn''t aplete ck void anymore, but the area around the doppelg?nger became visible in a 10 meters radius: it was rocky ground with cracks of aura also spreading through this weirdnd.


    This has never happened before, maybe thend would be more visible the stronger he got?


    After all, they WERE in his mind, weren''t they?


    ''...'' the other Stark didn''t speak like he used to, instead... he looked to his right, almost as if he was waiting for something.


    And suddenly...


    ~FWISH~


    Another Stark appeared... wait, what?


    The other doppelganger''s body was made of white aura, and he was wearing a longboratory coat, he also had two vials in his hands, each with a weird liquid inside.


    ''Alchemist...?'' Stark thought.


    "As you said!" the white Stark smiled, answering the original as it was capable of reading his mind.


    "This guy appeared ever since you unlocked the [Alchemist] ss and has been bugging me..."


    ''So each ss will create a doppelganger of myself...?'' Stark couldn''t deny he was interested to see what it would look like with 10 of them in here, it would probably be chaos though.


    "Love me or hate me, I''m still here," The Alchemist rubbed his two vials, beneath his feet the ground waspletely white with a weird marble texture, resembling the ground of aboratory.


    And after only a few minutes of talking... the two Stark suddenly stopped whatever they were doing and turned toward the original.


    "..."


    "..."


    Their eyes looked almost sad, although they had no pupils at all and their entire body was made of aura so it was hard to see.


    "...?" Stark was confused, but... a panel suddenly appeared before him.


    It was crimson in color, but its edges had vials, a merge of both [Domination] and [Alchemist] speaking to him.


    And its content was... rather shocking.


    [The Second Domination Trial is arriving soon.]


    This was all that was written, and it was enough to make Stark''s eyes widen.


    If the first Domination trial was already hard enough to kill off 4 of the most promising ssifiers from this ss... then what could the second one possibly be about.


    [It is harder than the first, and it will start the moment you and the ''others'' reach level 50!]


    ''The others...'' Stark mumbled, it clearly meant that this Domination trial would yet again have him fight alongside others, with the possibility of only one person being allowed to survive again.


    Plus, it being at level 50 would mean the difficulty would skyrocket.


    "Ah shit... but I need to get stronger so can''t really escape that," he sighed, and the two other Stark smiled.


    [That''s all... for now...]


    And so the two bowed before seeping back into the ground, and the entire realm began shaking like crazy.


    ''Waking up...'' he thought as he looked up, a blinding light growing more and more in the void''s sky.


    ~FWISH~


    ~BWIING~


    Stark woke up shortly after.


    ***


    ''Shit...'' was Stark''s first thought as he got up from his bed, holding his forehead.


    Another Domination Trial so soon was harsh, but if he didn''t get stronger, there was little to no chance he survived inside the ''Rift Conqueror Academy'', basically... he was fucked either way.


    ''I might as well try my luck with the Domination trial...'' he sighed as he opened his phone, he felt extremely hungry for some reason.


    And when he checked the date...


    "OH COME ON...!" three days had passed, three days he had spentpletely asleep, three days, while felt like mere minutes inside his mind.


    And of course, dozens upon dozens of messages from Lana appeared as soon as he was connected to his phone.


    ''Here goes the tsundere¡­'' he didn''t bother to read any text beside thest one.


    {Lana Moonless: I need to leave for a rift soon as the academy requires to get stronger, please send a message!!!!}


    ''¡­''


    {Stark Heartsouls: Have fun :)}


    Obviously, he didn''t get an answer or even a read like he usually did since she was probably fighting monsters by this point.


    ''Well¡­ I also need to find a way to get stronger¡­'' he still had his own problems to solve, so he paced around the hotel room, thinking of his possibilities.


    Looking for another secret rift was out of the question since they were extremely rare to begin with.


    He could also try and conquer a random rift too, but most were owned by ssifiers.


    How do you somehow manage to im a rift like Arthur did with [Sierra''s Death Path] you might ask?


    Well, what else than money and power!


    There are actually ''Rift Auctions'' held in private ces for the rich, and he effectively bought it from there, which seemed kinda weird as¡­ you know¡­ anybody can enter the rift if they find it¡­?


    ''Heh~ I don''t know,'' Stark shrugged, not that interested in that as it wouldn''t help either, "But what about going outside?"


    It was indeed risky, but if he spent long enough outside the barrier of Ferburg, inside the semi-danger zone, then he could definitely gather experience quickly.


    ''But¡­ it''s not that convenient to do that, is it not¡­?'' Stark kept walking around, but his stomach quickly reminded him that he hadn''t eaten for three days straight, and that he should get to it before he died.


    ~CLANG~


    He grabbed a te and put it on the table before pulling out five different meals from his [Spatial Inventory]


    But the moment he sat down¡­ he noticed that there were things ced on his table.


    ''Huh¡­?'' he was sure that they weren''t there before¡­ ''What the fuck?''


    There were two envelopes on the table, each with the ''Moonless'' family crest in the middle of it.


    Stark immediately tried to reach for them, but this time, it was another crimson panel that stopped him.


    [WARNING! You should eat quickly!]


    [You have received the ''FAMISHED'' status!]


    [-10 HP¡­! -10 HP¡­! -10 HP¡­!]


    ''HUH?'' his HP was reducing every second that passed.


    [When you are extremely hungry, you do not die instantly, your HP just get reduced little by little, but if they do reach 0, you will die!]


    "Huh, so it''s like in minecra-"


    ~ZAP~


    "-100!"


    ''Fuck¡­'' he quickly began to ate though and soon enough, the "FAMISHED" status disappeared, and his HP slowly began to go back up.


    And once he was finished with all his food¡­ he immediately grabbed both the envelopes and ced them in front of him.


    If they were from the ''Moonless'' family, then it obviously meant that it was Arthur who sent them, although that would indeed mean that he ordered people to infiltrate his room while he was asleep to deliver them¡­


    ''¡­'' it was a rather disturbing thought, but he was confident [Focus] would have immediately woken him up if there was any sort of killing intent.


    And so just like that, Stark opened the first envelope and began reading its content¡­

 Chapter 137: The Rift Storer Association

    ''So much presentation¡­?'' Stark was confused


    The first envelope contained a luxurious letter, as well as¡­ A CHEQUE!?


    "YES!" Stark didn''t even need to check the amount, he was already happy, he sure did love money.


    ¡­


    [Cheque:] 5 million rher coins


    ¡­


    ''Nice¡­'' he nodded happily before picking up the letter that was with the cheque.


    The message was written by Arthur, which would already be a miracle for anyone to receive since the ''Archer King'' was always busy and didn''t have time for anyone, but Stark didn''t seem to mind.


    ¡­


    [Hello, Stark


    As promised, here are the 5 million rher coins for the mission, and as for the rest, your tuition has already been paid, and your spot for the ''Rift Conqueror Academy'' was secured.


    You will be able to go there from next month onward, hope you seed in graduating¡­


    Arthur.]


    ¡­


    "¡­" and so with that, Stark could finally feel that going through all the trouble of fighting his way through [Sierra''s Death Path] was worth it, other than just toplete his [ApostleDex] of course.


    Using his phone, he scanned the cheque and imed the money inside his ount.


    And so with that, his overall assets ranged around 7.76 million rher coins.


    Thinking that he went from 0 to this insane number brought a smile to Stark''s face, but of course he couldn''t forget that he would need to spend lots to buy ingredients in the future, as well as interesting items if he saw them: it meant that money was always needed, no matter how much he had of it.


    After finishing with the first envelope, Stark moved on to the second one, curious about what else Arthur might have left for him as everything had already been said.


    As he tore open the envelope, only a small letter fell, one much shorter than even the previous one.


    And when he picked it up¡­


    ~DING~


    He heard a notification from a panel, but he decided to read it after the letter.


    ¡­


    [Want to get stronger? Head to the ''Fighting District'' and search for the ''Rift Storer Association''!]


    ¡­


    This was all that was written, but¡­ somehow, it interested Stark much more than anything else.


    Wasn''t it too convenient of a timing? He was looking for a way to get stronger and then all of a sudden the ''Archer King'' himself helps him out?


    [Talent: Chosen One, Activated!]


    ''Of course¡­'' he sighed as he noticed that the panel that had made a sound earlier was exactly what he thought it would be.


    Plus, there was also the fact Arthur saw Stark fight before, and thought that it would be better to have him level up before reaching the academy¡­


    In the end, he truly couldn''t understand how any of those ''Moonless'' folks thought¡­ but they were useful for now.


    [27 days before ''Rift Conqueror Academy'' entrance ceremony!]


    Around a month was left for him to get stronger, but should he try to reach level 50 before that or¡­ wait?


    The domination trial would happen no matter what he tried or thought, so there was no point in trying to escape it.


    In the end, Stark left his hotel room with more questions than answers, and hailed for a taxi, asking the driver to send him to the ''Fighting District'', which was just as big as the ''Trading District'' if not more as it was where everyone who actively fought in rifts was.


    Basically¡­


    "Holy¡­"


    It was a ce for strong people.


    After 40 minutes, Stark reached the ''Fighting District'', it was separated from the heart of the city by quite a distance, although not enough to consider it very far.


    It was around 1pm, yet there were hundreds, if not thousands of ssifiers roaming around, their weapons in hands.


    The atmosphere was charged with energy, each passerby exuding a sense of power.


    "¡­" but inparison to what he saw and experienced before, all of this seemed pretty dull, but maybe it was just a feeling.


    Stark took his first step into the district, making sure not to bump into anybody as people in this area were much more aggressive than those in the trading one.


    All of them seemed ready to battle whoever even dared to do anything, although it wouldn''t matter much since Stark could beat them¡­


    As he navigated the district, he spotted many shops also selling goods rted to rift exploration, as well as some luxurious disys with legendary/mythical items that cost a fortune on them.


    "Level 100 training dummies, use them however you like, they don''t break!" some guy was promoting an object to train.


    "So you want to create a party, we''re going to be 4¡­" while others were busy trying to find teammates.


    But in the end, this wasn''t where most of the activity was located¡­ not at all¡­


    ''Rift Storer Association,'' he mumbled, and once he looked up¡­ he found himself in front of a giant building, at least five times the size of the biggest one in the ''Trading District'', hundreds of peopleing in and out of it.


    Above the entrance was a holographic screen that disyed the name: "Rift Storer Association".


    ''Well¡­ that''s the ce, so might as well go for it¡­'' he had heard several people talk about it while he was heading there, as well as some other ce called the [ssifier Colosseum], but he would maybe check it outter.


    The interior of the ''Rift Storer Association'' was bustling with activity, people from all over the city filling the spacious lobby, which somehow still had enough space to navigate easily even with all these people, it truly was enormous.


    The appearance of it was quite luxurious, with marble floors and grand chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, illuminating the room in a soft golden light, although the ''theme'' was more neon than anything else as colored lights were everywhere.


    Dozens of screens greeted him wherever he looked, and there were many halls to go through, basically, the possibilities were endless, and he could easily guess this was the most popr building in the district.


    And when he felt lost¡­


    "Hello, sir, how may I help you?" one of the agents ced in this ce to help out new ssifiers appeared.


    She was beautiful, but her appearance didn''t interest Stark enough for him to take note of it.


    "I would like to go to the area to get stronger, if that is possible¡­?" he asked, unsure if those words were right.


    "Oh, then I get you are looking for high risk high reward~ you should immediately head toward the ''Rifts'' section then, and you should find everything!" she pointed at a specific hallway, with the section name illuminated above with a neon, then quickly went to help the next customer.


    ''¡­'' Stark sighed, he truly didn''t know what to expect, all of this was TOO new for him, and he felt like the more he stayed in this world, the more things he discovered about it.


    He immediately headed toward the ''Rifts'' section, which also seemed to be the one with the highest amount of people.


    And when he emerged on the other side of the hall¡­ he found himself in yet another giant room, maybe even bigger than the lobby?


    The first thing that appeared in front of him as he entered a room filled with other ssifiers were two blue panels.


    [Please choose the rift you want to enter!]


    [Warning! Those below rmended level won''t be admitted inside of a rift!]


    It truly was a weird ce¡­ but if it could help Stark level up¡­ then why not?

 Chapter 138: Breaking Through the Rift Barrier

    Inside of the [Rift] section''s giant room were many other halls, each leading to another ce further inside the ''Rift Storer Association''.


    ''Huh¡­'' Stark was confused, but this time he just decided to figure it out by himself.


    [Please choose the rift you want to enter!]


    [Warning! Those below rmended level won''t be admitted inside of a rift!]


    Those were the words the panel had told him.


    And so that meant¡­


    ''I think I got it¡­'' he lifted his gaze, and as guessed, above each of the hallways was a neon title that differed in colors.


    The hall all the way to the right had the title [Level 10-20 Rift] above, the one next to it was [Level 20-30 Rift] and it continued like this until reaching [Level 240-250 Rift].


    Basically¡­ there was a chance that each hall led to a rift where people could train by fighting and killing monsters, as well as level up.


    He could see many people, from all sses and levels, head toward a specific hall without any issues.


    Some others were even trying to form teams on a whim inside the room, which seemed kind of dumb, but who knows.


    [You are level¡­ 33!]


    [Please choose the rift you want to go to, note that the barrier will block you from going to a rift higher than your level as to stop needless deaths and reduce risks!]


    ''Hell nah¡­'' Stark refused to go to the [Level 30-40 Rift] area as the enemies there would all get one-shotted by him, plus it would take him way too much time.


    Anyone that heard him think like that would probably think he was crazy, but to him, it madeplete sense.


    And so he immediately headed toward the [Level 80-90 Rift] area as it was the maximum he could achieve at this very moment with his abilities, any higher and it would be extremely risky, although Stark couldn''t say he hadn''t risked his life every time.


    "Let''s go there!"


    "Hunt those monsters ande back!"


    "Let''s go together I said, let''s goooo!"


    People around were chatting, and it kind of annoyed Stark as the sound was overwhelming.


    Around each of the hall''s entrances was some sort of energy barrier that shone brightly.


    When someone of the required level tried to pass, it would obviously let them pass without any issues.


    [ess Allowed!]


    And on the other hand¡­ if you ever tried to slip through¡­


    ~BZIP, ZAPPP~


    They were pushed back by a high amount of electric energy.


    [ess Denied, level not high enough to attempt this rift, please do not try again!]


    "You fucking liar, you told you were level-" and with that many problems would ur, but as it said before, it was to reduce the risks.


    Frankly, Stark didn''t really care much about that warning, for him it was either a high level rift or just going to the danger-zone outside of Ferburg, basically he was toozy to grind against hundreds of monsters for one level.


    As Stark approached the entrance to the [Level 80-90 Rift], he felt a surge of anticipation mixed with a hint of caution.


    The purple energy barrier was right in front of him, and people beside him were passing by.


    He noticed that the more he went toward the high level rifts, the fewer people there were around.


    He got a few weird looks from others though: Stark hadn''t activated his aura yet, so for the others, he just looked like some new ssifiers trying to explore.


    But¡­


    ''Let''s get this over with¡­'' he took a step toward the purple barrier, the faint glow emitting on his face.


    And when he tried to pass¡­


    ~BZIP, ZAPPP~


    [ess Denied, level not high enough to attempt this rift, please do not try again!]


    ''¡­''


    Of course, such an urrence always resulted in people mocking you for trying to fight inside a rift higher than your level.


    But Stark didn''t care at all, instead his eyes burned brighter with determination and¡­ he tried again.


    ~BZIP, ZAPPP~


    [ess Denied, stop trying!]


    This time the shock was more powerful, but Stark didn''t stop, he kept going.


    ~BZIP, ZAPPP~


    [ess Denied, we already told you to stop!]


    Again.


    [STOP. TRYING.]


    And again.


    [WHY DO YOU KEEP TRYING!?]


    The shock was bing more and more powerful, and by now it would be enough to make even a ssifier at level 80 faint, yet Stark''s aura and determination kept him going.


    ''DOMINATION!'' he activated his power as he dashed at the purple barrier again.


    By now, all the attention was on the boy that kept trying to ess an area far higher than his level, and the mockery andughter turned into worry.


    "Why does he keep trying?"


    "Is he crazy?"


    "Death wish maybe? These newbies really need to give up¡­"


    But it wasn''t only the barrier that was powering up after each attempt: Stark''s aura also grew more and more.


    It was either he passes that shitty barrier, or he faints while trying.


    "This is crazy¡­" one of the bystanders muttered under his breath, genuinely concerned about Stark''s actions.


    However, as Stark made another assault on the energy barrier, it began to emit a deafening noise, and a sudden sh of purple light engulfed Stark.


    [AcCEsS¡­ DEnI¡­Ed¡­]


    Stark''s aurapletely shielded him from the shock, and so his body slowly pushed through the barrier, first it was his feet, then his hands, and then his entire torso¡­


    For a moment, time seemed to stand still as the barrier pulsed with energy, and then silence fell.


    The people around exchanged astonished nces, waiting to see what would happen next.


    And after a few seconds¡­ the energy barrier flickered slightly, allowing Stark to pass.


    [ess Allowed¡­]


    Of course, it wasn''t solely because Stark pushed its limits that it allowed him to pass but because¡­ the barrier itself could sense his aura.


    A barrier isn''t sentient at all, but its sole job is to check the level and power of a ssifier to decide if he is allowed to pass or not, and in this case¡­ although Stark''s level was extremely lowpared to the rmended one, his aura told it that he would easily be able to survive.


    And so it allowed him to pass.


    Stark came out on the other side of the barrier, now allowed to reach the rift, and so he looked back at the other ssifiers, a giant grin on his face.


    All of them were bbergasted at the scene that urred before them, yet unable to do anything as¡­ well¡­ what could they do, and why would they even interfere to begin with?


    And so just like that, Stark began to walk through the hallway alongside the other people that were level 80-90, he didn''t know what awaited him, but it better be worth it.


    All he wanted was to level up after all¡­

 Chapter 139: An Elite Event Mini-Boss?!

    Stark went deeper into the hall, many other ssifiers talking, and some rare ones even pointing at him for being an anomaly: the barrier clearly stated his level was way too low, yet he still managed to pass somehow thanks to his sheer determination and aura that even it (the barrier) could detect.


    And so when he reached the end of the hallway¡­ he finally saw it, a massive purple portal crackling with energy.


    It was just there, the area near it corrupted by the remnants of aura that came out of it, and dozens of ssifiers wereing in and out like it was nothing.


    ''Hm¡­'' Stark scratched his chin¡­


    It was the entrance to the [Level 80-90 Rift], and frankly, Stark did NOT know how they managed to bring a rift portal all the way here, but it was indeed useful.


    And so Stark with no hesitation whatsoever passed the threshold and yet again had that sensation of being transported somewhere else, it was all too familiar to him, and it meant that he was indeed going inside of a rift.


    [Wee to the ''Strands of Corruption'' rift¡­!]


    And so after a few seconds, Stark was finally able to emerge on the other side.


    His vision was blurry, but it quickly adjusted as he looked up.


    He was standing on gray ground, and beside him were dozens of other ssifiers, some already fighting monsters.


    "KEN IS DOWN, FUCK!"


    "Take that!"


    "Haha got him~"


    People were doing their own things¡­ and so Stark decided to just go somewhere else.


    This rift worked like all the normal others, meaning that the further he went, the harder it would be, and it also meant that there was a chance that the boss was still there if it wasn''t already defeated or if it spawned again.


    The ''Strands of Corruption'' rift was weird, there was only a single area before reaching the boss, which wasn''t even that far, maybe that was why it was selected as a rift for training?


    The ground was gray, with asional dark and purple trees that emitted aura, as well as dozens upon dozens of monsters that swarmed thend, other than that, the sky was also just as gray as thend, with no moon/sun or any clouds at all.


    It felt¡­ empty, almost as if the once blooming view was now reduced to¡­ nothing.


    ''The strands of corruption¡­'' Stark thought, for some reason he had a bad feeling, he shouldn''t be thinking so much about a simple name, yet here he was.


    He had a feeling¡­ that it would be importantter.


    The ''Corruption'' was something he noted in his mind forter.


    But as he thought of that¡­


    "GROAOORAAAAA~"


    A deafening roar echoed through the rift, causing Stark and the other ssifiers to pause in their tracks.


    The ground trembled beneath their feet as a massive shadow came out of the ground a bit further from the portal, blotting out what little light there was in the destendscape.


    ''¡­''


    It was a colossal, grotesque beast with scales as ck as obsidian and eyes that glowed a sinister shade of purple, as well as giant wings that looked like they could strangle you.


    Its mouth dripped with purple venom, and its sharp ws scraped against the ground, leaving deep gouges in its wake, it was standing on its legs, but also its two long arms.


    ''What the fuck is that thing¡­'' even Stark was taken aback, it truly was iprehensible.


    [''The Corrupted Ghoul lv85'', an ELITE event mini-boss, has appeared, step forward if you want to fight it!]


    ''Huh¡­ looks like an event is happening,'' Stark nodded, and he was the first to take a step toward the monster, a wide smile on his face as he was ready to fight it.


    But inparison to what he believed¡­ well¡­ something else happened, somethingpletely unexpected.


    ~THUD~


    Someone grabbed his shoulder, it was a robust-looking man with a sword in his belt, his face looked horrified and extremely stressed.


    "GET OUT OF HERE FAST, WE NEED TO GO AND WAIT FOR THE EXTERMINATION TEAM!"


    Stark didn''t pay much attention to the man, and instead just swiftly removed his hand from his shoulder, "And why is that?"


    The man was taken aback by Stark''s nonchnt response, "Are you dense? That beast is an event elite mini-boss that only appears every so often, we can''t take that thing by ourselves!"


    "¡­"


    Seeing Stark''sck of answer, the man just clicked his tongue and ran away, leaving the boy behind as he traversed the portal alongside¡­ EVERYONE ELSE?!


    Literally every single one of the ssifiers that was present to fight monsters suddenly ran away as soon as they saw that thing, and even though Stark couldn''t deny it was terrifying, there was no reason to run¡­


    After all¡­ if he wanted to get stronger, he needed to take bigger risks, and all those cowards who ran away could never hope to ever achieve great things if they kept it like that¡­


    Just as the man informed Stark, such ELITE monsters don''t appear often at all, and it would be at best once every month that they appeared.


    When it did happen though, a team of professional ssifiers would be dispatched to eliminate the beast so that the rest of the ssifiers could return to ying monsters and gaining levels.


    Basically¡­ that thing was super strong, and nobody was willing to risk their lives to eliminate it, even if it was a group of 50 people all uniting their powers.


    ''This is too convenient¡­'' Stark shook his head, there was absolutely no chance that the moment he entered the rift, some sudden rare event happened.


    And of course it wasn''t.


    Since the moment he turned his gaze back to the beast after witnessing all the ssifiers leaving¡­


    [Talent: Chosen One, Activated!]


    ''Seriously¡­ just how does that thing work, can it bend fucking time and space to cause me trouble?!''


    He saw the crimson panel that told him everything he needed to know, and so he just sighed, the beast that was summoned from who knows where already looking around, then its purple eyes falling on the only human left in thend.


    Its only avable prey was now on sight¡­ and so it took a step toward Stark, its tongue licking its mouth all over, and its sharp teeth already sensing the flesh of the human on them.


    ''Ohe on¡­'' Stark sighed again, activating [Domination] and positioning himself to fight off the giant ghoul.


    He still had absolutely not a single intention to leave this rift today until he was at least level 35, so he might as well get to it now since this monster could probably give him a level or two.


    "GRROOOOAAAHHHHH~" the giant ghoul roared, the waves of sound almost visible because of their sheer intensity.


    And so¡­ it started running toward Stark, each time its two arms and legs hitting the ground with a force that created shockwaves in the air.


    Stark stood his ground, his eyes locked onto the approaching monster, calcting his next move.


    That thing was thirty meters tall, and it would be hard to reach its weakness if it had one, so Stark needed to think¡­


    [3¡­]


    [2¡­]


    [1¡­]


    ''Hm¡­'' his determination grew stronger the closer the ghoul got.


    [FIGHT!]

 Chapter 140: The Corrupted Ghoul (BOSS)

    [10 minutes until the ''Extermination Team'' arrives!]


    Stark did NOT want to show his powers in front of anybody, which was why he nned to go further inside the rift to begin with: the bunny-masked man, his other identity, was so famous that if he ever used one of its attacks in front of others, they would immediately recognize him.


    So maybe¡­ just maybe¡­ his talent did indeed summon the monster, but it also took into ount the fact that everyone would leave, letting him kill it peacefully?


    ''It''s a weird talent¡­'' Stark didn''t know how it worked, but every time it activated, it somehow distorted reality to make things happen whether they were good or bad to him, ''Well, can''t really think about that now with THAT thinging¡­''


    The giant ghoul-like monsters, with its giant arms, legs, and wings, was still rushing at Stark, its purple aura surrounding its entire figure.


    ''Perception¡­'' of course that was the first thing he did.


    ¡­


    [Name: The Corrupted Ghoul (EVENT ELITE)]


    [Level: 85]


    [HP: 300000]


    [Strength: 3726]


    [Stamina: 4024]


    [Speed: 1873]


    [Defense: 3372]


    [Skills: Venomous Spit, Shadow Wings, Sonic Roar, Nightmare Gaze, Shadow Strike, Corrupted Regeneration, Death Form¡­]


    ¡­


    ''¡­'' Stark was actually perplexed: that thing had better stats than Sierra, even though she was supposed to be an apostle of the ''Godless Demon''.


    Maybe that thing was even stronger than her¡­? After all, it was a rare event elite that only appeared once in a while¡­!


    "SHADOW STRIKE!" the giant ghoul raised one of its rugged arms, with sharp skin and ws, and then mmed it down towards Stark.


    With quick reflexes, Stark dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the deadly strike.


    No matter how strong that thing was, it was extremely slowpared to even normal enemies since its body was big and easily spottable.


    "SHADOW STRIKE!" it tried yet again to hit Stark, but this time his wings just activated [Dash], propulsing him away from the radius of the attack.


    Each [Shadow Strike] left a semi-deep crater on the ground it struck, and shimmers of purple aura were even left there, corrupting it.


    It hit again, and again, and again¡­ until eventually¡­


    "Hah~ Hah~~ GROOARR~" the monster roared again, its tongue dangling from its mouth.


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!" while the monster was busy recovering some of its stamina after trying to hit Stark dozens of times, he on the other hand crouched down slightly and held his right arm''s wrist while summoning his three crimson fists and merging them into one.


    And after only a few seconds of controlling this overwhelming power¡­


    "SMASHHH!" heunched the giant fist toward the beast.


    Obviously, it couldn''t avoid it.


    "-53524!" its defense was high, but the damage was still incredible.


    And in addition to that¡­


    [Enemy Stunned!]


    The Corrupted Ghoul suddenly staggered back from the impact, its enormous body trembling under the force of Stark''s attack, and then¡­ it stopped moving altogether, its body stunned.


    A single crimson fist has a 30% chance to stun an enemy, that is true, but when you merge them all together¡­ that chance climbs all the way to 60%.


    Taking advantage of the opening, Stark lunged forward.


    The two arms of the ghoul fell to the ground in a giant thud, their owner unable to do anything other than move its pupils and watch the human run at full speed toward it.


    ''Thanks for the stairs,'' Stark smiled as he jumped on the ck hands and began running up the arms toward the face of the ghoul.


    ''Clone FRENZY!'' he also summoned his clones beside him, and they also began following after him.


    The reason he didn''t just instantly use [Heaven''s Wrath] on the monster was because he wanted to try something.


    After a few seconds at full speed, he reached the face of the ghoul, its giant eyes, which were half his size, looking at him, and its purple pupils trembling slightly: it was scared.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," all three Stark summoned 9 spears, then sent them all toward one of the specific eyes.


    ~PIERCE, PIERCE, PIERCE~


    "GROOOOARRRHH~" the ghoul cried, now able to move its body slightly as the stun effect was slowly going away.


    "-79736!" was the damage the spears caused, but that''s not all¡­


    ~POP~


    Its right eyespletely exploded when the spears hit it, meaning it could only see with one eye now.


    "GROOOOARRRHAH~" the ghoul kept crying, then began agitating its head.


    "Guess I''m out¡­" Stark grinned as he jumped out of the way and fell back on the ground with a thud.


    "-1726!" of course he received some damage for that, but his domination armor took it all, meaning he hadn''t suffered any injuries.


    And as for the clones that remained on the ghoul''s face¡­ they held on for a bit, and there was simple reason for that: Stark had an idea he wanted to try.


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!" both clones began charging up the giant crimson fist while taking their stand, making sure not to fall.


    Stark called this new possible attack the ''Clone Suicide''.


    And as the clones charged up the merged crimson fist on the ghoul''s face, Stark braced himself for the impact.


    Of course, even Stark had a hard time controlling his merged crimson fist the first time he had used it, even though he had a lot of aura.


    But what about clones? They don''t have as much aura as Stark, and their mastery is also very bad.


    Which means¡­


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    When they would try to use that super strong attack, they would just explode, and send out all the aura in a radius close to them.


    "GROOATHZHHAHZ~" the monster almost looked like it was having a seizure as it began to shake frantically and move in all sorts of direction, its face was sted by two super powerful explosions after all.


    "-79372! -80401!"


    It held its face and roared, the st almost exploding half of the face it had left.


    The Corrupted Ghoul, its remaining eye wild with fury and pain, turned its attention back to him.


    [Corrupted Ghoul HP: 6967/300000]


    ''¡­'' it was almost dead, ''Let''s end this¡­''


    Stark raised his right arm and traced a circle around the ghoul, then¡­


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!" he summoned his skill, and the crimson spark in the sky appeared above the beast, its speed wouldn''t allow it to escape too since it was still too damaged from all these attacks.


    Basically¡­ it was Stark''s win.


    Or so that''s what he thought.


    Since¡­ the beast stopped moving altogether, closed its remaining eye¡­ and the purple aura around it suddenly became 10 times as overwhelming.


    "CORRUPTED REGENERATION, DEATH FORM," it immediately activated its most powerful skills as Stark didn''t even let it use the other ones.


    And so¡­ the battle wouldn''t end so easily.

 Chapter 141: The Level 100 Ghouls Death Form

    "CORRUPTED REGENERATION, DEATH FORM," as the sparkle in the sky of the [Heaven''s Wrath] reached its speak, announcing that the beam would being down soon to end the ghoul, it suddenly activated two skills.


    Dark energy enveloped the Corrupted Ghoul, swirling around it like a malevolent storm.


    Stark''s eyes widened with realization as he saw the monster''s wounds begin to close before his very eyes.


    ''Huh¡­?''


    "+250000!" the ghoul''s face regenerated, and it got back its destroyed eye, plus a major part of its HP.


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!"


    ~BOOOMM~


    But as the beam descended¡­ the purple and dark energy storm that envelop the ghoulpletely, creating some sort of thick liquid-like armor around its figure, its edges moving like waves.


    ''¡­'' and so the ghoul just stood there, taking the hit of the [Heaven''s Wrath] beam.


    "-0! -0! 0! -0!" it received no damage.


    That was the ghoul''s ultimate skill: "Death Form".


    ''Huh¡­'' Stark''s eyes widened as he saw the ghoul which was supposed to die suddenly regenerate most of its life and also survived his most powerful attack without taking a single point of damage.


    And once the beam and its effects faded, the Corrupted Ghoul stood before Stark, its purple aura pulsating with renewed vigor.


    It let out a low, menacing growl, its eyes fixated on Stark with a newfound intensity. The ground beneath them cracked from the sheer pressure emanating from the ghoul''s darkened form.


    And so for the first time since his appearance in this world¡­ Stark took a step back against a monster.


    Of course, he absolutely refused to leave before he either eliminated that beast, or the extermination team came, but¡­ that thing was horrifying.


    Its skin and figure darkened, the purple/ck surrounding itpletely, much like when Stark got angry and his crimson aura enveloped him too.


    It was pping its wings, its deep purple pupils staring at his souls, and its mouth opened wide, not salivaing out, but a purple liquid that looked like poison.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Death Form]


    [Description: allows the ghoul to use insane protection but also boost all its abilities to their maximum potential.]


    [Note: It is trying to avenge all itspanions from the corruption and wrath of the ''Godless Demon''¡­]


    ¡­


    But [Death Form] wasn''t all that it changed¡­ since when Stark checked the ghoul again¡­


    [The Corrupted Ghoul, Level 100]


    Its level went up by 15, meaning that such a thing didn''t have its ce in this rift at all.


    Maybe¡­ even the extermination team that would be sent here didn''t stand a chance either, as people probably believed this monster could only be level 80-90 at best¡­


    Stark could feel the oppressive aura emanating from the ghoul, making his breathse out in short, tense gasps.


    He had no clones, he already drank potions for strength and speed, so they''re useless, he already used up [Heaven''s Wrath] too¡­


    And so that meant¡­ all he had left were the 10 seconds of [Double Assault], they were hisst chance.


    "VENOMOUS SPIT," the ghoul spat out a stream of purple venom that flew towards Stark with deadly uracy.


    Stark barely managed to dodge it, feeling the intense heat as the venomnded on the ground beside him, sizzling on impact.


    The Corrupted Ghoul''s movements were unnaturally quick and precise, the Death Form enhancing its speed and agility to levels far beyond Stark''s expectations.


    ''That thing could probably take on Sierra by himself, and her arrows¡­!'' upon saying the word arrow, he suddenly remembered about his [Crystal Stun Potions].


    He didn''t think they would work against such a giant opponent, but who knows¡­


    ~THUD, THUD~


    He didn''t really have the time to think about it that giant ghoul, now more terrifying than before because of its aura, advanced toward Stark.


    "NIGHTMARE GAZE," its eyes glinted with purple aura, some sort of vortex appearing in them.


    And the moment Stark looked at them¡­ he knew he was fucked.


    [You have been stunned!]


    He couldn''t move his body anymore, his limbs frozen in ce as the ghoul''s dark magic took hold of him.


    It was just like Judicator''s [Divine Blindness], although this one was much more deadly as blindness could still mean you can do things, but being stunned was bad, REALLY BAD.


    The world around him seemed to warp and distort, shadows dancing menacingly at the edges of his vision.


    "SHADOW WINGS," the ghoul took advantage of that to suddenly p its wings.


    The shadowy wings seemed to drain the light from the air, casting a pitch-ck veil around him, and just as expected, the ghoul began to fly little by little, its figure growing smaller in the distance as it ascended higher into the air.


    Stark tried to shake off the effects of the stun, his mind racing for a way to counteract the ghoul''s newfound abilities.


    But¡­ after only a few seconds¡­ he heard IT¡­


    "GROOOAORRR~" the ghoul roared, then began to dive toward Stark with incredible speed, its shadow wings trailing behind it like a cloak of darkness.


    "FUCK¡­" Stark tried as hard as he could to move away.


    The Ghoul was spinning in the air as well was rushing at the boy, and so it almost made it seem like a sharp spiral of purple aura was heading toward him.


    "MOVEEEEEE!!!!" he shouted to his body.


    But it was toote.


    ~BOOM, SCRATCCCHH~


    Thend received immense damage because of the sheer power of the attack.


    And once the ghoul got up and looked back, smiling as it knew that the human was dead now¡­ it still saw Stark standing, his face full of blood.


    He had survived somehow.


    [The ''Purgatory Shadow'' took the hit in your ce]


    That ring had saved him from being killed, otherwise he would have gotten 100000 points of damage.


    "¡­" Stark looked down at the ground, he didn''t even look at the ghoul as it took more steps toward him, the sound getting closer as he just stood there.


    But from another perspective¡­ if you ever looked at Stark''s face from below¡­ you could see that he was mad.


    Really mad.


    Much like the Corrupted Ghoul, his face was slowly being enveloped by his crimson aura, while his eyes and mouth were reced a white one.


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE¡­" he slowly breathed in and out as he activated this skill and began focusing his attack.


    He closed his eyes to focus, only able to hear and sense the ghoul to pinpoint where it was: he wouldn''t have another chance now.


    ~THUD~


    Stark wasn''t stressed, his entire mind was calm and serene.


    ~THUD~


    The crimson aura around his right hand was growing more and more, and this time¡­ he didn''t even hold his wrist with his left one: he was that confident.


    ~THUD~


    He was somehow able to perfectly control the flow of his aura now, not needing time to focus more or to hold his wrist to not make it explode, which made the aura of the fist even more powerful.


    ~THUD~


    And so right as the [Corrupted Ghoul] reached Stark and raised its arm¡­


    "SHADOW STRIKE!" it struck down at the boy, its poisonous and sharp ws glowing dark purple.


    But as the ghoul''s attack began to descend, Stark opened his eyes, both shining beautifully.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," he passed right through the attack, and with a spin¡­ "AURA SMASH¡­!"


    He sent the magnificent crimson fist, the fruit of all his efforts until now, toward the giant ghoul.


    This was the final showdown against his first level 100 monster.

 Chapter 142: Defeat of The Corrupted Ghoul

    [1 minute before ''Extermination Team'' arrives¡­]


    Stark avoided the Corrupted Ghoul''s attack by using [Invincible Dodge] then quickly sent the charged up [Aura Smash] toward its face.


    His anger had allowed him to control it, and so it was much more powerful than before.


    ~FWISH~


    The giant crimson fist, as big as the monster''s head, collided with the Corrupted Ghoul''s face with incredible force.


    The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the air, shattering the ground beneath them and creating a deafening explosion that echoed throughout the rift.


    ~BOOOM~


    The ghoul''s face was obviously massively injured, and it was yet again roaring, not even its ''Death Form'' protecting it from the domination aura as itpletely bypassed it.


    And once the mist cleared¡­ Stark was able to read the damage output.


    "-102832!" this was the first time he managed to do over 100000 points of damage, and it almost felt emotional.


    Yet he knew he couldn''t just stand there.


    [Enemy Stunned]


    The Corrupted Ghoul, even in its ''Death Form'', even with all its strength, power, and resistance, couldn''t move its body when it was stunned by something as powerful as that crimson fist.


    Of course, it was still resisting, but the only thing it achieved in the end was the ability to move its mouth and eyes, other than that¡­ it was an open target, just waiting for Stark to kill it.


    [30 seconds before ''Extermination Team'' arrives!]


    Stark didn''t want to waste time anymore either, after all¡­ such a thing wouldn''t work against the ghoul twice, meaning that it was all or nothing now.


    ~FWISH, CLIMB~


    Stark used the ghoul''s arms again to climb up, but that''s not all he did¡­


    ~PUNCH, PUNCH, PUNCH~


    While climbing up, he repeatedly punched the arm of the ghoul using his now powerful aura.


    It didn''t seem like much, but when you realize that Stark was punching so fast at least a dozen punch were going each second¡­


    Then it bes quite powerful.


    "-3736! -3725! -3827! -3691!"


    And slowly¡­


    ~CRACK, DISPERSE¡­~


    The ''Death Form'' aura armor that had formed around the ghoul was slowly cracking and dissipating after each of Stark''s punches.


    It was almost¡­ as if HIS aura, which was much more powerful than the monster''s, waspletely annihting it, showing it who truly was stronger.


    "SONIC ROAR!" the ghoul didn''t want to stand there doing anything as it could sense that this human, no matter how low his level was, was bad news.


    Seeing the cracks forming in its Death Form, the Corrupted Ghoul let out a deafening Sonic Roar, causing the very air to tremble and Stark to feel pressure building up in his ears.


    But he was not deterred, with determination zing in his eyes, he continued his assault on the ghoul''s arm, each punchnding with precision and power.


    ''Sonic Roar'' is an attack used to confuse and scare enemies, as well as causing a bit of damage if it perfectly.


    And yet¡­ Stark endured it easily, he didn''t even look bothered by it, making the ghoul''s roar grew louder, but it didn''t help.


    As the Death Form began to weaken further under the relentless barrage of Stark''s aura-enhanced punches, the ghoul''s desperation became palpable.


    [20 seconds before ''Extermination Team'' arrives!]


    It was toote¡­ Stark had already reached its head.


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT!" and so at that very moment, he activated his legendary skill, doubling each of his stats for 10 seconds.


    And in less than a fraction of a second afterward¡­ the only thing the ghoul''s pupils could see was Stark''s powerful crimson fist aimed at its eye.


    ~POP, BOOM~


    "-33738!"


    "GROOOAORHZ~" it looked to be in pain, and frantically roared, moving its head tounch the human away.


    But this time, Stark held on.


    And he immediately aimed for the second eye.


    ~POP, BOOM~


    "-35902!"


    The ghoul''s head was still the part where the ''Death Form'' was mostly activated, which was why the damage was so low.


    And yet¡­ the ghoul had lost its vision, unable to see anything, unable to know when the human will hit next.


    [Corrupted Ghoul HP: 50871/300000]


    [15 seconds before ''Extermination Team'' arrives!]


    Stark focused all of his aura into this final punch, and after 4 seconds, which was the remaining time for his [Double Assault]¡­


    He punched the ghoul''s face right in the middle, making it stumble back as it began falling backward.


    "-49372!" but this wasn''t enough to kill it.


    And so now that it was allowed to move its body again, the first thing it did was smile and lick its mouth while activating [Corrupted Regeneration].


    If it could regenerate its life, then it could retrieve its vision, and end the human as he didn''t have any more tricks up his sleeves.


    The Corrupted Ghoul was also on the verge of retrieving its bnce, as stumbling wasn''t enough to make it fallpletely.


    But as if divine intervention urred¡­


    [''Double Impact'' activated!]


    It seemed the ghoul''s n was foiled, as a crimson shadow of Stark appeared and punched it again in the same spot with the same intensity.


    "89372!" it had lost its [Death Form] by now, so the damage was much higher.


    And that final push was also enough to make it fall andpletely ruin its n to bnce itself back.


    ~THUD, FWISH, BOOOM~


    The ghoul''s head cracked open like an egg when hitting the ground, oozing ck goo and bones splintering.


    And on the other hand, Stark triumphantly stood above its lifeless corpse, panting from the adrenaline rush as he had managed to defeat that enemy.


    [''Extermination Team'' has arrived!]


    Coming out of the purple portal appeared four ssifiers, each a neutral expression on their faces and armed with their weapons, ready to eliminate the threat.


    And yet¡­ when they looked around¡­ they saw that the beast was already dead, and on top of it was¡­ another human.


    ''¡­?'' all of them were confused, they were sure everyone should have evacuated, so why¡­


    No¡­ this wasn''t the true question they needed to ask¡­ HOW did this kid defeat that event mini-boss?!


    Why was he just standing there, looking at the monster? And what the hell was that aura¡­?


    On the other hand, Stark was maniacally smiling, he had somehow managed to defeat his first level 100 boss, so of course he would want to celebrate.


    [You have defeated ''The Corrupted Ghoul''!]


    [Gaining 1,927,834 Experience!]


    ''HOLY SHIT!'' Stark almost wanted to jump in joy, he hadn''t noticed that the extermination team was looking at him yet since he was kind of exhausted.


    And when he turned his gaze¡­ he saw four ssifiers looking at him, their gazes showing that they were cautious of him.

 Chapter 143: Naegi and the Extermination Team

    [You have defeated ''The Corrupted Ghoul''!]


    [Gaining ,97,834 Experice!]


    Stark was quite amazed by the sheer amount of experice he had gott, almost reaching  million with a single emy, and way higher than what ev Sierra gave him.


    [Experice: 4737/700]


    And of course, this could only mean one thing¡­


    ~DING, DING~


    He was veloped by the gold aura twice.


    [Your level has increased to level 34, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 35, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Skill Points: 8 Avable]


    Many panels appeared a him as his level wt up, but he minimized them all as he had noticed that the ''Extermination Team'' had already arrived.


    "¡­" they didn''t say a word, just waiting.


    Stark jumped out of the ghoul''s massive body and dropped on the g, th began walking toward the exit portal, his stamina was already depleted from all this action, so all he wanted was to just go back to his hotel room and sleep.


    [You have defeated the ''Corrupted Ghoul'' alone, ''SOLO'' achievemt, granting better rewards!]


    He decided to quickly take it in and put it inside his [Spatial Invtory] before resuming walking toward the ''Extermination Team''.


    "Hey, there," a buff man with short brown heard and a well-trimmed beard, spoke, he had a sword in his belt.


    "¡­" Stark didn''t answer, he didn''t want to exin anything or associate with such people, and so he just tried to pass through the four of them.


    The purple exit portal was only a few meters away from him.


    But of course¡­


    "Hey, we''re talking," a brown-haired woman with hazel eyes and a longbow on her back, said as she jumped in front of him to block his path.


    "¡­"


    Stark moved to the side and passed the woman, who just looked at him and herpanions back and forth, her expression stating, ''what the hell is wrong with this guy.''


    "RESTRAIN!" a woman with short  hair in a bob cut raised her magic staff and pointed it at Stark.


    ~FWISH, CLANG~


    Powerful chains came out of the g, grabbing Stark''s legs, arms, and torso.


    They didn''t n to kill him, obviously, but they just wanted to talk as there wer''t many people who could take down an evt mini-boss by themselves, and ev more so one as terrifying as the ''Corrupted Ghoul''¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," but Stark just activated his skill and his invincibility frames allowed him to pass right through the chains.


    "WHAT?" the mage was bbergasted.


    Of course, this ''Extermination Team'' wasn''t weak at all, and it was appart by their auras.


    Each of them were over level 00 as they needed to make sure that they would be able to destroy the monster without any casualties.


    And yet¡­ why was that boy so nonchnt about them?


    It''s almost like he didn''t ev acknowledge them as strong ough for him to talk to.


    "Alright¡­" the leader, a man with short purple hair and magta eyes, sighed as he pulled out his sword from his belt and th¡­


    "LIGHT FLASH!" purple lightning sured his body as he dashed toward Stark with intse speed, so fast it couldn''t be visible to the naked eye, and his body turned into a legitimate sh of light as he closed the distance.


    "Naegi?!" the team was confused as to why their leader, who was always so calm andposed, suddly lost his temper.


    This ''Extermination Team'' was very well known among ssifiers, and they were respected as well for alwaysing in to save others with the brightest of inttions.


    Their slogan was: "The peoplee first, and we''ll be there to save them!"


    And yet¡­ here he was, suddly dashing toward Stark with the clear intt to harm him.


    The reason was simple: Stark''s aura.


    Naegi, the leader of the ''Yasugi'' extermination team, a level 73 ssifier, could sse auras and their nature.


    And Stark''s was¡­ very clearly evil.


    Of course, the real Stark wasn''t that bad of a person (heh), but it was simply because [Domination] and its crimson nature would seem overwhelming and bad to anyone that looked at it from afar.


    This was why it was so easy to intimidate people with that ss.


    ''This is familiar¡­'' Naegi thought the momt he saw Stark standing on the monster.


    Stark remembered seeing that the top 0 ssifier was named [Naegi, The Electric de], so he participated in the ''ssiTop Evt'' from before, and this was how he got that weird feeling of having se that kid before.


    "That kid¡­ he is going to cause chaos in the future," Naegi''s eyes shed, almost as if a divine vision was granted to him before using his [Light sh] skill.


    For the first time in a very long time¡­ he believed that eliminating a human was a better solution than to protect them.


    ~FLASH, FWISH~


    [Focus: Behind You]


    The [Focus] skill warned Stark of the ambush from behind, and ev allowed him to see Naegi ev though he was extremely fast.


    ''¡­'' Stark moved to the side at thest momt, and swiftly avoided the leader''s attack.


    ~FWASH~


    The spot he was in before literally exploded from the power of the sh, and small glitters of purple aura were left there.


    "¡­?" Naegi was surprised that the boy avoided his attack, after all, it was supposed to be almost instantaneous, and some other level 0 monsters didn''t ev have the time to realize what was happing that they were dead.


    And just like that, Stark reached the purple, th looked back to see the four ssifiers looking straight at him, each with their weapons out.


    To them, this random kid had just eliminated a level 0 threat by himself, and nonchntly acted as if they were mere insects wh they tried to talk to him.


    It was weird, extremely weird¡­


    "You can tell people you were the ones to eliminate that thing, I frankly don''t care," Stark shrugged, "But next time¡­" and suddly his aura became overwhelming ev for these level 00 ssifiers, "Don''t try that shit on me again."


    And so he left by passing through the portal, leaving them all bewildered at the balls he had to threat them.


    "LET''S GET THAT SHIT," the brown-haired man shouted as he cracked his fingers and began marching toward the portal too, wanting to teach that kid a lesson.


    "Forget it," but Naegi raised his arms, "Let''s just get all the needed things from that beast before announcing that it''s eliminated¡­"


    Frankly,  of them wanted that, not ev Naegi, but they couldn''t do anything.


    Deep inside¡­ Stark''s expression and aura at that time might have scared them¡­ just a little.

 Chapter 144: Leaving the Rift and Legendary Skill

    "DIDN''T YOU HEAR, ITS AN AMBUSH MONSTER!"


    "Fuck¡­ lucky us we left, we didn''t stand a chance!"


    "Yeah, hopefully the extermination team doesn''t lose either, I really want to keep grinding¡­"


    Stark could hear the words of the ssifiers outside ev though he was still passing the threshold of the portal.


    Many more ssifiers, ev those above level 90, regrouped to check it out.


    An ''Ambush Monster'' is a type of monster that reveals itself to be of a certain level, but after some timespletely switches up and bes much stronger.


    It happs many times, and it mostly ds with the death of the ssifier that is facing it.


    "Hey, someone''s out!"


    Stark passed through the portal and began walking toward the exit, a path forming for him as many people questioned what he was doing.


    "Guess he got saved by the extermination team¡­ lucky bastard¡­"


    "Don''t try that shit again kid, you might really die," one of them shouted, causing someughs in the crowd.


    Stark didn''t ev bother to look at any of them, he just left the hallway with a neutral expression, and after a minute found himself in the giant room with the other hallways that led to many rifts.


    The dozs of scres that were scattered a each had a red backg with the words: [Level 80-90 Rift Area is currtly closed because of an evt mini-boss, please refrain from tering it!]


    Ev outside, in the [Rift] section''s room, many people gathered to see what was up, and also to know whether the ''Extermination Team'' did in fact eliminate the threat.


    Stark, still indiffert and expressionless, walked past them without looking at anyone, his eyes never leaving his front.


    Frankly, he just was too tired to care about anything else.


    ''Is that the side effects of having your staminapletely depleted?'' it was the first time he actually pushed himself ough to feel like that, and just one more attack would probably sd him unconscious.


    No one seemed to mind him, and after only five minutes of trying to pass through the crowd, he could see the exit of the ''Rift Storer Association'' building.


    The neon-like atmosphere was still very lively, although the contt of the chatter mostly revolved a the level 0 beast that appeared.


    It would surely make the news at this point¡­


    The reason this was such a big issue wasn''t because a monster came to disturb people for an hour, but because¡­ if that thing wasn''t eliminated after  hours, th it woulde out of the rift and actually start causing chaos in the real world, resulting in thousands of deaths.


    [BIG NEWS!]


    [Seems like the ''Yasugi Extermination Team'' have managed to kill the beast! They areing out to make a statemt¡­!]


    All TVs showcased this message, with the voice of a woman over it.


    And th, the scre switched to a view of the four ssifiers that tried to stop Stark leaving the purple portal, all cameras pointed at them.


    Safe to say, whatever they would say here would d up in broadcasts all over the country.


    ''What could they possibly say, though,'' Stark smiled slightly as he exited the building¡­ just to face the same scre outside.


    Seems like news of that thing already spread all over.


    "What happed inside?" a reporter pointed his microphone at the leader, Naegi.


    Most of them looked quite ufortable, avoiding the gazes of the others, almost as if they felt¡­ ashamed.


    Except for Naegi that is, as he simply took the microphone and shouted: "We are not the ones who eliminated that beast, wh we tered, some ck-haired kid was already there on top of the monster."


    Naegi was a righteous man, and he didn''t want to im what wasn''t his.


    But that also meant¡­ that Stark''s idtity was at risk.


    "Taxi!" he hailed for a driver as he left the ''fighting district'', th ordered him to go to his hotel.


    Inside the car, Stark thought about his bad fortune and everything that had happed.


    He had expected something like this, but not so soon.


    He never thought his idtity would be revealed so quickly.


    After all, they had se his face, right? And he left the rift with hundreds of people watching him¡­


    ''Well¡­ it''s fine¡­'' he sighed, and after a while reached his hotel street, paid the driver, th wt up to his room, sitting on his bed while drinking water (you should do that too).


    There was no need to expect anything now, and soon these people woulde for him.


    Maybe ev the ''Domination Association'' would show their face again to try and recruit him?


    In the d¡­ it didn''t matter.


    ''Show me the panels,'' he swiftly moved his finger upward, and all the panels that he had minimized before appeared a him.


    There were only two of them though.


    The first was¡­


    [Level 35 Reached: please pick a card].


    ''Of course,'' he smiled, it was always a good thing to reach this milestone as it was always a sign that he was going to get stronger.


    Three crimson cards appeared out of thin air in front of him.


    ''And of course¡­ no way to know what is what-'' Stark joked, but his eyes wided as he looked at the back of the cards.


    For the first time ever¡­ there was something on their backs.


    The first had a smiley face :), the second had a neutral one :I, and thest had a sad one :(.


    ''The fuck is that¡­?'' each of the faces emanated a strange power, as if each one was prompting him to pick it as it had the best ability, ''Oh well¡­''


    For the first time Stark didn''t just close his eyes and pick a random card, but actually thought of the implications of each one.


    The smiley would be the optimal choice under normal circumstances, but doesn''t it seem too obvious?


    ''Ahhh, fuck, I don''t know¡­ the sad one could also be good¡­''


    In the d, he picked the neutral one because ''bnce is everything I need'' appartly, and also since he had a neutral expression on his face at that momt.


    And so once he turned the card, he saw the picture of a figure swiftly dodging what looked like an ergy ball, some lines and after images showing that the figure moved at intse speed.


    The skill he got was¡­


    [Skill: Dodge Control]


    [Type: Legdary]


    ''Yeah!'' he was happy he had made the right choice, although he didn''t know if the other two didn''t have better skills as the other cards immediately disappeared wh he picked the first one.


    But somehow¡­ he felt like this skill was powerful, and that it would be extremely useful in the future, maybe ev more so than [Double Assault]?

 Chapter 145: Three Clones and Perfect Dodge

    Stark decided to immediately check out the new legdary skill he had gott before doing anything else, after all¡­ it was yet another skill that would allow him to get stronger.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Dodge Control]


    [Type: Legdary]


    [Level: ]


    [Description:] For exactly 5 seconds, your aura takes over your body and allows you to bd it in any way it needs to, making you able to dodge any and every attack thates your way, no matter how fast or unavoidable it is.


    [Note: Basically, you can dodge anything for 5 seconds, like any attack, ev from a level 999 ssifier]


    ¡­


    ''¡­''


    This was insane, absolutely insane.


    5 seconds of perfect invincibility is too overpowered, no matter how much you think of it.


    Of course, the time frame was low, but it was still 5 seconds higher than ev [Double Assault], which had saved him many times before.


    Plus, if he could dodge and somehow counter-attack his emy, it would surely befit him¡­


    But before checking out the second panel that appeared¡­ Stark decided it would be better to see his status window as it had be awhile and also assign the 8 skill points he had to something.


    ''Status Window¡­'' he mumbled, and the giant panel appeared before him.


    ¡­


    [Level:] 35


    [Health:] 4500


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [sses:] Domination; Alchemist


    [Talt:] Chos one


    [Attributes:] Strgth 8; Speed 0; Mind/Soul 48; Stamina 490; Defse 564


    [Skills:] Spatial Invtory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv5; Focus lv; Aura Smash lv; Clone Frzy lv5; Invincible Dodge lv; Double Assault lv5; Crimson Spears lv; Heav''s Wrath lv; Alchemist lv3; Potion Crafting lv3; Target Maniption lv; Dodge Control lv


    ¡­


    His skills number was getting strangely high, and he did wonder if it wouldn''t take up an tire page by the time he reached level 0¡­


    [Skill Points: 8 Avable]


    But for now¡­ Stark sat back down on his bed and scratched his chin: he needed to think how to ce his skill points perfectly.


    After all it was something that would determine his tire future, so of course this time Stark was serious and actually took time to decide-


    ''Yep, I''m taking those,'' he nodded after a few seconds and clicked on the skills he wanted to upgrade.


    [You have upgraded ''Invincible Dodge'' to level 5!]


    [You have upgraded ''Clone Frzy'' to level !]


    He had had the choice to upgrade either [Double Assault] or [Clone Frzy], but wh thinking about all his previous fights, the former wasn''t really used much except for urgt cases, while thetter was almost always used, making it an esstial skill to upgrade.


    And those upgrades could only mean one thing¡­ NEW PERKS!


    A crimson light veloped Stark as not two, but three panels sured him for his skills'' new perks.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Invincible Dodge lv5]


    [New Perk: Perfect Dodge]


    [Description:] What you did up until now were normal dodges, but if you somehow manage to activate this skill at the microsecond before an attack collides with you¡­ th you will activate the ''perfect dodge'' perk: the world will turn gray and time will slow down for everyone but you, allowing you not only to check your surings for a few seconds, but also have more chances to counter.


    [Note:] You won''t be able to move your body during the ''perfect dodge'' effect, it will still be slowed down, it is your mind on the other hand that will be normal.


    ¡­


    ''Oh~'' Stark grinned, this was extremely interesting.


    Of course, there was a big risk in doing that as waiting right before an attack hit to activate it gave Stark less leeway and also increased his odds of just being hit and dying with a single bad timing.


    ''All I need is to upgrade [Focus] to make it better, though¡­'' but he already had a solution to such a problem, and he was already confidt that he could do it without much problems.


    Ev more so after an intsive training inside the ''Memories Museum''.


    In the d, he would just need to test it out¡­


    Th he moved to the right, which were the panels for the [Clone Frzy] skill as it seemingly got two perks instead of only one.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Clone Frzy lv]


    [New Perk: Three Clones]


    [Description:] I mean¡­ it''s in the name, but basically you can summon three clones instead of two.


    [w:] The more clones you summon, the less power they will have as you need to share your aura with them, and it''s not unlimited.


    ¡­


    ''¡­'' Stark had expected this, so he just moved to the second perk.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Clone Frzy lv]


    [New Perk: HP Transfer]


    [Description:] You can sacrifice your own HP to gift it to one of your clones (and only one), thus granting them the ability to possibly survive another hit and not instantly die by any attack.


    [w:] Doing that will make you lose your own HP while gifting it to your clone, making it extremely risky.


    ¡­


    ''This means that the clones are not limited to HP anymore if I gift them my own¡­'' Starkughed, this was interesting.


    What if he gave them the tirety of his HP and just kept himself at one¡­?


    Nah, it would be dumb to do that as in most of his rect battles he always received some kind of damage¡­ and he always gets one-shotted by any powerful attack anyway, making this skill pretty worthless in most situations.


    ''Well¡­ it depds, it''s always a plus anyway¡­''


    And thus, Stark could finally move to the final panel, the one that was beside the card one.


    And wh he looked at it, his face turned cold.


    [5 levels left until the needed level for second ''Domination Trial'' is reached, have fun!]


    [7/ ssifiers have reached the needed level, be quick or else wh everybody but you reaches level 50, you will still be teleported!]


    [Basically¡­ once the ninth ssifier reaches level 50, thest one will be teleported no matter what their level is]


    ''HUH?'' the doppelg?ngers in his mind hadn''t told him that rule?!


    ''Shit, SHIT, SHITTT¡­'' Stark was thinking deeply, his eyes burning with aura as a vortex was forming in them.


    This was bad, really bad.


    As prov before, Domination Trials take into ount the fact that the [Domination] ss deals much more damage, and so it gives more powerful bosses than normal ssifiers can deal with.


    Meaning that a 5 level differce would be the d of him if he tried to ter it.


    The momt the ninth ssifier reaches level 50, th he would be teleported to the domination trial, no matter how far he was from it.


    Maybe this was a punishmt to the ssifier that was cking off while thinking that they would be fine?


    But in the d¡­ it only meant one thing¡­


    ''You can''t escape the Domination Trial,'' he slightlyughed, ''I was going to ter it no matter what I tried¡­''

 Chapter 146: The Conditions of the Second Domination Trial

    This was a rather interesting piece of information.


    But it also meant that no matter how hard anybody tried, they wouldn''t be able to escape the ''Domination Trial'' once it called for them.


    [7/ participant ssifiers have reached the required level: 50!]


    This also told Stark that there would be  people participating in this trial rather than only five, making the difficulty and chances of betrayal ev higher than before if only one person could survive.


    ''Starting tomorrow I''m going to the 90-0 level rift in that building, no other option¡­'' he needed to be quick now, and wasting his stamina and ergy on big bosses wouldn''t cut it in the long run.


    Stark never thought the day would arrive wh getting  levels at once seemed too little for him.


    ''Anyway¡­ it''s be like an hour since I left, might as well just take a break¡­'' he yawned, th grabbed his TV remote and sat back down on his bed to watch some mindless tertainmt.


    But the momt the TV turned on¡­


    "Footage of the battle inside the rift has be found, and it is phomal!" a reporter was excitedly shouting.


    ''¡­!'' Stark immediately got up from the bed, his eyes wide.


    There was no way after all, right¡­


    And after only a few seconds, the scre switched to showcase the tirety of the battle betwe him and the ghoul.


    ''SHIT, I''M REALLY DONE FOR NOW¡­'' there was no chance people wouldn''t know who he was the momt his face was shown.


    But surprisingly¡­


    ''Huh?'' wh the scre showed his face, it waspletely hidd by his crimson aura, ''Was it like that since the beginning¡­? I didn''t ev notice¡­''


    His aura being in front of his face hid any features that could make him recognizable, and it was safe to say it was better than ev the bunny mask.


    minutes of battle followed, and th the footage also showed how he managed to dodge all the ''Extermination Team'' attacks and tell them to take the merit for themselves as he didn''t care.


    "We can''t see his face, but he did exit the rift was what many people told us!"


    "Th it means we know his face, right?"


    "Not at all¡­ look¡­" the reporter clicked on a button, and several videos tak from differt angles wh he left the rift appeared.


    And in all of them¡­ his aura was still in front of his face.


    The reason people were giving him weird looks was because they wondered what he was doing having such a thing in front of his face, as if trying to hide it.


    Of course, Stark had no idea why this was happing.


    But deep inside¡­


    [Talt: Chos One]


    He knew that it helped him.


    And so just like that, Stark fell asleep.


    ***


    The dream came as a blur, but Stark knew it was another one of his ''warnings''.


    He was in a dimly-lit room, sitting face to face with his other doppelg?ngers, each joying a cup of tea.


    ''What the fuck¡­'' he oped his eyes and took his surings into ount, ev though it was weird.


    He had always be in an empty ck void before, and now he was in some kind of middle-ss room¡­


    ~SIP~


    The Alchemist drank while smiling, "Seems like we''re close¡­"


    Domination on the other hand shook his hand, "Wrong, we''re further from anyone else."


    Domination th lifted his arm, and two panels appeared in front of Stark.


    [ssifiers at level 50: 7/]


    "We have no information about their names or weapons, but¡­" he lifted his other arm.


    And suddly¡­


    [ssifier A: Level 48]


    [ssifier B: Level 46]


    "Ohoh~ Seems like we have two days at best before reaching it¡­ any solutions?" Alchemist was surprised.


    "None other than going inside a powerful rift and grinding the life out of you for two whole days¡­"


    ''Ah shit¡­-''


    "Yes, that means that you will have to face the second domination trial before tering the ''Rift Conqueror'' Academy, so just try to survive¡­" Domination shrugged.


    ''Huh¡­ but wait a minute¡­ doesn''t this void space move slower than time in the real world¡­?'' Stark thought.


    "It does!" Domination smiled.


    "Humu~" Alchemist poured some of his liquid into the cup and drank it.


    "But doesn''t that also mean that right now¡­ the time I have to level up is decreasing?" Stark''s expression stiffed.


    "Huh, yeah."


    [ssifier A: Level 49]


    [ssifier B: Level 47]


    ''THEIR LEVELS WENT UP¡­ FUCK¡­'' Stark''s jaw dropped, "IF YOU GUYS ARE ME, THEN YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO HELP¡­!"


    "Calm down, frid, there is no need to be angry," Alchemist smiled.


    "Alright, alright, we said what was needed to be said, so just understand that we can''t interfere, it all depds on you, we are simply your sses after all," Domination smiled before snapping his fingers, and the room suddly disappeared, reced by the all-too-familiar void.


    [Have fun]


    A panel appeared, and suddly, Stark consciousness faded again.


    Maybe¡­ just maybe, he was fucked.


    ***


    ''¡­'' Stark oped his eyes as calmly as possible, this time he wasn''t stressed or anything of the sorts, he just grabbed his phone, noticed that he had be asleep for an tire day, and sat down on a chair to eat.


    ''¡­'' the video of him battling the corrupted ghoul was all over the country.


    It was safe to say he had a gathered arge amount of fans, although  ev knew who he was.


    ''¡­'' but it didn''t matter if he died during the [Domination Trial], so he didn''t care much, all he wanted was to get stronger.


    He got up from his seat after only fifte minutes, took a quick shower, and put on his normal clothes before leaving the hotel room, directly heading toward the ''Fighting District''.


    It was still full because of the evts of yesterday, and there was a risk in people figuring who he was, but it didn''t matter for now.


    ''Need¡­'' he hailed for a taxi and got transported to the fighting district with a neutral expression on his face.


    ''To¡­'' he left the car and walked toward the giant building of the ''Rift Storer Association'', the videos of him fighting still all over the many scres that were disyed there, he observed all of it with a neutral expression on his face


    ''Get¡­'' he tered the building and made his way to the [Rift] section, and the [Level 80-90 Rift] seemed to be full as hundreds of people gathered a, their number didn''t change the neutral expression on his face.


    ''Stronger¡­'' he headed toward the [Level 90-0 Rift] hallway instead, a neutral expression still on his face.


    ''Need to get stronger¡­'' he mumbled.


    His time was counted, and he needed to make use of it the best way he could.


    If this kept going, it would only be two¡­ no¡­ only one day until the two others reached level 50, and they were all transported to their doom.


    Stark refused that.

 Chapter 147: The River of Souls Rift

    ''¡­'' Stark stood in front of the portal of the [Level 90-100 Rift] hallway, it was orange in color, different from the ones next to it as the one before was purple.


    He took a step forward, his aura extremely powerful before he even entered the rift.


    There was a sense of urgency in this aura, though, and it was normal as Stark''s time was counted.


    He couldn''t catch up to the others, meaning that he just needed to get as many levels as he could.


    His goal was reaching level 40 to get a new skill at least, but it would be hard if the other two ssifiers kept going now that they were so close.


    [ssifier A: 49/50]


    [ssifier B: 48/50]


    ssifier B''s level went up by one again¡­


    And so, with all his determination focused around him, Stark dashed toward the orange barrier.


    [ess Deni-] it tried to deny him ess because his level was way too low to pass.


    But¡­


    [Huh¡­] it was almost like the barrier was hesitating.


    Stark got pushed back after his first attempt, then just stood there as he saw the barrier have white text appear on it.


    [It''s weird¡­ your level is low but¡­ hm¡­ I guess¡­]


    ''¡­''


    [ess Allowed]


    And so Stark passed through the barrier easily, he didn''t know how these things worked, but maybe it was a human that controlled them¡­?


    In the end it didn''t matter much as he passed the portal like anyone else and walked through the hallway, reaching the giant orange portal at the end of it.


    The sight of ssifiers happily leaving the rift after a good increase in experience, and the one of nervous ssifiers ready to enter and risk their lives was everywhere.


    Stark was pretty much the only one that was as cold and neutral as he was.


    ''Stronger,'' he walked through the portal without hesitation, then got transported to the rift after traversing the threshold and undergoing the weird feeling.


    But for the first time ever, Stark''s expression didn''t change, and he wasn''t dizzy when the sight of the giant vortex sucking him to the rift appeared.


    Stark''s only thoughts were focused on one thing: the need to get stronger before the others¡­


    ~FWISH, VIOUM~


    He came out on the other side of the portal and opened his eyes to take his surroundings into ount.


    He found himself in a vast, destendscape with a dark, ominous sky above him, a crimson moon was there too.


    As he looked around, he noticed that the terrain waspletely dark, barren and inhospitable, with only a few twisted trees and nts to break the monotony.


    The air was thick, and the air felt heavy with a sense of dread, plus there was also some sort of mist that stopped people from looking too far ahead of them.


    [Level 90-100 Rift: The River of Souls]


    He hadn''t seen it because of the mist, but there was indeed some kind of river right next to him as he entered the rift, it was pretty big in size, and seemed to go deeper inside the rift, probably even reaching the boss area.


    The ''water'', if you could even call it that, waspletely ck, much like the ground, and there were many frightening and scary faces in the reflection of the water.


    ''The souls¡­?'' Stark thought as he looked for a few seconds, it was in the name after all.


    [Follow the river.]


    "Watch out, don''t go too far¡­"


    "I know, I heard anybody who goes beyond into the mist has nevere back before¡­"


    "Haha~ must be some kind of legend the association spread to stop people from risking their lives, but anyway I just don''t want to risk encountering a scary beast, so let''s stay here like everybody else!"


    People were fighting the monsters that appeared around them, remaining close to the exit of the rift to be able to leave at any time, and also since this spot was the one where the mist affected them the least.


    But safety wasn''t something Stark could seek or afford: he needed to go deeper.


    Deep enough for him to see monsters that would allow him to push through further than ever before.


    ~STEP, STEP~


    Ignoring the warning of the people around, and what the association asked for, he went deeper inside the mist, most people too upied with their fights to realize someone was disappearing.


    After only a few seconds, his figure became invisible to those at the entrance, and so he could advance without any worries, staying close to the river as it was his only guidance in this ce.


    The mist was thick, and the air grew colder as Stark made his way deeper into the rift.


    But after a few minutes¡­


    ~CLING, FWISH, BANG~


    A white glint shone in the mist behind Stark, and then¡­ it jumped toward the boy, trying to sh him in half.


    "¡­" Stark didn''t even look back, [Focus] had already warned him.


    But he was waiting for a simple thing: the perfect timing to counter.


    And he found it, since before the ws of the unknown beast could reach him¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," he had calcted it at the microsecond, and anything more than this would have caused his death.


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    This panel suddenly appeared as the world around him turned gray, at least more than it currently was, and time seemed to slow down.


    But before that could happen, he slightly turned his head to be able to see whatever had attacked him.


    And it was¡­ a gigantic bear, twice Stark''s size, its bodypletely ck, and its figure was weird as its edges flowed likes waves.


    The only visible parts were its mouth, eyes, ears and ws as they werepletely white.


    [Level 93: Shadow Bear]


    ''¡­''


    Perfect Dodge allowed Stark to think for himself as he analyzed the situation around him and thought of the best n possible.


    ''Got it¡­'' he sighed.


    And when time resumed back to normal, he fazed right through the bear''s attack and kicked it in the face before sending two spears at its head.


    "-84982! -47261! -48019!" and so it instantly died as its HP reached zero, its ck body falling to the ground before it could even realize what had happened.


    ''¡­'' Stark didn''t even acknowledge the bear, looking at it as if it was an insect, then moving on as he kept walking deeper.


    [You have in "Shadow Bear lv93", gained 112928 EXP!]


    [Experience: 600499/769000]


    ''Need more¡­ much more¡­'' he mumbled.


    But then¡­


    ~CLING, CLING, CLING~


    Dozens of pairs of eyes appeared around him in the mist, all looking at Stark.


    ''More of those bears¡­'' he sighed as he positioned himself to fight.


    Under normal circumstances, Stark would have had no problem showing his emotions and surprise because of all these powerful enemies, but he didn''t even feel like it now, his thoughts clouded by the goal of reaching level 40.


    Maybe it was a good thing that he temporarily didn''t care much about anything other than fighting, and the reason was simple: his aura was extremely powerful.


    Being able to control his emotions, and being as calm as he ever was before, made it so that his domination aura flowed around him better, granting him a way better control, which also meant more damage.


    Trading your emotions for power was something many ssifiers did after all.


    Maybe Stark would be one of them¡­?

 Chapter 148: The Shadow Monsters of the River

    ''...'' Stark didn''t even budge when he noticed the dozens of pair of white eyes looking at him from beyond the mist, it was a rather strange feeling, but it didn''t scare Stark in the slightest, quite the opposite actually.


    What would be the point of acting surprised anyway, he had already killed one of them quite easily, so there was no need to fear anything.


    In the end, Stark knew he was going to win, the real question was: how much time would it take him?


    ''Perception...'' he mumbled while looking at the bears.


    ...


    [Name: Shadow Bear]


    [Level: 93]


    [HP: 127000]


    [Strength: 2918]


    [Stamina: 2201]


    [Speed: 1794]


    [Defense: 2822]


    [Skills: Shadow ws, Group Attack, Shadow Body, River Puppet, Hearing Prediction, sh Momentum...]


    ...


    ''...Weak,'' Stark couldn''t deny that their stats, level, and HP were beyond any enemy (besides ELITE and BOSS) he had fought before, but... it wasn''t enough.


    "SHADOW CLAWS," two [Shadow Bears] jumped out of the mist to reveal themselves, although it didn''t change much since Stark could see their auras from the beginning, then they dashed at him.


    They were pretty fast for monsters of their types.


    But of course...


    ~SLASH~


    Stark yet again waited for the perfect moment, and when it arrived, he activated [Invincible Dodge].


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    The world slowed down as Stark fazed through both attacks again, and he could see the ws of the bear slowly go through him, it was a weird feeling even though he didn''t feel anything.


    "Clone Frenzy," Stark backed away using one of the bear''s body as a springboard, then called two of his clones to aid him.


    "Aura Smash," then all three Stark sent 9 crimson fists toward the bears.


    "sh Momentum..." the bears tried to cut the attack in half using their momentum skill and shadow aura, but... it wasn''t enough.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    The spot they were in exploded when all the crimson fists reached it, it was a giant crimson explosion that even cleared some of the mist by its sheer intensity.


    Safe to say the two bears that stood there didn''t survive.


    "-37371! -39143! -40196! -39447!" and much more.


    In the end, their HP reached 0, and they copsed, well, half of their body was destroyed from the explosion so they would have died even if it didn''t reach 0 anyway.


    ''...'' Stark''s expression didn''t change, and the clones, which were made out of aura from him, also had a neutral expression on their face inparison to their usual cheerful selves.


    "Crimson Spears," the clones summoned their six spears and threw them in the direction of the eyes of one of the [Shadow Bears] that was still hiding in the mist.


    "Hearing Prediction," but the bear, using his advanced ears and speed, somehow managed to avoid them all by running around.


    ''...Annoying.''


    Realizing that hiding wouldn''t do them any good when their opponent could attack from afar, all the bears came out of their hiding spots.


    And after Stark counted... he saw that there were 13 of them.


    ''Nice... more experience,'' he didn''t even bother to act surprised, the only thing bringing a smile to his face being the fact he would surely level up by at least one level if he killed all of them.


    But as if sensing that the human was too confident...


    "ROOOAAARRR~" all the bear suddenly roared, creating a shockwave that shook the air, and even people back at the entrance heard it, some of them leaving as they thought it was another event mini-boss.


    And only a few seconds after...


    [The River is calling for help...]


    A pitch-ck panel appeared before him, and the river right next to him began to shake, the faces of the souls distorting even more than they already were.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    And so, as if acting like some sort of monster generator, six bird-like monsters came out of the abyss of the water.


    They were giant birds, twice as big as Stark,pletely dark and with edges flowing like waves, basically just like the [Shadow Bears], but their wings, beak, legs, and stomach were white.


    They turned around Stark, a few meters above him, visible from above as their pping wings emitted a white aura visible from beyond the mist.


    [Shadow Bird, Level 95]


    ''...'' Stark''s expression didn''t change, ''More experience...''


    Stark''s eyes glinted with determination as he surveyed the new adversaries that had appeared before him.


    The Shadow Birds circled above him with menacing grace, their white features standing out against their dark, undting bodies, while on the other hand, the Shadow Bears were slowly approaching him, their mouth and eyes full of rage.


    ''¡­'' Stark and his clones positioned themselves.


    ¡­


    [Name: Shadow Bird]


    [Level: 95]


    [HP: 135000]


    [Strength: 1738]


    [Stamina: 3502]


    [Speed: 3981]


    [Defense: 2955]


    [Skills: Crest of Shadows, Gale Strike, Shadow Dive, Piercing Screech, River Puppet, Call of the Birds, Shadow Flight¡­]


    ¡­


    "SHADOW DIVE!" all six birds suddenly dived toward Stark, leaving a trail of aura as they descended upon him, blocking his exit from all directions.


    "GROUP ATTACK!" and to make it worse, all thirteen bears swarmed in from the sides, aiming to corner Stark in a pincer attack, some of them even jumping in the air to catch him.


    This meant that [Invincible Dodge] wouldn''t work as the moment he tried to do that, he would be met with another one of the monsters that would surely sh him.


    ''¡­'' Stark was unmoved, he just unsummoned his clones and waited for impact, ''Oh well¡­ I might as well¡­''


    Stark sighed as he remembered that he had ''THAT'' skill he had unlocked less than two days ago with his most recent level up.


    And so he activated it.


    "DODGE CONTROL¡­!"


    [Description:] For exactly 15 seconds, your aura takes over your body and allows you to bend it in any way it needs to, making you able to dodge any and every attack thates your way, no matter how fast or unavoidable it is.


    The moment the first Shadow Bird and Shadow Bear reached where Stark stood, he vanished in a blur of crimson light. His body contorted and twisted in an impossible manner, evading the attacks with grace that defied logic.


    Stark couldn''t control his body anymore.


    ''Huh¡­?'' he could obviously think, but he wasn''t the one moving it, rather, it was his own aura.


    Stark reappeared behind one of the Shadow Birds, his crimson eyes burning with determination. With unparalleled speed, he unleashed a barrage of punches, each strike infused with his dominating aura.


    The force of his blows sent shockwaves rippling through the mist-covered battlefield.


    "-58382! -61291! -59033!" the first bird died before it could even understand what happened.


    The remaining monsters on the other hand just looked around, confused as to how the human had avoided their impossible to dodge attack: they had one it against several people before, and it always worked.


    [11 seconds of ''Dodge Control'' remaining]


    He couldn''t understand how this skill worked since after avoiding, he immediately took control over his body again, and was the one that killed the bird.


    ''Does it mean my aura only takes control when an attack ising¡­?'' it was basically some sort of autopilot, very useful.


    And so just like that, Stark got ready to fight the rest of them, quickly but surely getting ridof them all before they could do anything else.

 Chapter 149: Over 2 Million Experience Points!

    "GALE STRIKE!" all the [Shadow Birds] began to repeatedly p their wings in Stark''s dimension, their shadow aura intensifying with each beat.


    A whirlwind of shadows and piercing wind des surrounded Stark, threatening to overwhelm him in a cacophony of darkness.


    ''¡­''


    "Shadow Body¡­!" the bears'' bodies also began to grow in size, their auras increasing as if the shadow waves were taking over, making them much more powerful, ready to attack the human.


    [9 seconds of ''Dodge Control'' remaining]


    Not even bothering to acknowledge the attacks, Stark just pointed at the sky above all the monsters and himself, then drew a circle before gently tapping his palm.


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!" the crimson spark appeared in the sky above all of them, and especially above Stark as he actually aimed mainly for himself.


    ~FWISH, FWISH~ it was charging up.


    But the [Shadow Bears] and [Shadow Birds] believed this to be a bluff: after all, why would the human aim such a powerful attack at itself if it didn''t want to die?


    And so they came up with one simple solution: the human was tricking them, and getting close to him was the sole way to survive as even they could sense that [Heaven''s Wrath]''s aura was deadly.


    ~DASH, DASH~


    Stark avoided all of the shadow des of wind quite easily thanks to [Dodge Control], there were dozens of them in all directions, but his body almost teleported at times just to not be hit.


    Basically¡­ it was truly impossible for anyone to hit him when he had that skill.


    Maybe he would have even teleported or fazed right through the Mirror Master''s [All-Area Strike] without even using [Invincible Dodge].


    ''¡­'' in the end, it didn''t matter.


    "SHADOW CLAWS!"


    "CREST OF SHADOWS!"


    He avoided attacks from all directions for a few seconds, the ws of the bears hitting him by a hair''s length every time, and the wings of the birds bing extremely sharp thanks to [Crest of Shadows], but his aura somehow always finding a way to avoid it.


    [4 seconds of ''Dodge Control'' remaining]


    ~FWISH~


    By this point, the monsters were bing desperate, and they truly gave up when they saw the massive beam start descending upon them.


    [3 seconds of ''Dodge Control'' remaining]


    Stark looked up as well, the beam now only a few centimeters above his head, truly wondering how ''Dodge Control'' could get him out of there now that it was so close, even almost touching his hair.


    It was a risk he had taken, and maybe it was wrong¡­ maybe he would die?


    ''¡­'' Stark''s expression didn''t change in the face of death.


    ~BOOOOOM~


    The crimson beam descended from the heaven''s and finally hit the ground, disintegrating every living thing that was in its radius as it reduced them to ashes in less than two seconds.


    "CRAWKKKE!!!" the birds cried.


    "ROAWWR!!!!" and the bears roared in pain.


    Yes¡­ everything¡­ was reduced to nothing¡­


    Even Stark?


    [0 seconds of ''Dodge Control'' remaining]


    [''Dodge Control'' disabled]


    Stark opened his eyes again, and saw that he was right in front of the beam, the intense aura before him leaving a weird feeling on his skin.


    One step ahead, and his foot, if not entire body, would be disintegrated by theser.


    But this little experiment did confirm it: he could avoid anything, no matter how big or fast it is, well the skill description did say it, but he still tried.


    He had literally teleported once theser was centimeters above his head, so fast that even a level 500 ssifier couldn''t see how fast his aura controlled him to get out of the way.


    ''¡­'' Stark remained calm and waited for the beam to disappear, and it did after a few seconds, the dissipating smoke revealing the small body parts of the shadow monsters had somehow survived.


    But they were all dead, this was a fact now that he observed it.


    And so with that¡­ came the rewards.


    [You have in "Shadow Bear lv93", gained 113432EXP!]


    [You have in "Shadow Bear lv93", gained 109381EXP!]


    [You have in "Shadow Bear lv93", gained 114403EXP!]


    .


    .


    .


    This went on for the fifteen [Shadow Bears] he had killed, then the panels moved to the other monster.


    [You have in "Shadow Bird lv95", gained 124019EXP!]


    [You have in "Shadow Bird lv95", gained 122387EXP!]


    [You have in "Shadow Bird lv95", gained 123312EXP!]


    .


    .


    .


    And so he received an incredible amount of experience.


    Because with all of this¡­


    [+2,435,279 Experience Points!]


    This was beyond anything he had ever earned, even against the Corrupted Ghoul or Sierra.


    But¡­


    ''Not enough¡­'' for the first time, Stark squinted his eyes and his expression was filled with worry, ''Not even close¡­'' his eyes were burning with aura as he was surrounded not once, not twice, BUT THRICE, by the golden glow.


    [Your level has increased to level 36, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 37, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 38, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 683778/834000]


    ''¡­'' Stark truly wanted to feel happy at this very moment, after all, it was the sigh that he was closer to his goal than he believed.


    Maybe five or six more encounters like this one, and he could reach even level 45?!


    But¡­ something else came to break that hope.


    [ssifier A has reached level 50, conditions for ''Domination Trial'' have been met!]


    [8/10 ssifiers have reached the needed level, be quick or else when everybody but you reaches level 50, you will still be teleported!]


    [Only one ssifier remains before teleportation!]


    So basically¡­ it was a battle between Stark and ssifier B.


    [ssifier B: 48/50]


    That guy must be currentlyughing while ying monsters, knowing that whatever he did, he would always reach level 50 before Stark.


    At the end of the day, it was a battle of determination, and Stark was clearly losing it.


    ''I can''t win¡­'' a vortex yet again formed in Stark''s eyes as he thought deeply, ''The only thing I can do is cut my losses as much as possible¡­''


    Being the person with the lowest level inside the ''Domination Trial'' was always a death wish as you would be outssed by both monsters and others, meaning that they could betray you.


    And inparison to the first trial, which awaited for all of them to reach level 15, this one seemed¡­ more cruel¡­?


    It was basically forcing someone to be the scapegoat of the group: and currently that person was Stark.


    ''FUCK, GET YOURSELF TOGETHER,'' he pped both his cheeks as he greeted his teeth, ''JUST KEEP TRYING¡­!''


    And so he began reading through the mist as fast as he could, this was a matter of life and death now, and all the other ssifiers that had reached level 50 were probably all sitting back and waiting for thest one to reach the needed level.


    He could feel theirughter, he could feel their mockery¡­


    ''¡­'' and Stark hated that, he refused to be the weakest one.


    HE REFUSED TO LET THOSE FUCKERS TAKE HIM OVER!


    Not today, not in this rift, not even during the domination trial, he would NEVER back down, and he would NEVER let himself get trampled on.


    Because at the end of the day¡­ he was still the [Domination] user with the highest potential of them all, wasn''t he?

 Chapter 150: Reaching the Boss Area of the River!

    [Your level has increased to level 39, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    After a few minutes, Stark encountered two more [Shadow Bears], which were easily disposed off and allowed him to continue walking through the rift.


    There was no reason to keep waiting around these parts, he did that for a moment yet no monster wasing out of the river, meaning he needed to advance.


    At this point, Stark just wanted to reach the boss to gain a big amount of experience as ast resort before being teleported, there was no other solution as [ssifier B] was already level 49, and he sure as hell wasn''t going to wait for him as he didn''t care.


    The other 9 ssifiers could also probably also check his level, so it was even funnier to ruin him like that.


    ''...'' Stark didn''t mind, he just needed to reach level 40 at least, and then it wouldn''t matter much anymore as he would just need to try harder than any of them.


    [You have in a "Shadow Wolf lv96", gaining 131029EXP!]


    [You have in a "Giant Shadow Beetle lv94, gaining 119282EXP!]


    [You have in a "Shadow Fish lv93", gaining 112440EXP!]


    .


    .


    .


    [Experience: 728312/843000]


    ''One more...'' he only needed one more monster before reaching level 40, and then what would need to happen would happen, he didn''t have any control over it anymore.


    But surprisingly...


    ''Where are the monsters,'' it had been a few minutes, and for the first time the river didn''t send anything at him.


    ~TAP, TAP~


    ''Where...'' a few minutes passed while Stark traversed the mist, which seemed to be denser as he continued.


    But no signs of monsters anymore.


    It was almost like...


    [The River doesn''t feel like stopping you anymore, directly fight the boss!]


    As expected, the fact the river mobilized most of its resources (monsters) at the start of the rift because of the sheer amount of ssifiers there, plus the fact Stark would just kill anything that it sent, resulted in the river not seeing any point in wasting beasts on that boy.


    Basically... having him fight and die at the boss is the best solution for it, which is why it stopped.


    ''WHY SO CLOSE...!'' for the first time since entering this rift, Stark was angry, he had been so close, and now he was forced to waste more time and risk more just to level up once.


    His luck was terrible, no matter how you think about it.


    [Follow the river to reach the boss area]


    As if mocking him, a panel appeared and exined exactly what he needed to do.


    [I would hurry if I was you.]


    [ssifier B: Level 49/50]


    ''...''


    Stark sighed and began to run next to the river.


    And just as expected, that shitty river didn''t bother sending a single additional monster.


    "You''re soooo scared, aren''t you!?" Stark tried to taunt it several times while running.


    "Aura Smash," he even sent some attacks, but they just disappeared into the abyss of the water.


    He almost felt crazy talking to an inanimate object and expecting it to follow what he wanted it to do with the threat of violence.


    "Look at you, pathetic river, you are WEAK!" he almost had the silly idea of jumping inside the water and looking for the monsters inside himself, but in retrospect it did seem very dumb.


    ~FWISH, SPLASH~


    In response to all his insults and attacks though, the river of souls actually responded by sending arge chunk of ck water toward the boy, hitting him straight on as he didn''t expect that.


    ''...'' the water that touched him actually had some souls faces on it, but there was no strange feeling whatsoever, except for of course the feeling of being wet, ''Sigh...''


    Stark couldn''t really fight a river (although he would have loved to), so he just kept going forward, sensing that the boss area was close.


    The river after the first attack began to repeatedly throw its water on Stark as to annoy him.


    And honestly, it wouldn''t have bothered him if not for ONE simple thing.


    [Hit by ''Souls Water'', slowed for ten seconds...]


    Each time he was hit by that ck water, he would receive the ''slow'' effect, which massively reduced his speed and could make him go from running at full speed to just slowly walking toward his destination.


    It was as if... the river knew that he couldn''t afford to waste a single second, yet still tried to fuck him over.


    The faces of souls on the reflection of the water could be seenughing repeatedly.


    ''...!''


    [Do not leave the river, or else the mist willpletely disorient you!]


    And in addition to that, if he left the river for even one second out of his view while heading toward the mist, it would disappear and take time to find his way back again.


    Basically... this rift was possibly the worst match ever in this situation.


    ''If only I could see another monster...'' Stark''s anger grew more as he continued to run, avoiding the rays of water sent from the river.


    [You are close...]


    But right as this panel appeared, another one did as well to shatter those futile hopeful thoughts of his.


    [ssifier B is 350,000EXP away from leveling up!]


    ''FUCK THAT SHIT,'' he increased the tempo and now was so fast the river couldn''t even hit him.


    Yet, it wouldn''t summon ANY monsters, and the face of the souls were stillughing, theirughter sounding muffled from beyond the water, yet still hearable from Stark''s position.


    But...


    [You have arrived.]


    Right before him stood a 10x10 meters circr hole, that same ck water with faces staring at him, although those weren''tughing.


    [Boss Area: The Pond of Souls]


    [JUMP!]


    Under normal circumstances, Stark would have hesitated jumping inside of a suspicious looking pool of water to reach somewhere.


    But...


    ''...'' this time, Stark didn''t hesitate for even a single second.


    The moment he spotted the water, and the crimson panels instructed him on what to do, he immediately focused his entire mind on the task ahead and jumped inside of the [Pond of Souls].


    ~FWISH~


    The moment he did, a weird feeling took over his body as it felt like cold hands were grabbing him: and they were.


    When he looked down, he saw white ghost-like handse from the abyss below and grab his legs/knees, pulling him down.


    Stark didn''t resist for a single second, letting himself sink as to not waste time.


    ~FWISH~


    He was pulled by the hands very fast, traversing the very deep ck water without any issues, and reaching the abyss in a matter of seconds without even feeling dizzy or scared.


    Stark was truly locked in.

 Chapter 151: Soulayer, The Bearer of Souls

    The descent seemed endless, the only source of light being the faint glow emanating from the hands that dragged him down.


    Stark could feel a sense of unease creeping into his mind, but he pushed it aside, focusing on the task at hand.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the hands released him, and he found himself standing on solid ground once more.


    Before himy a vast expanse of darkness and mist, broken only by the shimmering reflection of the moon on the surface of the water.


    The air was heavy with a sense of foreboding, and Stark could feel a chill run down his spine as he took a few steps forward, absolutely no hesitation in what he was doing.


    Much like when he fought the [ck Water Devourer], this Boss Area''s ground waspletely made out of that ck water with faces on it, stretching for what seemed endless.


    The gray mist could also be seen ahead, but it surrounded Stark not in the way that it blocked his vision, but as if it was delimiting the area of the arena.


    The space he was in currently had no mist or even anything to be honest, the mist formed a circr wall around him and that was all.


    [Do not go into the mist, or instant game over]


    ''¡­''


    [ssifier B: Level 49/50]


    [ssifier B is roughly 200,000EXP away from leveling up!]


    ''¡­'' Stark''s eyes expression was unchanged, and the notifications of the other ssifier almost leveling up only served as a way for Stark to concentrate even more.


    [Boss Area: The Pond of Souls¡­]


    [Good luck!]


    ''I don''t need luck, show me that boss and I''m killing it.''


    ~STEP, SPLASH, STEP, SPLASH~


    Each one of his steps echoed in the vast emptiness of the Boss Area, creating ripples on the ck water beneath him.


    Stark looked up at the moon.


    ''¡­Of course,'' the big white moon wasn''t normal either, instead there was a giant face on it, resembling the ones of the souls beneath him.


    The faces on the ck water seemed to contort and twist, their expressions morphing into grotesque forms that seemed to follow Stark''s every move.


    And after around thirty seconds¡­


    IT appeared.


    A deafening roar pierced through the stillness of the Pond of Souls, causing Stark to grit his teeth and ready himself for what was toe.


    Emerging from the depths of the ck water was a massive creature, its form shrouded in darkness and malevolence.


    The Boss monster towered over Stark, its eyes glowing with a sinister light as it fixated on its prey.


    When all the aura and water disappeared¡­ Stark could finally what it looked like.


    And¡­ well¡­


    [Soyer (Soul yer), The Bearer of Souls (BOSS)]


    Standing at four meters tall, the monster had a humanoid figure but waspletely covered in bandages except for its head, legs, and arms which were protected by a shadow armor with only a small opening for its eyes.


    The bandages were pitch-ck and adorned with moving faces that seemed to watch Stark closely.


    ''The faces are moving¡­?'' Stark could see that the dozens of mouths and eyes on the bandages were moving.


    Around its neck hung a giant jar containing three green spheres that spun around.


    But what caught Stark''s attention the most was the boss''s weapon.


    It wasn''t fancy magic at first nce, but¡­ a sword?


    It was a ck two-handed great sword, almost asrge as the boss itself and emitting an ominous aura that could rival even Stark''s own power.


    Its design was unusual, being more than three inches thick in the middle and not tapering off at the end for sharpness.


    It was clear that this sword was meant for powerful strikes rather than stabbing.


    And the boss wielded it with ease, twirling it around as if it weighed nothing.


    The boss''s eyes burned with crimson aura, leaving a visible trail beyond the small opening of the shadow helmet, and the bandages around it also began to shake as its eyes fell on the human.


    ''¡­'' Stark''s expression faltered for the first time, he couldn''t keep calm in front of this thing, which seemed to not even acknowledge him as a worthy opponent.


    The shine of the moon hit both Stark and the boss, creating a beautiful scenery around them as their bodies reflected on the water. ?§Ô?§à¦Ô#¨À&??-¦Ó§à?-!?¦Ò§è#-+§¾§å#-


    If it wasn''t for the fact they would fight to the death, then there would surely have been a great moment to enjoy.


    ''¡­''


    ''¡­''


    Soyer and Stark looked at one another, before the former raised his massive sword, then pointing it at Stark, announcing the start of the fight.


    [ssifier B is roughly 120,000EXP away from leveling up!]


    A crimson panel came to bring Stark back to reality, it was a reminder of the harsh things that awaited him if he didn''t get rid of Soyer before the other person leveled up.


    And so Stark''s expression went back to its unusual cold self, his eyes empty and almost lifeless as his thoughts were now clouded with the idea of getting rid of this boss as fast as possible.


    ''Perception¡­'' Stark decided to immediately analyze the boss, that thing was truly out of this world, well he probably was since the process of getting to this ce was basically to jump into an unknown pit and getting dragged by hands, but oh well.


    ¡­


    [Name: Soyer, The Bearer of Souls (BOSS)]


    [Level: 100]


    [HP: 420000]


    [Strength: 5128]


    [Stamina: 4732]


    [Speed: 3901]


    [Defense: 4436]


    [Skills: Soul Strike, Reap Spirit, Soul Wall, Abyssal Roar, Shadow Step, Death''s Embrace, Eternal Darkness, The Three Ultimate Souls, Sword Counter¡­]


    ¡­


    ''Why me¡­'' Stark sulked after reading its status window, it was even stronger than the [Corrupted Ghoul], and it seemed to have absolutely no intention to let Stark kill it easily.


    In a battle against time, how could Stark even hope of killing that monster, with HP and strength beyond anything he had fought before.


    Butmenting your misfortune wasn''t the solution.


    For now¡­ Stark just needed to try.


    To hell with that ''Domination Trial'', he''ll clear it even at level 10 (or maybe not, heh).


    "ABYSSAL ROAR~" Soyer suddenly shouted with his face toward the sky, creating some supersonic shockwaves, that shook the entirety of the arena, making the water tremble.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Abyssal Roar]


    [Description: Doesn''t do much except to announce that ''Soyer'' will be fighting with his full abilities, he only uses this skill at the start of battles with opponents he believes are worthy.]


    [Note: Soyer has only used this skill seven times up until now, so it is both an honor, but also terrifying to hear his scream.]


    ¡­


    [3¡­]


    Soyer finished his weird shouting then stared back at Stark, his greatsword held behind his back.


    [2¡­]


    ''Domination¡­!'' Stark''s determination didn''t falter as he activated his skill and positioned himself.


    [1¡­]


    Both warriors looked at one another with the clear intent to eliminate the other party.


    [FIGHT!]


    It was now or never for Stark, there was no second try or anything that could help him out.


    From now on, it is but pure skill, pure technique, and pure determination.


    Even among those that would participate in the trial with him, just how many would face this monster with not a single ounce of fear?


    Probably none¡­ except for Stark himself.


    [Eliminate that damn edge lord before ssifier B gets to level 50!]

 Chapter 152: The Power of Soulayer

    ''...''


    Soyer was the first to take a step toward Stark, the water beneath his feet creating a small wave as it was infused with powerful aura.


    The area around them was filled with tension.


    ''...''


    Stark would have loved to immediately dash toward Soyer in the hope of killing it quick, but no matter how much he thought about it, THAT thing was ready for any of his attacks, basically, he needed to find an opportunity and then deal the maximum amount of damage to it.


    "SOUL STRIKE...!" and so before Stark could even finish thinking, Soyer suddenly dashed toward the boy, closing the distance between in less than a second.


    Some souls inside of the water emerged from below and ced themselves around the edges of the greatsword, as if covering it to give more power.


    And they did, which is why it''s called [Soul Strike].


    ~FWISH~


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" Stark couldn''t afford to try a [Perfect Dodge] with such a powerful attack as it was suicide, so he just rolled away, and the sword fazed right through him, surprising Soyer.


    A trail of white/green aura emitted from the sword as it swung, that aura was filled with the faces of the souls, all tortured.


    ''...'' Soyer didn''t back down, though, he always liked to overwhelm his enemies before they could even do anything.


    "AURA SMASH," wanting to takes2 advantage of that momentum, Stark sent two crimson fists at the dashing boss.


    But...


    "SOUL WALL!" Soyer ced the tip of the sword on the water, then swung it upward.


    ~VRAM~


    A wall of ck water, filled with many souls again, appeared before him.


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    "-0! -0!"


    The water, as well as the souls, received the damage andpletely blocked the two crimson fists from reaching the boss.


    "SHADOW STEP!" suddenly, Soyer used this skill while still behind the wall.


    But that was something Stark didn''t know, so he just waited for the wall to go down to spot the boss.


    ~FWISH, VIOUM~


    But once the wall of ck water went down... Soyer was nowhere to be seen?


    ''Huh?'' Stark was confused, how could he possibly disappear out of nowhere¡­?


    [Behind you...]


    Soyer was so precise and fast that even [Focus] took a few moments to notice where he was, and the moment it did, it warned Stark.


    "...?!"


    Stark turned his head, and saw that Soyer was already there, his greatsword centimeters away from Stark''s neck, the aura of the souls so close he himself could feel it.


    Stark''s pupils shook violently as time slowed down around him: that boss was too fast.


    ~BAMMM~


    The boss was able to hit because he took Stark by surprise, and it shook its head, disappointed in Stark for dying so fast.


    But...


    [The Purgatory Shadow took the hit in your ce]


    The shadow version of Stark came out of the ring and took the hit of the greatsword.


    But the real one was still sent away by the knock back of the attack as it was too strong.


    ~SLAM~


    He was sent very far, crashing against the water repeatedly.


    [Behind you...]


    [Focus] warned him again, and Stark almost shit himself thinking that Soyer was behind again.


    But this time, [Focus] had warned him because of something else: the mist.


    He was getting dangerously close to the mist while still being knocked back.


    ''SHIT...'' he knew touching it was game over, so Stark gripped the ground beneath the water to stop his momentum.


    ~SLIDE, FWISHH~


    And when it finally stopped... he saw that he had been only a meter away from entering the grey mist.


    ''FUCK...'' he dashed in Soyer''s direction.


    He didn''t panic, but his time was getting really short.


    [ssifier B is 50,000 EXP away from reaching level 50]


    [Critical warning, I would really advise you to kill the boss before he reaches level 50]


    ''FUCK YOU...'' Stark''s face began to be covered by his crimson aura again, his eyes burning too, ''FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU...''


    In less than a fraction of a second, he closed the distance between him and Soyer.


    "...!" even the boss seemed surprised as its eyes behind the mask clearly squinted, and its aura faltered for a bit.


    But...


    "Shadow STEP..." it slowly moved one of its legs, and beneath it formed some ck aura that resembled a moving shadow.


    ~FWISH~


    It was so quick that it almost teleported behind Stark, already swinging its sword at him again.


    "SOUL STRIKE!" the power of the souls was stronger, and this time Stark couldn''t be saved by a piece of equipment.


    Yet Stark''s expression didn''t change, and his pupils were already perfectly following Soyer as it shadow-stepped behind him.


    ~SWING~


    And so when the edges of the greatsword were mere millimeters away from cutting Stark in half...


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" he had decided to actually take the risk as it was his only way to gain the advantage.


    And it seemed to be the right call, as...


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    The world around Stark turned gray, and time slowed down so much that Stark could see Soyer''s sword faze through him thanks to the invincibility frames.


    ''...''


    Right in front of him, only a few centimeters ahead, was Soyer''s determined and soulless gaze, watching the human, and even the trail of crimson auraing out of the small hole of his helmet was slowed down.


    ''¡­!'' and when he saw that, he figured a way that could make him do lots of damage.


    Hitting Soyer, even in this slow mode world, wouldn''t do any type of relevant damage because of his sheer defense and HP pool, meaning that Stark would need to cause huge amounts of damage at once, enough to cause the [Dominated] status to the boss, or to at least cripple him.


    But it didn''t mean Stark couldn''t do at least some damage¡­


    ~SPIN, KICK~


    Using Soyer''s body as a tform, he used his knees to spin around and kick the boss in the chin while focusing his aura onto his legs.


    "-42919!" surprisingly, the damage was still very high, or maybe it was because the chin was one of Soyer''s weaknesses?


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," and while the boss was beginning to get sent upward because of the powerful kick, Stark summoned his three spears and sent them all toward it.


    Respectively toward: its leg, torso, and¡­ neck!


    The first two spears hit the boss without any issues, and it didn''t even try to defend them.


    "-24726! -25012!"


    But for thest¡­


    "CRAKKARR~" it suddenly roared again, then ced one of its shadow armored arms in front of the jar holding the three green spheres.


    "-12931!" it did less damage because of the armor which blocked most of the damage.


    The spear, although it was headed toward the neck, was still going to have to destroy the jar to pass through.


    But that meant¡­


    ''Is that jar important¡­?'' Stark''s eyes widened and he mischievously smiled.


    Stark wanted to make use of everything to win¡­ and this was jackpot.


    ~SPLASH~


    Soyer dropped stylishly onto the ground, then immediately checked the jar and the three spears, his expression, although it wasn''t visible, softening when he made sure they were safe.


    But that calm was only but temporary, as the moment he checked, his turned his head back to Stark, and the aura around him became ten times as strong.


    It was both crimson, but it also had the faces of souls repeatedly going upward on it.


    He truly deserved his name: The Bearer of Souls.


    And now that he was mad¡­ it wasn''t fun time anymore.


    "REAP SPIRIT, ETERNAL DARKNESS," these weren''t his ultimate skills, yet they were just as terrifying.


    Stark just smiled as he positioned himself again, ready to take it all, plus, he already had a n in mind to take care of that boss.

 Chapter 153: Silent Killing in the Darkness

    "REAP SPIRIT, ETERNAL DARKNESS," after Soyer entered [Enraged] mode as Stark tried to hit the jar between its neck, it suddenly activated two skills.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Reap Spirit]


    [Description:] Soyer can harvest the souls of fallen foes to strengthen itself during battle, however there is a limit to that, and the bacsh it receives can be very high if it uses too much power


    ¡­


    [Skill: Eternal Darkness]


    [Description:] Plunges the world into darkness, giving it an incredible advantage as it is used to fight in the dark because of the [Soul Graveyard] rift.


    ¡­


    ''Soul Graveyard¡­?'' was what confused Stark the most, doesn''t that mean this monster was in another much more powerful rift, yet came to this one and became a boss.


    In the end, he didn''t have the time to think too much about it since¡­


    "REAP SPIRIT," Soyer kneeled down, then put both of its arms inside of the ck water.


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    Souls started rushing toward it like a ck hole, swirling around its arms before entering its body.


    The aura around it also steadily began to go from crimson to full on greenish.


    The ground beneath them trembled slightly as the souls were being absorbed at an rming rate.


    And once it finished that, its body emitted waves of soul aura that could make most ssifiers at its level faint.


    Then without wasting a single second¡­


    "ETERNAL DARKNESS!" Soyer''s muffled and iprehensible voice echoed through the area as everything around them was engulfed in pitch-ck darkness.


    Everything around Stark became pitch-ck, and it was truly impossible to see even one centimeter in front of you.


    Basically¡­ this battle was now in full-on darkness, where none of the opponents knew where which one was, and where attacking from behind could grant you immediate victory.


    ''CLONE FRENZY!'' as soon as he was engulfed by the darkness, Stark summoned his three clones, positioning them around the area.


    He couldn''t see them because of how dark it was, but he could sense their auras, and it also gave him three additional pairs of eyes as they would alert him if they saw the boss.


    [Focus] didn''t work, and he couldn''t sense any aura from the boss, this skill was certainly something he''d never faced before, but he had to adapt quickly.


    But as he thought of that¡­


    "DEATH''S EMBRACE!" Stark had a bad feeling, but when he looked behind, he found nothing.


    ''¡­?''


    ~SCRWITCH, SLASH~


    "-83719!" it wasn''t him that sensed it, but one of his clones, and it died.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Death''s Embrace]


    [Description:] Do not let him catch you in the darkness.


    ¡­


    For a moment, Stark froze.


    The loss of one of his clones was unexpected and unsettling, especially since Soyer was supposed to not be able to see as well, right?!


    ~SCRWITCH, SLASH~


    "-90310!" yet another one of his clones was caught by Soyer and killed.


    But this time¡­


    "AURA SMASH!" Stark sent three fists in the direction the clone had died.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    And all three hit as Soyer was too busy holding onto the clone, thinking that it was Stark.


    "-32812! -34019! -33124!" over 100K points of damage in one go, and this made Stark smiled: he still had one more clone, and it meant one more opportunity to deal damage.


    From the short amount of information he got from his clones though, it seemed like Soyer had actually dropped his greatsword, or just unsummoned it, as he didn''t have it equipped, instead he was just using his hands to catch his preys in the dark, almost like some horror movie viin.


    It was a game of cat and mouse in the dark, where the mouse could only fight back using the little information it had avable to it.


    [Death''s Embrace]bined to [Reap Spirit] massively increased Soyer''s speed, stealth, intelligence, and the aura around his hands was extremely overwhelming, small souls floating around it.


    And now¡­ it was looking for Stark, the real one that is.


    ''Hahahahahah¡­'' Stark''s grin widened as he knew exactly what to do.


    He immediately dashed in the opposite direction to where the Soyer and his clone were, making to stop right before the gray mist that could kill him.


    And then¡­


    ''TRANSFER,'' he focused his aura into his body, then his eyes, and sent all of it toward the eyes of the clone that was still in the mist.


    And when he opened his eyes again¡­ he found himself in the body of the clone.


    ''Nice¡­''


    He knew that leaving his real body alone, with no way to know what would happen to it, but he put all the chances to his side when he knew that Soyer was mostly in the area of the third clone, meaning it would be very unlikely for it to go toward Stark.


    But just as Stark was about to start looking for Soyer¡­ he felt an intense aura right behind him.


    [He is behind you¡­]


    ''=)'' but this didn''t scare Stark in the slightest, instead it actually was exactly what he wanted.


    ~FWISH~


    Soyer raised his soul-filled arms and tried to grab Stark''s clone body to kill it from behind.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" but he just backed away, pinpointing the location of Soyer as to not lose track of where he was.


    And then¡­


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!" Stark began to charge up his crimson fists, forced to hold his right hand''s wrist as to not immediately explode since the clones didn''t have enough power or aura to actually send the attack.


    But it didn''t matter to begin with, since¡­ Stark nned to do a [Clone Suicide]¡­ this was his n to deal massive damage.


    "¡­" even through the darkness of it all, Stark could somehow sense Soyer getting closer and closer, attempting to take the boy from behind again.


    He was like a true assassin, and so it did make Stark wonder just what the hell happened inside the [Soul Graveyard] rift for a monster (or possibly human?) to turn into a rift boss¡­?


    ''¡­''


    ~FWISH~


    Soyer was already behind Stark once he charged up his [Aura Smash] attack to its maximum, any more and it would explode.


    ''GOTCHA!'' was what Soyer must have probably thought as it reached to grab Stark''s torso and began to tear it apart.


    But¡­


    "IDIOT~" Stark turned his head toward Soyer, a grin so malicious and wicked on it that even the boss trembled slightly when seeing it, sending a shiver down its spine.


    And then¡­ what had to happen happened.


    ~FWISHHHH~


    Even though the clone''s body was being thorn to shreds by the soul hands of the boss, its body suddenly became to bloom with an unimaginable aura, an aura that could blow anyone away who was unlucky enough to be caught in the radius.


    This was [Clone Suicide].


    ~BOOOOOMM~


    The boss was sent very far away, and some of the bandages around its body parts were burned by the sheer power of the attack.


    In addition to that, it couldn''t defend itself much since it prioritized putting its arms in front of the jar to protect it.


    "-192713!" the damage was out of this world, and even Soyer was affected by such an attack, forcing it to deactivate both [Eternal Darkness] and [Reap Spirit].


    Suddenly, the arena went back to normal, and the Stark that was hiding in the corner woke up again as the consciousness of the real one took over again.


    [Soyer HP: 64663/420000]


    It truly was the final showdown now, and Stark felt confident as he still had a bit of time on his hand.


    Or did he now¡­


    ~DING~


    [ssifier B has reached level 50!]


    ''¡­!''

 Chapter 154: The Final Participant is being Watched

    ~DING~


    [ssifier B has reached level 50!]


    ''SHIT¡­!''


    It was all over now, and Stark even stopped everything he was doing, ending his assault on Soyer as there was no point anymore.


    [9/10 ssifiers have reached the required level for the start of the ''Domination Trial'']


    Soyer summoned back his sword in hand, then began to slowly walk toward Stark, he seemed extremely mad, and the bandages hit by the explosion were still burnt: it definitely looked like Soyer was more fearful and uncertain than before though as he hesitated to approach Stark.


    But Stark wasn''t paying attention to him.


    [But that wouldn''t be fun to just teleport you, now, would it?]


    It wasn''t his crimson panels that were talking to him when it was rted to the domination trial, but crimson/ck panels that had deep eyes staring in the background beyond the text.


    Was it the eyes of the entity that was responsible for those trials?


    The creator of the [Domination] ss?


    In the end, it didn''t matter much, as the finality of it all was that everyone but Stark had already reached level 50, thetter only being at level 39, a far cry from all the others.


    [The person that hasn''t reached the required level is going to receive a punishment!]


    Stark lifted his gaze toward the panel, then raised his eyebrows, ''Punishment¡­?''


    This was already bad to begin with, how could this even get worse?!


    ~DING~


    And so¡­ while Soyer was still walking toward Stark¡­


    [You will be teleported to the ''Domination Trial'' afterpleting this battle]


    ''¡­!'' Stark''s eyes widened, this was incredible news for him.


    But of course, life wouldn''t be this easy.


    [But in exchange, you will receive two punishments!]


    [The first: all participants of the trial will be watching your fight from now on]


    [Have fun!]


    [The second punishment for being thest shalle once the trial start =)]


    All 9 participants that were dispersed not only in Ferburg, but throughout the entire world of Rheria, each in their respective rooms/baths/luxury suits, reading the panels as they appeared.


    And then before them¡­ appeared a screen that showed live footage of Stark against Soyer.


    "Oh~" some of them smiled as they increased the size of the screen to enjoy the view, interested in Stark''s abilities.


    "Hah! Let''s hope that loser doesn''t die before the trial starts," another sipped his wine before grinning.


    "Useless¡­ he is weak¡­" another one, confined in the darkness of his room, sighed, not interested one bit in the weakest person of them all.


    After all, only the weakest would still be at level 39 after a while, wouldn''t he be, or at least that''s what each of them believed.


    They MOCKED Stark as they stared at their screens, almost hoping that he survived this battle so that they could torture him even harder inside the trial.


    Back to Stark, the implications of this punishment were clear: it wasn''t humiliation to show to all the others around that he was thest.


    No¡­ the real goal of showing his fight against Soyer was to¡­


    Show his skills to them all.


    Even during the first ''Domination Trial'', information was key, and so hiding your skills was just as important as the fights themselves, after all¡­ just one simple skill could be enough to turn the tides of a battle if they betrayed him (which they probably will).


    -verified


    [Do not, under any circumstances, use any of your strong skills.]


    It was himself that summoned this panel, as if to let the thoughts sink onto his consciousness.


    And so Stark needed to make a list of the only skills he couldn''t use against the weakened boss to not reveal too much info.


    ''Double Assault, Heaven''s Wrath, Clone Frenzy, Aura Smash and Dodge Control¡­'' he thought to himself, these were the skills he would never reveal to them right now, although using them at this very moment would probably end the battle easily.


    [Crimson Spears] could be revealed to them as he didn''t use it much anyway, and [Invincible Dodge] was pretty much a passive, so they wouldn''t understand how it worked anyway.


    But that also left one thing he could use to win his battle: the potions, after all, they would just think that he bought them!


    "I hope all of you losers are watching," he looked to his right, his determined expression right in front of the camera as he grinned, all 9 other participants looking at his semi-handsome face, "I''ll teach you all what real strength is."


    Beyond the screens, some wereughing, others intrigued, while the rest kept their neutral expressions.


    All of them, for some reason, felt like this very moment would y a huge part in the trialter.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS!" he summoned his three spears right behind him, then aimed them at Soyer, who simply kept walking, his expression even more lifeless than before, one of his arms holding the jar with the green spheres, while the other had the greatsword equipped, its aura much more powerful than before.


    But when he sent all three spears toward the monster¡­


    "SWORD COUNTER!" with movement so fast it wasn''t visible to the naked eye, it removed its arm from the jar and ced it on the handle of the sword, cing it sideways right below its eyes, which were still burning with crimson aura.


    Soyer waited for the perfect opportunity, and when the spears were right in front of him, he held the handle of his sword tighter and swung it thrice in a motion so smooth it always looked slow from afar.


    Then¡­


    ~FWING, FWING, FWING~


    As the skill said, Soyer countered Stark''s attack by sending it back to him.


    ''Shit¡­!''


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    He avoided the first two quite easily, but the third almost hit him, which forced him to¡­


    ''Invincible Dodge,'' use his skill at thest second.


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    ''Huh¡­?'' the world around turned gray, and Stark was actually able to see it all go very slowly.


    Didn''t this mean that even if it was his own attacks, as long as it was the enemy itself that attempted to attack him, then [Perfect Dodge] would work¡­?


    This could be usefulter, so Stark made sure to remember that.


    ''Ok¡­ no other option it seems,'' he sighed, [Invincible Dodge]''s perfect dodge gave him around fifteen seconds of free time to think, and that was enough for Stark to reach his conclusion.


    ''Crimson Spears'' wouldn''t work, and he couldn''t use any of his skills as to not reveal them except if it was really needed.


    So now¡­ all he could use were his fist and¡­ potions!


    ''SPATIAL INVENTORY,'' he put his arm inside of the inventory void, then pulled out five [Crystal Stun] potions, as well as one [Potion of Strength]and one [Potion of Speed].


    He drank the twotter as to allow him to get a boost, then breathe in and out as he was about to put the n he thought of since the beginning of the battle into action.


    And worst: in front of 9 of the people he would be fighting with/against inside the second ''Domination Trial''.


    Such a trivial thing didn''t increase Stark''s pressure or change his expression one bit though, after all¡­ all that mattered was for him to win, the rest would be all up to him and the others.


    And so, it wasn''t only Stark that was getting ready, but also the boss¡­


    "THE THREE ULTIMATE SOULS!" he activated his true ultimate skill.


    [They are watching us, show them that they never stood a chance to begin with =)]

 Chapter 155: The Three Ultimate Souls

    "THE THREE ULTIMATE SOULS!" Soyer used his final and ultimate skill, wanting to end this battle as he already had suffered too much damage by the hands of this kid.


    He dropped his greatsword, making it ssh against the water, then pulled up the string that was holding the jar around his neck.


    That jar was as big as his hands, and he held in both of his, his expression yet again softening.


    Soyer immediately shook his head and quickly nced at Stark, then he shut his eyes and began to turn the lid of the jar, his expression darkening after each twist.


    As the jar twisted, Soyer''s eyes began to glow with an intense crimson aura, and the water in the giant pond began to ripple at the sight of this powerful disy.


    "Die!" Soyer roared, his muffled voice echoing through the area as he flung the opened jar forward, sending a wave of crimson energy surging around him.


    But right as that happened¡­


    Nine screens appeared around Stark.


    [They are watching.]


    Each of these screens showed the figure of one of the 9 participants of the trial, every single one of them observing the fight with great interest.


    Stark couldn''t see their faces as their figures with pitch-ck, obviously, but their eyes, all burning with different colored auras, could be seen from beyond the crimson screens.


    Their judgmental stares indicated that they knew Stark could now see them, and it seemed to make them enjoy that situation even more: after all, HE was the weak one, not them.


    "Feeling hopeless yet~?" he saw one of the figures move its mouth, but couldn''t hear the words it said.


    "Hurry up and die, I want to start the trial," another sighed.


    "SHOW MEEEE WHATTT YOUU''VEEE GOOTTT!" some kind of motivator shouted while doing signs.


    ''I hope you all keep that same attitude when I''m there,'' Stark maniacally smiled before turning his attention back to Soyer, who had seemingly freed the three green spheres that he had been protecting inside the jar all this time.


    It was his ultimate skill, so he needed to be careful.


    "ABYSSAL ROAR~" Soyer roared again (for no reason), and this second one was¡­ way stronger than the first.


    This could only mean one thing: Soyer acknowledged Stark as the strongest opponent he had fought yet.


    ''Appreciate it,'' Stark kept smiling as he positioned his fists in front of his face, ''But I''m still killing you¡­!''


    The three spheres inside the jar left it once opened and began to swirl around Soyer, creating a dark and ominous aura that seemed to engulf himpletely.


    The crimson glow suddenly turned green again, almost as if Soyer was absorbing the power of those spheres¡­


    And he was.


    ¡­


    [Skill: The Three Ultimate Souls]


    [Description: The souls of Soyer''s friends who died inside the ''Soul Graveyard'' rift, they are his strongest souls and most precious ones, if the battle goes bad for him, he will activate this skill and release those souls to aid him.]


    [I do not wish for anyone to experience this.]


    ¡­


    And just as it said¡­ three green ghost-like figures appeared around Soyer, spinning around him.


    One was a woman, and two were men, their faces were devoid of any feature, and they had no hair either, it was impossible to identify them.


    Yet¡­ Soyer''s determination when his friends were around him almost tripled, and he grabbed his sword again.


    ~FWISH~


    MVLeMpYr-your-novel-source


    One of the male souls surrounded the entire greatsword and a powerful green outline appeared.


    ~FWISH~


    The second male headed toward Soyer''s second arm and created another sword, identical to the first one, yet its texturepletely green.


    And finally¡­


    ~FWISH~


    The soul of the woman gently held onto Soyer''s neck and peeked at Stark from behind his shoulders.


    ''¡­'' Stark wasn''t deterred, and such an emotional or powerful skill wouldn''t stop him for murdering that boss.


    Soyer was now stronger, faster, and also had two swords, but it didn''t matter.


    ''Two or three hits and he''s done¡­'' Stark only thought of the positive in this situation.


    "Holy¡­ that thing is strong!"


    "Looks like that guy is going to die before even reaching the trial, what went through his mind to attempt this at his level?!"


    "Probably too desperate to level up, heh~"


    The other participants, who''s screens were still around Stark, spoke, even they could sense that boss was abnormally strong.


    The soulless Soyer, and his soul friends, advanced toward Stark, one step at a time.


    ''Okay, Stark¡­'' the boy pped his cheeks, ''You can only use your fists, nothing else, you can do it¡­''


    He was getting ready, not using his skills was something he had never done before, but maybe it was time to actively train to not rely on them?


    ~FWISH, DASH~


    Surprisingly, Stark was the one who began dashing toward the boss.


    He was holding on to his five [Crystal Stun] potions with his hands, ready to use them at any time: they were his grace, his solution, and his only true n to win.


    Yeah, okay, maybe that wasn''t ONLY using your fists and aura, but who cares, he could use as many of these potions as he wanted in battle, right?


    ~FWISH~


    Stark jumped when he was around three meters away from the walking Soyer, his face full of determination.


    ''TAKE THIS,'' he threw one of his potions toward Soyer, who didn''t even bother avoiding it.


    ~CRACK~


    It hit him straight on, and the mist began to surround its body, and yet¡­


    [Soyer is unaffected by the mist]


    ''FUCK¡­!'' here goes his n.


    ~FWISH~


    Wanting to make sure, Stark threw another one while still beginning to fall down, this time aiming it at his shoulder.


    Stark expected him to yet again do nothing as he took a stance, ready to battle the human.


    But¡­


    "SWORD COUNTER," almost as if panicked by the potion, Soyer used his skill to throw the potion back at Stark.


    ~CRACK~


    It exploded on him, but of course, Stark was unaffected by the mist too.


    ''¡­!'' many people would identify such an action as the boss wanting to not get hit again.


    But to Stark¡­ it meant something big, and it could definitely help him win.


    He had figured it out, and a light bulb shone in his head as he remembered the actions of Soyer.


    Why would he suddenly defend himself when the potion was headed toward his shoulder¡­?


    What was around his shoulder that he needed to defend?


    And so with that logic, the answer came fast: it was the soul of the woman that was hiding behind.


    Meaning¡­ Soyer was defending them.


    Stark would make sure to take advantage of that.


    "SOUL STRIKE!" Soyer roared again as he dashed at Stark, ready to cut the human alongside his soul friends.

 Chapter 156: Mythical Skill: Soul Vortex

    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    All future participants of the Domination Trial looked at Soyer as he dashed toward Stark, his expression more mad than ever after the boy seemingly attempted to harm his friend.


    ~SLASH, SLASH~


    [Soul Strike] was used twice since one of the green spheres had turned into a greatsword too, making it increasingly difficult to avoid the precise blows of Soyer.


    And yet¡­


    ''A boss having emotions is weird¡­ but It''s what is going to send you to your death¡­'' Stark avoided the shes of the two swords quite easily, moving by a single step each time thanks to [Focus]''s warnings as it almost felt like Soyer was recklessly attacking in all directions, in the hopes of one strike hitting Stark.


    Through all that, the human boy kept a veryposed face, and he almost¡­ looked bored?


    ~FWISH~


    And so when he saw an opportunity present itself¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!"


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    Having two swords did indeed make it harder to dodge, but it wasn''t impossible.


    Actually¡­ it might even be easier for one simple reason¡­


    The world slowed down around Stark, and right above him, he could see the green greatsword that was formed from one of the ''ULTIMATE'' souls slowly descend upon him.


    ''GOT YOU¡­!'' Stark saw the line that showed an opportunity, and he immediately took it as he dashed forward, and grabbed the boss''s legs.


    ''¡­?!'' Soyer was surprised as it almost looked like Stark teleported, but then quickly aimed the other greatsword at him.


    Soyer''s weapons and figure were extremely big, that is true, but¡­


    ~SLAM~


    Stark moved to the left the moment Soyer struck the spot the boy was in, resulting in his sword sshing against the water.


    Stark''s goal wasn''t to make the boss lose his bnce, no¡­


    Instead¡­


    "GOT YOU¡­!" it was to make it impossible for him to counter what he was to do.


    ~THROW~


    He grabbed one of his [Crystal Stun] potions and threw it toward the green greatsword.


    The potion exploded upon impact and then¡­


    [Soul A has been stunned]


    [A soul cannot be stunned, Soul A is vanishing!]


    And just as the panels said, the greatsword began to flicker before vanishing entirely.


    One of Soyer''s friends was gone, and he couldn''t do anything about it as attacking Stark made it impossible to react fast enough to break the potion.


    ''IT''S MY WIN,'' Stark used this momentum to get to throw another potion, this time toward Soyer''s shoulders.


    But¡­


    "GROEIEREREAHAH!!!" he suddenly roared so loudly that the shockwave sent Stark flying in the opposite direction, and it even broke the two potions he was holding.


    The loss of one of his friends had pushed Soyer to the edge, and now he would make sure to kill the human.


    But how could he do that when he was this weak, and clearly overwhelmed?


    Well¡­


    [Soyer has acquired a new skill!]


    ''Huh¡­?'' Stark''s eyes widened, and his pupils were shaking.


    A skill? Soyer gained a new skill? How could that be possible? Can bosses do that?!


    [Soyer has acquired the ''MYTHICAL'' skill: Soul Vortex!]


    ¡­


    [Skill: Soul Vortex]


    [Description: The bearer of souls, the one who has in countless foes, can tap the ck water with his sword and force the thousands of souls that rest there, in eternal torture, to surround both him and his enemy, forcing them to fight in an arena that is controlled by the yer''s desires.]


    [Note: Touching the souls drains your life energy.]


    ¡­


    "SOUL VORTEX!" Soyer roared again before mming the water with his sword vertically, almost as if he was trying to stab it.


    And so the soul vortex appeared: thousands upon thousands of souls came out of the water and began to circle Stark and Soyer like a vortex, spinning around them very fast.


    Of course, thetter wasn''t bothered as he was the one controlling the souls, but Stark on the other hand actually began to slightly panic.


    ''What¡­ the¡­ fuck¡­'' he looked back at Soyer, and saw that another hole opened in his shadow helmet: the ce where his mouth was in is now visible, and Stark saw that he was massively grinning.


    Soyer wanted to avenge his now gone friend while keeping the other two with him.


    But of course, this couldn''t be possible, as it was either Stark or him.


    "I''m sending you to hell with them," Stark gritted his teeth, and his face began to be surrounded by crimson aura too, he wasn''t smiling anymore.


    If [Soul Vortex] was a skill beyond even ULTIMATE or LEGENDARY, then all he needed to do was find a way to end this quickly.


    The vortex of souls grew more intense, and Stark could feel the power seeping into him. The souls were not just spinning around them, but also drawing him and Soyer closer with each passing moment as the circle was slowly closing in on them.


    If Stark touched those souls, his life force would be absorbed, so slowly and surely¡­


    ~STEP, STEP~


    He was approaching Soyer.


    ~STEP, STEP~


    It was almost as if Soyer was creating an arena that is convenient to him as it meant Stark couldn''t run away.


    And to add fuel to this impossible fire Stark couldn''t escape¡­


    "ETERNAL DARKNESS!" he yet again spread his bandaged arms wide, and plunged the entire arena in darkness.


    But the darkness this time was much more eerie, as although Stark couldn''t physically see anything¡­ the faces of the souls were still roaming in the dark, and he could see them all staring back at him.


    [Focus¡­]


    Stark closed his eyes.


    Using his eyes in this space where he could see nothing was useless, so enhancing his other senses was much better.


    Now, what could Stark do, he had no clones (and didn''t want to use them to begin with) to distract Soyer¡­


    Out of pure habit, he began to draw a circle in his hand, and a crimson line was drawn where he aimed before pointing at the sky.


    He wanted to use [Heaven''s Wrath], as in such a closed arena, it would 100 percent hit Soyer and kill him before he could do anything.


    But there was a problem with this n: the other participants were still watching, and so it would not only force him to use one of his legendary skills, but also another one as he would be forced to also use [Dodge Control] to get out of this situation without being harmed.


    ''FUCK¡­'' he wanted to shout, but stopped as it would reveal his location, ''Ah¡­''


    Stark grabbed his forehead, his head hurting from thinking too much, but after only three seconds, he lowered his arm, cancelling [Heaven''s Wrath].


    This wasn''t the solution.


    If even one of the other folks knew of his skills, they would predict what he could do in the trial and betray him more easily than anyone else.


    And so his only other choice was to¡­


    [Predict Soyer''s movement, he isn''t invincible¡­]


    He couldn''t pinpoint where the boss went because [Eternal Darkness] blocked any kind of skill to show where the others were, and it also affected Soyer as he was also forced to search through the darkness as well¡­


    But maybe¡­


    ''Maybe instead of trying to focus on where Soyer is¡­ I should focus on what he could do in this situation¡­'' Stark''s eyes widened as he figured something out, ''Yes! This could work¡­''


    And so he looked ahead of himself, in the position Soyer was in only a few seconds ago.


    ''Figure out where he could be¡­'' Stark repeated.


    This time, it truly was the final showdown.

 Chapter 157: Defeat of Soulayer and the Souls

    Stark couldn''t hear Soyer''s steps, but he could imagine them near him as the boss searched the darkness for any signs of the boy.


    He was in an enraged state, and wanted to end this battle as soon as possible: he didn''t like to torment the souls, but they were needed for his victory this time.


    On the other hand, Stark still had his eyes closed, focusing his attention on whatever he needed to do to survive this situation.


    [Focus¡­ and create the image of the enemy inside your head¡­]


    He imagined Soyer''s figure in the spot it was in right before using [Eternal Darkness].


    ''It''s working¡­!'' Stark was surprised as even though he had his eyes closed now, he could actually see Soyer right in front of his body, although that was just a copy from his imagination he wanted to use.


    [Now¡­ think of all the possibilities¡­]


    And suddenly, almost as if he was using Judicator''s eyes which allowed him to check out what an opponent could do, the figure of Soyer suddenly turned into hundreds of after images: they showed Stark the many possibilities the enemy could follow up with.


    This was only Stark''s imagination and not concrete at all, obviously, but this was the best thing he could do in this very situation without risking getting shed from behind.


    "Wait a minute... behind...?"


    And so¡­ thanks to the visions of Soyer''s possible actions, Stark reached one simple conclusion¡­


    ''Spatial Inventory,'' he grabbed another [Crystal Potion] from it.


    And then, without a single second of hesitation, he swiftly and very smoothly threw the potion behind him, not even looking if there was anything there as he was this confident in his conclusion.


    ~CRACK, BOOM~


    Through all his visions, Stark reached the simple conclusion that Soyer would most likely already be behind him by now.


    And it revealed itself to be true as the potion hit Soyer''s greatsword right as he was about to swing at the boy.


    [Soul B has been stunned]


    [A soul cannot be stunned, Soul B is vanishing!]


    The ghastly green aura around the original greatsword of Soyer vanished, much like his first friend, and he could do nothing but watch as the human yet again eliminated another one of his friends.


    And now¡­ the only soul that remained was the girl, still hiding behind his shoulder, her figure trembling as she knew what would happen if Stark hit her with one of his potions.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS!" Stark used that opportunity to also send three spears at the boss.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    "-25382!" only one of them hit, but that was more than enough for Stark.


    "GOROAOROOFHAH~" Soyer yet again screamed, this time at least twice as loud as before.


    His voice seemed to be in pain, but not from all the attacks¡­


    "SOUL STRIKE!" he dashed at Stark from beyond the darkness and swung at him.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!"


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    Stark side-stepped to the side as Soyer''s greatsword missed him, then he immediately used his speed to run behind Soyer and reach for his shoulder.


    "GROOARRHHH~" Soyer tried to hit Stark while he was behind his shoulder, but¡­


    ~SLASH~


    "-27261!" all he did was cut his own flesh as he yet again missed the boy.


    ''He is weakening¡­'' Stark thought, and it wasn''t because he was losing the souls that powered him, more like¡­ he was losing the will to continue fighting.


    Somehow¡­ this boss felt more human than the others.


    [Eliminate him =)]


    And yet¡­


    ''SPATIAL INVENTORY!''


    Stark didn''t seem to care much, solely guided by his aura, and it was absolutely ruthless.


    ~FWISH, THROW~


    He could hear Soyer''s roars and chaotic movements as he shed in all directions, hoping to get Stark.


    But this only helped the boy perfectly aim his [Crystal Stun] potion and throw it in the direction of the noise.


    ~CRACK, BOOM~


    He had obviously aimed for the shoulders of the boss¡­ and¡­


    He had hit his target.


    [Soul C has been stunned]


    [A soul cannot be stunned, Soul C is vanishing!]


    But as the soul was slowly vanishing away from existence after being hit by the potion, it suddenly moved from its spot behind the boss''s shoulders and ced itself in front of Soyer, holding his head with its gentle hands.


    "It is not¡­ your¡­ fault¡­" it used itsst bit of energy to speak and smile at the boss.


    Beyond his shadow helmet, crimson tears were already there, and Soyer couldn''t do anything but watch as his final friend disappeared.


    ~FWISH~


    The ghastly body went up toward the sky, and when Soyer looked up, he could see the green spheres of his friends spinning around, saying goodbye to him.


    ''¡­'' Soyer just stood there, falling on his knees.


    His eyes became more lifeless than they were before, and he dropped his greatsword in the ground, not moving an inch.


    Stark couldn''t see anything, all he knew was that the noise had disappeared, so he readied himself for Soyer to attempt everything in his power to kill him.


    And after only a few seconds¡­ [Eternal Darkness] as well as [Soul Vortex] were deactivated, meaning that the area was back to normal.


    And once Stark opened his eyes back¡­ all he saw was Soyer''s figure facing him, the boss was on his knees, his head looking down at the water, and red drops pouring from his helmet.


    ''¡­?'' Stark was confused, maybe that was another trick?


    But once he moved his eyes slightly, he noticed that not only did Soyer deactivate his aura, but he also dropped his greatsword on the ground, with no visible intent to pick it back up.


    It was almost like¡­ he gave up?


    ''¡­'' Stark stood there with a neutral expression, he didn''t know what to think.


    Soyer looked¡­ pathetic.


    [Kill him =)]


    "Huh?"


    "Finally, we can see!"


    "What happened though?!"


    see-more-MVLeMpYr


    The other participants of the trial, also spectators of Stark''s fight, couldn''t see inside the [Eternal Darkness] skill''s perk, so all they could do was hear the sound of battle from within.


    And yet, when the mist disappeared¡­ they saw Soyer kneeling down, and Stark facing him with a confused expression.


    [Soyer has received the DOMINATED and HOPELESS status]


    ''Well¡­ doesn''t seem like he is going to do anything¡­'' Stark sighed before smiling, Soyer hadpletely given up, and he enjoyed this victory.


    He observed Soyer for a good minute, and the boss didn''t move an inch, not even looking at the boy, almost as if he was just waiting for him to finish the job.


    [End. Him.]


    And so before Stark could do anything¡­


    His body suddenly began to move by itself.


    ''Huh?!'' of course, he nned to kill Soyer soon, but he wasn''t the one currently controlling his body.


    It was almost as if¡­ his aura was getting impatient¡­


    [Don''t give him the time to think¡­ =)]


    [Send that little SHIT to his friends, that''s what he wants, doesn''t he?]


    The fact he wasn''t in control frankly scared Stark, but¡­ deep down, he knew that HE was his aura, meaning that the thing that was controlling him was just another more twisted part of himself.


    And so just like that, he reached the boss, only one meter away from him.


    [GOODBYE]


    Stark didn''t realize it, but he was actually smiling as he focused his aura in his hands and smashed the boss''s head with absolutely no hesitation.


    "-79482!"


    [Soyer HP: 0/420000]


    [You have defeated ''Soyer, The Bearer of Souls''!]

 Chapter 158: 5 Minutes Before the Second Domination Trial

    [You have defeated ''Soyer, The Bearer of Souls''!]


    "Woohoo~"


    "Good job, kid!"


    "Damn, and I bet that he would die¡­"


    This victory received many reactions, but they didn''t have the time to say anything else as all their screens disappeared, and the connection was interrupted, meaning they couldn''t see Stark anymore.


    The boy had tried his hardest to hide his most powerful skills, and he had seeded in that regard, but it still felt like a loss regardless as he still revealed some of his attacks, and also his weapon.


    But before he got any other kind of notifications¡­


    ~DING~


    [The ''Second Domination Trial'' starts in five minutes!]


    [Buckle up your seats and gather everything you need, there is no going back after this, and I can guarantee you that it is gonna be a tough and long one =)]


    And¡­


    [5:00 minutes remain before ''Domination Trial'']


    .


    [4:59 minutes remain before ''Domination Trial'']


    ''Fair¡­''


    Stark needed to be quick, and so he instantly opened up the panels that HE wanted to see.


    [You have in ''Soyer, Bearer of Souls lv100'', gained 2,750,000EXP!]


    ''¡­!''


    And this could only mean one thing¡­


    [Experience: 728312/843000]


    ~DING, DING, DING, DING~


    He heard four notification sounds, then was surrounded by the thick golden aura that always felt warm.


    [Your level has increased to level 40, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 41, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 42, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 43, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 2312/907000]


    Stark''s smile grew wider, he could FEEL the crimson power inside of him be more powerful, and it was a feeling that brought him endless pleasure.


    [3:38 minutes remain before ''Domination Trial'']


    In addition to that, he had yet again crossed another threshold (level 40), which could only mean one thing¡­


    [Level 40 Reached: please pick a card].


    Three purple cards materialized in front of Stark, but in opposition tost time, they didn''t have any feature that could help him pick one out, meaning that it was back to luck.


    While closing his eyes, Stark reached for one of the cards and picked the one to the far left.


    And when he turned the card, the image disyed on it was that of a figure being in one ce, then after using the skill being moved to another spot right next, an after image between the two showing it was instant.


    ''¡­?''


    ¡­


    [Skill: Crimson Ball Transmission]


    powered-by-MvLeMpYr


    [Type: Epic]


    [Description: To teleport to a specific location while fighting, first concentrate on creating a small ball from your aura, then send the ball to the desired location, but note that this action alone will not teleport you there.


    The location the ball hits simply marks the destination for the teleportation, if you need to quickly escape an attack, snap your fingers in the direction of the ball to activate the teleportation, and you will be sent there instantly.]


    [Note: You only have one ball, and it takes five minutes to recharge]


    ¡­


    These were all the panels that appeared before him once reaching level 40.


    But¡­ he wasn''t done yet.


    [Skill Points: 16 Avable]


    Yeah¡­ he had enough skill points to upgrade a skill to the max if he felt like it.


    But this would be dumb: getting multiple perks from different skills would be far more efficient than getting three perks from a single one, isn''t it?


    ''Hm¡­''


    [2:11 minutes remain before ''Domination Trial'']


    [You should finish whatever you are doing fast!]


    It wasn''t only Stark that was rushing around, gathering all the stuff he needed, but all other participants as well: they took the domination trial very seriously.


    The first trial was always new to all of them as they didn''t know what it was about, but once youplete it and reach the second, you know enough to actually begin to take everything into ount.


    All of them had seen people dying closely to them from monsters in the trial, and they refused to go down either.


    It was one of the reason this trial was much harder than the first: experience and knowledge.


    ''No time to really think, just use your instinct to upgrade the skills you FEEL will be useful to you¡­'' Stark mumbled as he opened his skills window.


    ¡­


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv15; Focus lv10; Aura Smash lv10; Clone Frenzy lv10; Invincible Dodge lv5; Double Assault lv5; Crimson Spears lv1; Heaven''s Wrath lv1; Alchemist lv3; Potion Crafting lv3; Target Maniption lv1; Dodge Control lv1; Crimson Ball Transmission lv1


    ¡­


    ''Okay, I know now.''


    [You have upgraded ''Focus'' to level 15 (Bronze-Tier Max)!]


    [You have upgraded ''Heaven''s Wrath'' to level 5!]


    [You have upgraded ''Clone Frenzy'' to level 15 (Bronze-Tier Max)!]


    And so he was only left with one skill point that he kept in case he needed itter.


    The reason of his choices was as followed: [Focus] is possibly the best skill he had yet, and although it didn''t seem strong in the grand view of things, it was the skill that allowed him to see attackse and to dodge them, upgrading it to its MAX is just as important as [Domination] itself.


    [Heaven''s Wrath] is an extremely powerful skill, and in addition to that the other participants didn''t know of it, so having it in a better version of itself could always be good to take huge amounts of enemies, or a giant one, in one beam.


    As for thest, he hesitated between upgrading it or [Aura Smash] to the max, but then he remembered that thetter, although only being an [Umon] skill, was still one of his strongest skills, and so that meant that upgrading it could result in the chance of him not being able to fully utilize the perk as it would be like with the level 10 one, which he couldn''t control well until getting used to it.


    ''I do wonder if [Aura Smash] is going to rank-up in type as it does seem weird it is only umon¡­'' Stark mumbled.


    As for the other skills he didn''t upgrade, he just had a gut feeling that he didn''t really need to do that for now, or more like, that the ones he upgraded would save his life in due time.


    But of course, reaching a threshold for these skills also meant¡­ NEW PERKS!


    And powerful ones at that since the skills in themselves were really strong.


    [1:00 minute remains before ''Domination Trial'']


    ''Oh shit¡­ need to be quick,'' Stark hurriedly opened the new panels that appeared before him, and began reading what the new perks he got were.

 Chapter 159: The Final Preparations and The Reveal

    [1:00 minute remains before ''Domination Trial'']


    ''Better be quick, if I don''t know what the perks are about it will be difficult to fully utilize them¡­ plus there is no saying if I will have any free time in the trial¡­'' Stark, much like the others, also took this very seriously after witnessing the other four people that fought with him in the previous trial dying.


    The reason they died was simple: they weren''t strong enough.


    But this time¡­ Stark felt like the people he would participate with, not only were the double, but also were much stronger, maybe even more so than he himself was?


    ''Argh¡­ fuck¡­ just keep going¡­'' he shook his head before opening the panels.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Focus lv15]


    [New Perk: Time Vision]


    [Description: You are now able to slow down time for three seconds, this can be useful if an enemy attacks you out of nowhere, so activating this perk would allow you to check them out and find a viable way to get out of this situation]


    [Note: Time is slowed for you too, and the time isn''t slowed THAT much, it is more like 0.25 speed, oh and, there is a one-hour cooldown between each use!]


    ¡­


    ''Interesting¡­'' Stark could now, at any moment he wanted during a battle, activate this skill and make his eyes faster than even time itself to see the world in slow motion.


    And so as predicted, upgrading [Focus] had been the right option all along, these three seconds of slow could definitely save his life and remove the risk of being hit by an ambush as it would also warn him¡­


    Next, Stark moved on to the second skill he had upgraded.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Heaven''s Wrath lv5]


    [New Perk: More Radius and Less Cooldown]


    [Description: I mean, the skill is already too strong as it is, so giving it a perk at level 5 would be too much, so in exchange, the radius of the beam increased by 20% and the cooldown is reduced from 30 to 20 minutes.]


    [Note: The next perks will be much better¡­]


    ¡­


    ''Yeahh¡­ I got scammed!'' Stark knew that he couldn''t do anything about it since he would have had to upgrade Heaven''s Wrath at one point or another, but in this very situation, it was pretty average, ''Let''s hope thest one is better to bnce it out.''


    He turned his gaze toward the third and final panel, then began reading quickly as he only had 25 seconds left before being teleported.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Clone Frenzy lv15]


    [New Perk: The Superior Clone]


    [Description: You can choose to summon your three clones and merge them all together (much like with Aura Smash), thus creating a superior crimson copy that is ALMOST as good as the original]


    [Note: This perk will NOT work if one of the clones is out, you precisely need all three, plus the merging time takes around thirty seconds, and if it is interrupted you won''t be able to do it again for thirty minutes¡­]


    ¡­


    ''Huh¡­'' Stark would have loved to test this out before entering the trial, but there was nothing he could do.


    [5 seconds left before ''Domination Trial'']


    But right at that moment¡­


    [You have beaten ''Soyer, Bearer of Souls,'' alone and without taking damage, granting the SOLO and NO HIT achievements, increasing the rarity and power of the equipment!]


    And the moment Stark turned his head toward Soyer''s body¡­ he saw two sparkles around him: meaning that two extremely powerful equipment pieces dropped beside the boss.


    ''SHIT¡­!''


    [2 seconds left before ''Domination Trial'']


    Stark immediately rushed toward Soyer''s body, not only were such equipment pieces could help him, but there was also the chance that he would be teleported back to the real world once the trial ends, meaning the loss of his precious items if someone else took them¡­


    ''GOT IT-'' he jumped, only a few centimeters away from reaching the sparkles.


    But¡­


    [Teleporting all participants to the ''Second Domination Trial''!]


    [Good luck!]


    ''Sl-Sleepy¡­'' his momentum suddenly stopped while his hand was millimeters away from one of the items.


    And then¡­


    ''ZZZzzz¡­'' he fell asleep, the start of the trial forcing him to go to sleep just like the first time.


    story-source-MvLeMpYr


    But while he was copsing, his eyes drowning with dizziness¡­ all Stark could think about was¡­


    ''Let''s hope I don''t die¡­''


    Soon enough, he would discover what the trial was about, and also the 9 other people that had watched him fight.


    It would be big, and possibly the hardest thing he ever did until now, even more terrifying than infiltrating an event with the top 100 strongest ssifiers in the country.


    ''Well¡­ it all depends on my strength anyway¡­'' he let a quick smile before the back of his head fell onto the water, and so, Stark officially fell asleep.


    [Good luck, participant!]


    Stark''s consciousness faded.


    ***


    ''¡­!'' less than a second after falling asleep, Stark opened his eyes again.


    But much like the first time he had done this for the trial, he was yet again in a giant ck void.


    "Do you think we will win?"


    "Heh~ just use my potions and we''ll be good!"


    Suddenly, he heard the familiar voices of his¡­ sses?


    [Domination] and [Alchemist] appeared before him, materializing in front of him like it was nothing, wide smiles on their faces.


    ''Am I¡­ in the dream world?'' Stark wanted to ask, but his voice didn''te out.


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The two Stark stopped smiling, their expressions turning almost sad as they shook their heads.


    "I guess¡­" Domination shrugged.


    "Let''s just go along with it¡­" Alchemist sighed.


    And so right as the two spoke¡­ another panel appeared in front of Stark.


    [Stark Heartsouls; Code Name: "The Chosen"]


    ''Oh¡­ then that means I''m in the space between reality and the trial¡­'' Stark sighed as well.


    There was a strange feeling deep inside of him, one he couldn''t shake off, and it seemed the two other him could also feel it.


    Was it stress? Fear of death?


    It didn''t matter for now, as all that would happenter wouldpletely depend on him.


    ''But then¡­ why are they here, they weren''t here the first time,'' he looked at the figures resembling his own, they were around ten minutes away from him.


    "Good luck¡­"


    "Don''t die on us!"


    And so just like that, they faded away, leaving Stark alone in the darkness, alone to face whatever would happen.


    He didn''t admit it, but their presence appeased him.


    A few secondster¡­ another panel appeared.


    [Domination Trial: The Lucullus Prison]


    [Difficulty: DEATH]


    ''Huh¡­?'' Stark''s eyes widened, and his pupils began to shake, ''D-Death¡­?''


    He couldn''tprehend the words before him, yet they were as real as could be.


    The first trial he participated in was from the [Death] difficulty, which was the hardest of the five.


    Nobody had everpleted a trial with the [Death] difficulty before, he had been the first since the appearance of this ss.


    And now¡­ he would need to do the same thing with his second one too? Alongside nine other people who he could not trust?


    He needed to fight in a trial much harder than the first, with the [Death] difficulty¡­?


    This was¡­ the worst possible oue.


    ''Is this world fucking with me,'' he gritted his teeth, his eyes burning with crimson aura.


    And so just like that, his consciousness faded away again as he received the information all the others did as well.


    [Good luck, Chosen]

 Chapter 160: Domination Trial: The Lucullus Prison

    "FUAHHH~" Stark opened his eyes, he was sweating profusely for some reason, and really didn''t like the feeling of his consciousness forcefully being taken from his body.


    [Domination Trial: The Lucullus Prison]


    [Difficulty: DEATH]


    These panels were the first things that greeted him once he opened his eyes, but he already knew that so he shrugged them off.


    Stark looked around him.


    He was in a closed square space with dark blue walls around him, they looked to be in a good state, meaning that this trial was much more ''advanced'' and ''technological'' than thest.


    And when he turned his head¡­ he noticed that one of the four walls was actually opened, except for one simple problem: blueser-like bars were blocking his path.


    ''Prison cell¡­?'' was the conclusion Stark reached, after all the name of the trial was [The Lucullus Prison], so it did make sense.


    But of course, he wasn''t alone.


    Since all around him, there were nine other cells identical to his, and as guessed, each of them had one participant inside.


    Some were still asleep, while others were already up, inspecting their surroundings.


    [Wait for the others to wake up before receiving any kind of information about this trial, in the meantime, you can enjoy yourself!]


    ''Enjoy myself, my ass¡­'' Stark sighed as he got up.


    The cell right in front of his was upied by a woman with long white hair and an elegant ck dress and ck lips, something not fit for battle, she was currently touching the walls of her cell, trying to see if there was any secret.


    ''She looks experienced¡­'' Stark didn''t call out to her, but he just stood there, looking at her.


    After a few seconds, she sensed his gaze and turned her head, wanting to scold the person that had been looking at her so intensely.


    But when she stared at Stark¡­ she just looked at him with a neutral expression, unbothered.


    Stark could already see everything in that calm look on her face.


    She was thinking: ''Oh, that''s him¡­''


    Almost instantly, she averted her gaze and went back to what she was doing.


    ''¡­'' Stark kept his neutral expression, he couldn''t see the cells of the people next to him, so he just waited.


    After a few minutes¡­ everyone woke up, they had been in the same ck void as Stark, receiving the basic information they needed before being sent to the trial.


    And as soon as all of them took note of their surroundings¡­ the panels that would inform them of their task appeared.


    [Domination Trial: The Lucullus Prison]


    [You all are inmates of this prison, your goal is to escape by reaching the surface!]


    [You are currently in sublevel 4, make your way to level 0 and defeat the warden to leave!]


    [To aid you, each one of you will receive a map of the floor you are currently in, try to follow it, whether in a team or alone, and reach the stairs to go to the next level!]


    [On the way, many elite monsters and bosses will try to stop you, you can choose to fight them or run away, but note that on each level, one of the monsters holds a key that is needed to ess the next level]


    [Once someone kills that monster and opens the door to the stairs, everyone else will be able to ess the sublevel above that one!]


    ''¡­'' This was a lot of information, but it all made sense somehow, basically, they needed to find the monster that had the key, kill it, and then ess the next level until reaching level 0.


    This didn''t seem that hard, actually quite easily, so why would this trial be of the [Death] difficulty¡­?


    [But let me ask you one question¡­ =)] the-ce-MVLeMpYr


    Another panel appeared, this one ten times more ominous than the others.


    [Will you be the one to risk your life and kill the monsters, or will you stay behind and just leech off the hard work of the others, the choice is yours, as the true end goal is just to survive until escaping the prison]


    [Oh, and also, there is no limit to how many survivors there can be, so inparison to the other trials, if all ten of you manage to reach level 0 and kill the warden, then everyone survives!]


    ''Yeah¡­ I knew it¡­''


    This trial was of course about fighting monsters, but also¡­ about betrayal.


    Those who did the hard work wouldn''t want the others to profit from them, and that could result in killing the rest¡­


    ''How cruel¡­'' Stark couldn''t help but smile, almost as if¡­ he enjoyed this?


    [You have exactly ten minutes before the door of the sublevel 4 opens, allowing you to ess this floor, until then¡­ get to know each other =)]


    And so just like that, the blueser-like bars that had been stopping them from leaving suddenly deactivated, allowing each and every one of them to leave their cells.


    "Fucking hell~"


    "Stuck with a bunch of losers in a loser trial¡­"


    "Seriously? Death difficulty, this has to be a joke, I heard no one has everpleted one of those¡­"


    He heard the footsteps of people leaving their cells while talking.


    The white-haired woman directly in front of him just stayed in the corner though, putting her foot against the wall, not leaving.


    ''Quit trying to look cool¡­'' Stark rolled his eyes as he also left his cell.


    People woulde looking for him during the ten minutes of free time as he currently was the center of the attention, meaning the most popr one of them all as they had effectively witnessed him fighting less than half an hour ago.


    ''¡­'' Stark left his cell, and found himself in a semirge hallway, all it contained was the 10 cells that participants were held in, and at the end of it was a giant metal door, a timer was disyed above it.


    [9:28¡­ 9:27¡­]


    In the hallway were already six of the other participants, excluding Stark, meaning that only three had decided not to interact with the rest.


    It was either they were confident in their abilities to survive, or just didn''t trust any of the others.


    To Stark, they were the smartest, and those with the highest chance of survival.


    "You have a problem, my guy?"


    "I think you don''t realize who you''re talking too¡­"


    But there already seemed to be some kind of beef as two men were currently facing each other, one of them had an enraged expression, under the watchful and interested gazes of the other four.


    ''It''s been thirty seconds¡­ literally how¡­?'' Stark was confused, these people were much more aggressive than his allies back at the first trial.


    "HAH~ WELL, WE DON''T NEED YOU ANY MORE IT SEEMS!" one of the men, the one that seemed angry, a buff-looking one with silver ring piercings activated his [Domination] aura, summoning ws that came out of his hands.


    "CLAW ANNIHILATION!" he jumped toward the first guy.


    But¡­


    "Futile¡­" the other guy also activated his [Domination] skill, and a silver de appeared in his hands, "See you in hell¡­"


    "MOON CUT!" he deflected the ws of the first man easily and then¡­


    ~SLASH~


    "-78531!" he cut the man in half.


    ''¡­'' Stark observed all of this with a neutral reaction, it happened so fast, and it hadn''t even been two minutes since the cells opened.


    [One participant has died, 9 remain!]


    This trial was already getting bad, maybe there would be no survivors by the end of it if this continued¡­


    ''¡­'' Stark kept smiling for some reason.

 Chapter 161: Getting to Know Each Other (Pretty Useless)

    [One participant has died, 9 remain!]


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    And yet, no one said anything, and even the three that were still inside their cells didn''t evene out to check what the message was about.


    Everyone was way too calm, even though one of the participants had just died.


    "He would be useless anyway, we need to get rid of the problems before beginning this trial," the man with the silver de grabbed the two parts of the other guy''s body and threw him into a cell, without any care for his condition as a corpse.


    The calm man seemed to be in his mid-twenties, he had a manly face and white hair with a beard of the same color, he also exuded a mature and strong aura as he held his sword in hand, traces of blood on its tip, he was currently in a¡­ business suit?


    "I''m sorry for themotion, folks," he bowed to all the people that were looking at him.


    "That''s fine, but we could have at least used him as a meat shield," another one of the guys sighed, he had tanned skin and spiky blond-hair, as well as semi-defined muscles, he was in a ck tracksuit.


    ''What the hell are these outfits,'' Stark tilted his head, although he couldn''t deny that he himself was just wearing average clothes right now.


    "Hmm¡­ pretty strong, old man!" a little girl, around 1,48cm in size, with pink hair designed in a short ponytailughed, she was wearing a high-school uniform with a short skirt.


    She looked like a middle-schooler, and her features could also confirm this idea as her face was that of a child.


    But¡­


    "A little kid?" another guy with long-ck hair, wearing a green robe with a snake pattern on its back, spoke, carrying a neutral expression.


    "A K-KID?! I''M 32!" the kid¡­ no¡­ thedy replied, she didn''t budge when seeing someone die, but THIS was what embarrassed her.


    [7:32¡­ 7:31¡­], meanwhile, the timer above the giant metal door was still going down.


    They seemed to get along¡­ well¡­ partially, for now they were just building meaningless connections that would crumble the moment any kind of danger came in.


    "I hope you all understood the rules, it means that no matter what, we can all get out if we somehow manage to get all the keys and reach level 0!" a blue-haired man with a gun in both his hands pointed at the metal door, he was wearing a police officer uniform.


    These were the five (alive) people that were in the hallway, chatting with each other while waiting for the door to open.


    "Maybe we should introduce ourselves to make it easier forter, shall we not¡­" the man with the green robe proposed, his expression staying still, his clothes and long back hair made him look like a sect leader, and he even did the iconic pose with joining the sleeves of his robe together to hide his hands.


    "Sure thing¡­" the man that had murdered someone less than two minutes ago smiled, "But let''s not forget our friend there," he pointed at Stark, "Why don''t you join us?"


    Frankly, Stark had a really bad feeling about all of this, and he didn''t trust these people one bit, neither did any of them trust one another to be honest, but they were just acting¡­ acting as if they would fight together.


    Beyond those faces, Stark could see their true intentions, and all he could as he noticed that was smile.


    When the rest of the crowd turned their heads toward the location the white haired man pointed, all of their eyes widened.


    "Oh¡­ that''s him¡­" the police officer tightened the grip around his guns.


    "Huh¡­" the tanned man scratched his head.


    "Haha~ I knew he would be there, but seeing the real thing is better!" the loliughed.


    ''¡­'' Stark didn''t walk toward them, "We can speak, but I would rather keep a fair distance from you bunch until the door opens, who knows what crazy bastard would attempt to kill again¡­" he spoke while precisely looking at the man holding the silver de.


    "Oi~ I wouldn''t do that, I just had to get rid of the bad weed from the bunch, that is all!"


    "The name''s Chosen¡­" Stark just spoke before looking down at the ground, after all, introducing yourself only meant telling your name.


    "Akira," the murderer smiled, Stark had no idea if it was his real name or his code one, but it didn''t matter.


    "Lolia," the small girl spoke right after.


    "Then my name is Bang," the tanned man shrugged.


    "And mine is Leader¡­" the one with long hair added.


    "Officer is the name, I guess it does make sense though haha¡­" the police officer scratched his cheek.


    This was all with introductions, and Stark quickly nced at the folks he would be fighting with.


    A calm murderer in a suit, a loli in a school uniform, a police officer with guns, a sect leader, and a tanned guy with seemingly no morals.


    This was a weird group, and he didn''t even know of the other three that were still in their cells.


    [4:56¡­ 4:55¡­]


    "Soooo¡­ how does it feel to fight a boss, then immediately get transferred to this shithole¡­" Akira smiled, his eyes analyzing all of Stark''s movements.


    By a simple nce, Stark could tell he was the most dangerous one of the bunch, alongside the sect leader that didn''t change his expression even once.


    "Nothing much, just trying to live," Stark replied with a neutral expression, not even looking at the man.


    "It is surprising¡­ a [Death] level second domination trial is insane, and I have heard no one has everpleted one of these¡­" Bang spoke.


    "My first trial was from the [Godless] difficulty, so not that far behind," Akira informed them, godless was the fourth of the five categories.


    "Heh~ mine was from the [Doom] category!" Lolia smiled, almost proud of herself for surviving.


    "Me too," Officer nodded.


    The sect leader didn''t speak, not wanting to give info, he had only spoken twice so far, and only to redirect the conversation to something else. source-at-MVLeMpYr


    They couldn''t do much but wait for the doors to open, so all they did was engage in meaningless discussions, although all keeping their distance and also making sure to not reveal anything.


    Stark was already at a disadvantage since they had seen how he fought, but it was fine for now.


    [1:02¡­ 1:01¡­ 1:00]


    But when the one minute mark was reached¡­


    A panel appeared before all the participants.


    A panel that would crush any hope they had in fighting alongside one another safely to reach the surface.


    A panel that rendered everything they did so far meaningless.


    [Introducing the ''Kill Bonus'' perk¡­ =)]


    It appeared before all of them, and so all they could so was read as information was everything in this ce, almost as important as strength.


    ''What the hell is that thing¡­'' Stark''s eyes widened as he read about that perk, it was beyond anything he could think of.


    It was truly¡­ twisted and cruel¡­


    And it basically¡­ as stated in the name¡­ forced them to kill one another to receive advantages.


    ''Haha~ knew I couldn''t trust anybody¡­'' Stark''s smile grew wider as he noticed the atmosphere of the hallway suddenly go from joyful to depressing in a single second.


    Well¡­ it was a [Death] difficulty trial after all, so what did they expect?


    Only Stark knew how bad this could get.

 Chapter 162: The Kill Perk

    ''¡­''


    All the participants of the trial looked up when the timer showed that only one minute remained as another panel had appeared.


    [Introducing the ''Kill Bonus'' perk¡­ =)]


    It wasn''t long until all participants read it.


    And to even Stark, who had already participated in a [Death] difficulty trial, this seemed¡­ unreasonably cruel.


    ¡­


    [''Kill Bonus'' will be active the moment the gates of sublevel 4 open!]


    [''Kill Bonus'' is an advantage that the participants can get inside of the trial, increasing their odds of survival!]


    [Basically: if you kill someone, you will be allowed to spin the ''Perk'' wheel, granting you an advantage!]


    [Note: monster kills don''t count, a human needs to be the one to give the fatal blow to another participant to receive the reward]


    ¡­


    Basically¡­ the moment that timer reaches zero, then if you ever manage to kill someone, you will be allowed to spin some sort of wheel to receive a reward that could massively help you.


    Of course, on paper, this seemed like a dumb perk as if you ever killed someone and got found out, then you would be the next to be hunted.


    And yet¡­ as if knowing of that, that shitty system actually showed the possible rewards you could get¡­


    At that moment, the atmosphere of the room went from friendly to hostile almost immediately.


    ¡­


    [There are 10 possible rewards if you manage to kill another fellow participant to aid you in the trial!]


    [Key Location Map: You will receive a map that shows you which exact monster holds the key that will allow the group to head to the next level]


    [Instant Use Key: Will give you a key that you can immediately use to go to the next level without fighting anybody, one time use.]


    [Healing Spring: A special spring that will instantly heal all your injuries, one time use.]


    [Revive Token: A token that will allow you to revive yourself once in the event of death, one time use.]


    [Instant Level Up: Will make you level up by five levels immediately!]


    [Skill Viewer: Will show you a list of all the skills of the other participants]


    [Invincibility Token: Will grant you invincibility for the next five minutes following the usage of this token, meaning that no participant or monster can do any damage to you, one time use]


    [Monster Scent: Upon usage, all monsters will ignore you as they recognize you as their own, even if you kill many of them, thissts ten minutes, one time use]


    [Aura Blocker: Target a participant and be able to block their powers for thirty seconds, one time use]


    [Killing Spree: ??? (only bes avable once five people have died!)]


    ¡­


    ''¡­''


    This was absolutely terrible, an actual disaster.


    your-NovelFire-source


    In a room filled with people who would do anything to survive, these overpowered rewards could truly change everything in the trial, plus no one would really me them for killing if they said it was for the ''greater good'' as some of these rewards could truly be useful for the group¡­


    And the worst: these rewards seemed to advantage the culprit that actually killed.


    [Aura Blocker], [Healing Spring], [Invincibility Token] and many more would make it so that any of them could kill anyone that tried to avenge the death of another.


    Basically¡­ being a killer has way more advantages.


    It was truly well-thought-out, and even Stark had an urge to kill one or two people to get rewards.


    Plus, in addition to all of this, there was the presence of the [Killing Spree], which only appeared once five people died, and its goal was obvious: making people wonder just how good it was, resulting in more deaths to unlock it.


    ''Killing game¡­'' was Stark''s first thought as he closed the panels and stared the other participants, all of their eyes were widened in shock, except for Leader as he kept hisposure.


    The little crowd that was in front of the metal door immediately separated, feeling that their trust in one another was instantly gone: they didn''t know who could kill, and even worse, maybe even they had some urges to do it?


    [27¡­ 26¡­ 25¡­]


    In the end¡­ everyone know that the moment that timer was up, it was everyone for himself.


    [10¡­ 9¡­ 8¡­]


    [Oh, and by the way; if someone dies from a monster, it will be specifically said who died]


    [But¡­ if they are killed by one of you¡­]


    [Then this message will appear: "Participant has been in by a yer", without specifying who died or who did it!]


    And so with that¡­


    [2¡­ 1¡­ 0!]


    [Good luck!]


    ~FWISH, CLANG~


    The giant metal door, at least fifty meters in height, slowly but surely opened, revealing the interior of the sublevel they were in.


    ~BOOM~


    ~DASH~


    ~FVIOUM~


    Immediately, he heard the sound of lightning as one of the people that hadn''te out of their cells left the hallway the moment the door was big enough to fit: they were like a sh of lightning, so their body wasn''t visible, plus too fast anyway.


    ''¡­'' Stark sighed, as he began heading toward the metal door, he also had gone inside of his own cell, observing the white-haired woman in the cell in front of him as she just walked in circles.


    But the moment he left his cell¡­


    [A participant has been in by a yer!]


    It already happened.


    Of course, Stark didn''t care about that, but the fact it happened so fast meant that there truly was no hope in cooperation.


    All the other participants had already dashed through the metal door as it had mostly opened, meaning that the only people that remained were Stark, the white-haired woman, and¡­


    ''¡­'' Stark turned his gaze as he heard soundsing from a cell, and he was met with a disgusting sight.


    The man with the silver de, Akira, the one who had already killed someone, was in front of the beheaded body of Bang, the tanned man in a tracksuit.


    Sensing his gaze on him, Akira turned his head toward Stark, his expression still calm as he smiled, doing this was nothing to him it seemed.


    "What can I say," Akira shrugged, "Don''t act like you wouldn''t do the same¡­"


    "I never said I wouldn''t, and I didn''t judge you," Stark didn''t care much as he continued walking toward the metal door, "But¡­" suddenly, his aura became much more powerful, and even Akira was taken aback, "Don''t try that shit on me¡­" Stark smiled, and Akira smiled back.


    [You have entered the ''sublevel 4'' area, try to find the monster with the key to escape!]


    [Oh, and by the way, remember the second punishment you were supposed to get for not reaching level 50?]


    ''¡­?'' Stark rolled his eyes, they were trying to fuck him over even in this situation where some of his skills had already been revealed.


    [Well¡­ you don''t get a map, so maybe killing another person doesn''t sound so bad now¡­ =)]


    Not getting a map of the floors was a massive disadvantage as he wouldn''t know theyouts, but it didn''t matter much for Stark, whether he killed or notpletely depended on the situation, and for now, he didn''t feel the need to.


    [Good luck!]


    [8 participants remain!]


    This trial was cruel, but in the end, survival all depended on your instinct, information and strength, and Stark was confident that he would live.


    Even if he was the only one left by the end¡­ he would make sure to survive.

 Chapter 163: The Fourth SubLevel

    [The 4th sublevel holds the worst criminals of the Lucullus Prison!] was what he read somewhere on a sign, so it meant that this one should be pretty empty, and the more they went up, the harder it would be.


    The floor looked like it hadn''t been vacuumed in months, and the air had a putrid smell that made his nostrils re.


    The walls were made out of purple obsidian, a strong material none of the participants could destroy, and the floor was made of white marble, debris were everywhere so it was pretty hard to navigate.


    The hallways were pretty big, enough to fit at least a fifty people next to another, meaning that areas for battles were more than enough.


    Also, each sublevel apparently had a name, and this one was¡­ [The Domination''s Layer].


    Would the name be rted to the floor and its enemies? Who knows.


    Stark kept walking through the halls, they all looked the same, and it was so big he didn''t even meet anybody or anything.


    ''Not having a map is bullshit¡­'' all the others could navigate easily and spot the exit wherever they were, but Stark was forced to check everything like he was in a maze.


    The only good news was that the mastermind of the trial, if they even existed, took pity on him.


    [You will get your map back in sublevel 2!]


    ''¡­'' it had been around ten minutes since the metal door opened, but not a single other notification announcing the death of someone popped up.


    But right as he thought of that¡­


    "KRAWKR~" he heard a disgusting noise ahead of him, and from the corner of a hallway he was about to turn, a giant beige hand could be seen.


    And what emerged from that hall was¡­ an ogre-looking monster, at least seven meters in size.


    [Sublevel 4 Guard]


    It had beige/gray skin, a very ugly face withrge bumps all over it, making its eyes look swollen, its chest waspletely bare except for some sort of circle metal thing that was attached directly to its body, and genitals were hidden by a very short dark cloth, not even reaching its knees.


    Its arms, legs, although very muscr, were also full of bumps, almost as if that monster was mutated, in its right hand it was carrying a giant cleaver, and its eyes were full of rage, ready to eliminate the escaping prisoners.


    But of course¡­ it wasn''t alone.


    Since only a few seconds after Stark made his analysis of the monster¡­


    "KRAWKRK, RKKKARK~" two more guards appeared next to the one in front of him.


    And¡­


    "KRAWKRA~" another two appeared from behind: he was surrounded by these ugly things.


    All the [Sublevel 4 Guards] were slowly approaching Stark, they all looked the same, each having arge cleaver in their hands that could cut Stark''s limbs if they even grazed him.


    5 giant monsters to take care of, yet Stark wasn''t bothered: if he wanted to survive this, winning this battle was the MINIMUM he should be able to do.


    ''...'' he positioned his fists in front of his, while making sure to constantly check behind him if the other guards got closer.


    ...


    [Name: Sublevel 4 Guard]


    [Level: 95]


    [HP: 147000]


    [Strength: 4618]


    [Stamina: 1027]


    [Speed: 1214]


    [Defense: 3356]


    [Skills: Cleaver sh, Stomp, Mad Rush, m, Guard Force, Prisoner Detection, Mutation...]


    ...


    They didn''t have that many skills to begin with, pretty normal considering they are the lowest of the low monsters in this entire trial, although their strength and defense were pretty high, their stamina and speed were a joke inparison.


    "KRAAKR~" almost as ifmunicating with one another, the first guard that appeared to Stark pointed at him then looked at his colleagues, and they all nodded.


    And then...


    "KRKAKAKKRR~" all of them began to run toward Stark.


    Of course, they were much faster than the average human, it is not that Stark said that they are slow, but inparison to him... well... their speed wasn''t much.


    "CLEAVER SLASH!" two of them raised their cleaver, half the size of Stark, then struck down.


    ~FWISH~


    But the boy moved to the side and avoided the two attacks easily: he had seen theme from a mile away thanks to [Focus].


    The sheer strength of their attack though did damage the floor, more than it already was at least...


    "Crimson Spears..." Stark calmly summoned three spears and sent them toward one of the guards that had tried to attack, the other three behind as they wanted to ambush him.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    All three spears hit the target in the face as it was unable to avoid the attack.


    "63018! -59227! -60291!" the damage was very high, even for monsters with such a big defense, which probably meant that the head was definitely their weakness.


    "Kr...akr..." the first guard fell down in a loud thud as three massive holes were left on its face, and its colleagues were enraged, more than before that is...


    "STOMP!" two of the massive guards raised their foot, and then...


    ~BAMMMM~


    They mmed them against the ground as hard as they could.


    "-6827! -5918!" doing this damaged even them.


    But in exchange...


    ~FZIP~


    only-found-at-NovelFire


    ''Huh...?''


    The shockwave of the attack traversed the entire hallway, and when it reached Stark...


    [You have been paralyzed by the shockwave, jump next time!]


    ''SHIT...!'' Stark didn''t expect it to work even against the domination ss, but he was indeed in a trial specifically made to kill them all, so he should have known...


    "CLEAVER SLASH!" meanwhile, the two other guards that had waited for theirpanions to stun the boy immediately dashed at him, and swung their cleavers at the boy at the same time.


    He couldn''t move, and two giant weapons were rushing at him from opposite directions by giant monsters that only wanted him dead.


    Was it over?


    Would he be the 3rd to die out of them all, even though he had been the only one toplete the first trial in the [Death] difficulty?


    No...


    This couldn''t happen.


    Not to Stark, at least.


    He still needed to get to the exit, or at least find the key to stop everyone else from getting ahead of him¡­ it was a killing game after all, and he was already fucked because he had no map and was around 10 levels below all the others.


    He couldn''t allow himself to die now.


    No¡­ he refused to die by the hand of these weaklings.


    And so¡­ Stark''s eyes burned with aura as he smiled, ready to cause a massacre.

 Chapter 164: Killing the Sublevel 4 Guards

    The ogre guards'' cleavers actually reached Stark, hitting both his neck and waist.


    But¡­ he still had that big smile on his face, one that the ogres absolutely hated.


    Even though they knew he was fucked now that he was stunned, they hated that stupid confidence of his.


    But they were wrong¡­


    [The Purgatory Shadow took the hit]


    It was indeed two attacks, but they were aimed at him at the same time, meaning that his shadow came out of the ring and stopped both cleavers, pushing back the guards.


    [''Paralyzed'' effect has been removed.]


    And with that, Stark, his eyes still burning with aura, dashed straight for one the guards that had executed the cleaver sh.


    "CLONE FRENZY!" and he summoned two other clones , sending them at the second guard.


    "Aura Smash¡­" Stark focused his aura in his hands then sent three crimson fists at the guard.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    Learning from itspanion''s mistake, it knew it couldn''t avoid such attacks, so instead¡­ it used its cleaver as some sort of shield.


    "-37462! -36011! -39874!" the damage was still high, but not enough to kill it.


    "STOMP!" meanwhile, the two other guards weren''t doing nothing, not only did they get closer to Stark and his clones, but they also lifted their foots again, with more power this time.


    ~SLAM~


    They hit the ground, and itpletely broke, cracks were everywhere now, except for the obsidian walls.


    "CLEAVER SLASH!" knowing that Stark would be stunned again, the guard before him raised its cleaver and began to strike down.


    But¡­


    ~JUMP, FWISH~


    Stark just jumped to the side once the shockwave reached him, thus avoiding both it and the cleaver.


    "Krawakr!!!" the guard spoke to his friends, his face full of surprise and sweat pouring out of its ugly forehead.


    "S-SLAM!" almost hesitating, it used another skill, sending its empty fist toward Stark as it was surrounded by a powerful force.


    The fist was half Stark''s size, so the damage would be enough to kill him.


    But Stark didn''t stop, he knew he couldn''t afford to. His aura was burning even brighter, as if fueled by the fear of the enemy.


    [''Sublevel 4 Guard B'' has received the ''Dominated'' status!]


    And that small amount of hesitation¡­


    ~FWISH~


    It allowed Stark to spin in midair and avoid the fist by going above it, he ced his foot on the arm, it wasn''t big enough to amodate him, but he just used it as a tform.


    And then¡­


    ~KICK, BOOM~


    Stark jumped toward the guard''s head and drop-kicked it in the face.


    "-93271!"


    The impact was so strong that the guard''s face became even uglier, and it was sent flying toward one of the obsidian walls, crashing against it and falling back on the ground.


    Meanwhile¡­


    "AURA SMASH!" Stark''s clone summoned six crimson fists, as well as 6 spears, and threw them all at the guard they were fighting.


    Needless to say that it didn''t survive, as even when using its cleaver as a shield, upon reaching the fifth fist, its stamina was already depleted and it was unable to continue holding on against the crimson power.


    And so that meant that one fist and 6 spears reached its body as it couldn''t defend itself anymore (in addition to the damage from the fist that was also significant).


    "-35039! -26361! -27381!" and much more, so it immediately fell to the floor.


    And so they were left with two guards to deal with.


    The two were taken aback, and even took a few step backs once the third monster died.


    But¡­ it was in their instincts as monster and prison guards to keep going.


    Would you call it foolishness? Or was it just that they needed to do their job at all costs?


    Well¡­ it didn''t really matter.


    ''Hey, clone,'' Stark thought, and the two clones looked at him, ''One of you end this quickly,'' he smiled.


    And immediately¡­


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT," Stark didn''t even bother to use the skill himself, instead he summoned back the clone that wasn''t doing anything, and sat on the ground as he enjoyed the view of his clone doing the work.


    To be honest, these clones actually seemed to enjoy fighting more than staying inside of him, so it was good.


    ~DASH, DASH~


    "CLEAVER SLASH!" one of the guards swung at the clone.


    But¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" it dodged at the final moment.


    But wait, if it that, then doesn''t that mean¡­


    story-at-NovelFire


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    ''HOLY SHIT,'' the world around Stark and his clone turned gray as everything moved slowly.


    The interesting thing though was that the original Stark wasn''t affected by the slow mode, meaning that if his clone avoided an attack perfectly, then he would also get additional seconds to think even without doing a [Perfect Dodge].


    This was precious information he would make sure to remember.


    ~BAM, FWISH~


    Using the additional seconds to think, the clone dodged the cleaver and¡­ smashed the guard''s hand using his crimson aura.


    "KRAKRKKEA~" it screamed in pain as its arm reduced to pulp, at least more than it already was, forcing it to drop its cleaver.


    "MAD RUSH!" its eyes glew in a crimson light as its speed increased and it began to attack the clone with both its hands (even the destroyed one), as well as its legs by trying to kick it.


    But none of the attacks hit, and in less than a second, as the clone didn''t waste time since ''Double Assault'' onlysted 10 seconds, it was already behind the guard.


    ~SPIN, CRACK~


    It cracked the monster''s neck, killing it instantly.


    "-158372!"


    ''Wait a damn minute, did a clone just make more damage than I ever did?'' Stark mumbled with a neutral expression, it was a hit for his pride, ''Oh well, but he just shrugged in the end.''


    "KRAAKRK!!!" the final guard was panicking after seeing its fourthpanion die, and so it swung its cleaver in all directions in hopes of grazing and killing the clone.


    But of course, it was mere useless hope that would never amount to anything.


    ~CRACK~


    The clone appeared behind the guard again, and although it was anti-climatic, it just cracked its neck again.


    "-156245!"


    It wasn''t as cool as defeating it with a punch, but it was much easier and also more efficient.


    ''Good job,'' Stark got up from the cold destroyed ground and summoned his clone back after congratting it for its victory.


    And so with that, he got rid of five enemies, meaning he could keep going through this giant maze, hopefully not meeting the other participants as he didn''t feel like fighting if they were aggressive.


    Maybe some had already teamed up? He didn''t know, but the fact no one had died after twenty minutes was a good sign.


    Or that is what he hoped¡­


    Stark didn''t know the massacre had only started.

 Chapter 165: The Sublevel 4 Elite Guard

    [You have in ''Sublevel 4 Guard lv95'', gained 128371 EXP!]


    [You have in ''Sublevel 4 Guard lv95'', gained 127025 EXP!]


    .


    .


    [You have in ''Sublevel 4 Guard lv95'', gained 129392 EXP!]


    And so that meant¡­


    [+638,838 Experience]


    But even that wasn''t enough to level him up.


    [Experience: 641150/907000]


    He was currently level 43, but the amount of experience needed each level was seriously getting out of hand, and it was probably the same for all the others as they also had the [Domination] ss.


    ''For now, let''s focus on finding the key or the exit, someone might have already opened it¡­!''


    [Nope! Once someone does open the door then it will be announced, although nothing will be said if someone does find the key, making it possible to hide it for as long as you want =)]


    [Oh, and I feel pretty bad for you, so here is a¡­ MEGA DEAL!]


    ''The fuck¡­?''


    [If you kill one of the participants, then¡­ not only will you get your map back, but you''ll be allowed to spin the reward wheel TWICE, just to make up for the punishment!]


    And immediately, the panel disappeared, and no new one appeared.


    It almost felt like the thing that was talking REALLY wanted to make them kill each other.


    ''Getting my map back and two rewards doesn''t sound so bad though¡­'' even Stark actually had the thought of killing as it could definitely increase his odds of survival.


    But no¡­ he suddenly realized something: it wouldn''t be possible he was the only one that got such a juicy deal, it was possible all the others got such a panel as well¡­


    It was a killing game after all, but who knows.


    ''Oh well¡­ doesn''t really matter if I can''t meet anybody,'' Stark shrugged, he quickly put the thought aside as killing wasn''t in his ns for now.


    Then he began to walk through the halls of the sublevel 4 again, all of them mostly looked the same except for some different furniture and rooms: there were other cells beside the ones they had been in, as well as some rooms with chairs and tables in them.


    He even found a cafeteria at some point, but he didn''t feel the need to visit it.


    But after only another ten minutes of walking around¡­


    [A participant has been in by a yer!]


    ''¡­'' Stark looked at the panel for two seconds before closing it, he didn''t care much.


    The fact that all the people that had died until now were all killed by other humans said a lot about this trial: not a single monster kill yet, although this was supposed to be the easiest level.


    And the fact the murderer was anonymous was even more sadistic as they could definitely get away with it, hiding their reward to use it whenever the situation became bad for them.


    Basically¡­ Stark would need to suspect everyone, trying to fight as a team like in thest trial was not an option before, but now it was truly confirmed.


    ''¡­''


    Another fifteen minutes passed, fifteen minutes where nothing much happened, everyone else seemed to be exploring and killing monsters, looking for the key.


    None of them had known it at the time, but the [Key Location Map] and [Instant Use Key] were much more powerful rewards than they seemed after realizing just how big each level was.


    But at this very moment¡­ where Stark really believed there was no way he would find his way¡­


    IT activated.


    [Talent: Chosen One, activated!]


    ''¡­?''


    And when he turned another corner¡­ he found himself in front of the door of a room, although this one was different from the others as the door looked much more damaged and was made out of wood instead of usual metal or other strong materials.


    He was in a dead end, and this room was the only thing at the end of the hallway.


    ''Yeahhh okay¡­'' there was no way this room wasn''t important, especially after [Chosen One] activated, and so he immediately began to head toward it.


    Stark kept walking toward the wooden door, sensing an ominous auraing out of it.


    His talent had definitely activated for a reason, but did it really twist reality again to make this door appear in front of him, or was it always there, and it was [Chosen One] that somehow guided him to it...?


    In the end it didn''t matter, because if his talent was on the ''helping'' side this time, then it meant... there was a chance this could be the location of the key, if somebody hadn''t already taken it that is.


    ''Here goes nothing...'' he sighed as he reached for the wooden handle of the closed door.


    But right as that happened, and he began to pull it down...


    ~BOOM, SLAM, CRASH~


    The wall behind the door exploded, sending debris all over the hall and Stark.


    ''WHAT?'' Stark was too close to the door and wall, so the force of the impact sent him flying in the opposite direction, crashing onto the wall in front of the door.


    "-3471!" he had activated his [Domination Shield] to take the damage, so he received nothing, but it was still weird.


    Was it a trap?


    No... his talent wouldn''t do this for no reason.


    "KRAAKRR~" beyond the smoke screen that had formed because of the destroyed all, and all the falling debris, Stark heard a familiar noise.


    It was the same sound those [Sublevel 4 Guards] were making.


    ''More of those... then maybe the talent wanted me to level up, heh~''


    But he was wrong.


    ~THUMP, THUMP~


    The steps that thing was making were much more powerful than the other guards, and its aura was more overwhelming too, exuding an invisible force that even Stark was cautious of.


    ''...''


    ~THUMP, THUMP~


    And once it got out of the dust screen... Stark was finally able to identify what it was.


    ''Holy shit...!'' his eyes widened, this was definitely not a simple guard.


    [Sublevel 4 ELITE Guard]


    [The most powerful monster of this floor!]


    ''I get it now...'' of course, this wasn''t confirmed, but most of the time, doesn''t the strongest monster mean the best drops?


    And what better drop was there than... THE KEY TO THE NEXT FLOOR!


    The guard, much more powerful, stronger, and even 1.5x times the size of a normal guard, took another step toward Stark, its eyes full of fury as a prisoner had escaped.


    -official


    ''Alright, if it''s here it means that nobody was able to reach this spot even with their maps, looks like that talent of mine can both be useful and annoying¡­'' Stark smiled as he positioned himself, the giant ELITE slowly approaching him.


    [FIGHT!]

 Chapter 166: Elite and Destruction

    The [Sublevel 4 ELITE Guard] was standing there, its physique nowpletely visible as the smoke had disappeared, and it just stood there, looking down on Stark.


    It was 1.5 times bigger than a normal guard, making it almost reach the very high ceiling of the floor, and at least eight times as high as Stark.


    Just like its other peers though, it had mostly beige/gray skin with disgusting bumps all over it, and just like the other guards, a dark cloth was hiding its genitals.


    But inparison to the others, it wasn''t bear-chested, as it actually had a piece of silver armor over its chest and stomach, allowing it to protect itself from stabs.


    Over its head was also a silver helmet from the same materials as its body armor, with only two small holes where its eyes are supposed to be.


    Beyond those holes was darkness, and only a little white point from its pupils was there to show that it was indeed alive.


    As for its weapons, it had two: on its right hand it was carrying a giant metal sword with traces of blood all over it, something that showed that thing has already killed many living beings, whether humans or monsters didn''t matter.


    And on its left hand was¡­ a morning star: it was a spiky ck ball with a handle the guard was holding to control it.


    "KRAAKRA~" the elite guard roared as it took yet another step toward Stark, ready to destroy the prisoner that tried to escape the Lucullus Prison¡­


    ''Heh~ it''s fine, it should be as slow as the others-'' Stark kept his focus on the monster, but it shouldn''t be that fast.


    ~FWISH~


    ''Huh?'' yet in less than a second, the morning star of the elite guard was already in front of his face.


    It was too fast, way too fast.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" he rolled away.


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    The world slowed down around Stark, and he took advantage of that to activate [Perception] to check out his enemy, the small white pupils beyond the darkness of its helmet''s holes burning with aura as a trail was left behind every time it moved.


    ¡­


    [Name: Sublevel 4 ELITE Guard]


    [Level: 100]


    [HP: 365000]


    [Strength: 5931]


    [Stamina: 1312]


    [Speed: 3749]


    [Defense: 4133]


    [Skills: Chrono Dodge, Critical Hit Spin, Morning Star''s Darkness, Crippling Blow, Mad Rush, The Fourth Elite, Sword Cut, Body m, Intimidation, Status Immunity, Guard Sacrifice¡­]


    ¡­


    All of its stats were much higher than any of the normal guards, and its speed was also much muchhh higher for some strange reason.


    Stark backed away, that thing was almost as fast as him even with its sturdy body, so staying close wasn''t a risk he was willing to take.


    "CRIPPLING BLOW," but as soon as the world went back to normal, the guard lifted his morning star and swung it at Stark.


    ''OH COME ON¡­!'' he avoided it by ducking, but the weapon came crashing against one of the obsidian walls, and it was so strong that it even created cracks on it, ''I''m dead meat if this touches me¡­''


    "AURA SMASH!" he sent three fists at the elite guard, who didn''t even bother to avoid them.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    It pumped its chest and received all of the damage.


    "-10129! -9837! -11281!" Stark almost thought he went back to the time he was level 15 because of such low damage, but it was reality: that thing''s armor was protecting him way too much, even if its defense wasn''t even that highpared to the normal guards. Discover more at m-vlempy _r.


    "And just when I thought it''s a piece of cake," he mumbled, eyeing the elite guard, "Time to get creative."


    "CLONE FRENZY!" he summoned his three clones.


    Of course, under normal circumstances, Stark would only summon two as distributing his aura between the three would result in their power massively decreasing.


    But this time¡­ Stark had a good reason.


    ''Go behind the corner and do THAT,'' he smiled at his clones, and they all nodded as they ran away to hide.


    Meanwhile¡­


    "KRAARKAK~" the guard didn''t stand still as he immediately threw his morning star toward the group of clones.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," it hit them straight on, but thankfully they all had the skill to roll away to safety, then immediately began to do ''THAT''.


    The ELITE guard, now only with a sword in hand, didn''t even seem bothered, instead it just rushed at Stark.


    "SWORD CUT!" it sliced in Stark''s direction once.


    ~FWISH~


    But the boy avoided the attack by backing away.


    "SWORD CUT!" and it did it again.


    ''¡­?'' Stark avoided by crouching.


    "SWORD CUT, SWORD CUT, SWORD CUT!!!" instead of being like the average guard or monster and attacking randomly in the hopes of hitting, the elite guard actually looked like it knew what it was doing, precisely aiming for Stark while keeping its bnce enough to be able to strike again.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    Stark was forced to keep dodging as a single strike would be game over.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS!" he summoned his three spears and sent them at the guard.


    But¡­


    ~KING, KING, KING~


    The guard just blocked all three with his sword, taking 0 damage as it was way sturdier than the cleaver the others had.


    "SPATIAL INVENTORY," while he was blocking Stark''s attacks, the boy opened his inventory void and took out four [Crystal Stun] potions.


    ~THROW, THROW¡­~


    He threw them all toward the elite''s body while it was upied, and all potions hit it, exploding upon impact and releasing the white mist.


    But¡­


    [''Status Immunity'' makes ''Elite Guard'' immune to status effects!]


    Meaning that the [Stun] wouldn''t work on it, even from his crimson fists.


    And so right at that moment, when Stark was thinking of what he should be doing¡­


    ~THUMP, THUMP~


    Stark lifted his gaze and saw the giant rush at him.


    "BODY SLAM!" then it jumped in the air, preparing tond on top of him with its full weight.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" he couldn''t avoid this attack to begin with since the monster was almost as big as the hallway, and even damaged the ceiling in the process of jumping, plus the impact would surely send him flying, so this was his only option.


    [Perfect Dodge]


    Stark looked at the corner of the hallway, his gaze shaking as he wondered when the hell would ''THAT'' finish, he really needed it.


    "MAD RUSH," not letting him get a single second of rest, the elite guard got up unharmed and rushed toward Stark, cing its shoulder in front of its body like a rugby yer wanting to tackle down somebody.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark slid down and somehow managed to avoid the attack by passing between the guard''s legs.


    ~BOOOOM~


    It crashed against the obsidian wall in front of it as it couldn''t stop in its rush.


    ~SHATTER~


    The wall waspletely destroyed as the guard passed right through it, revealing another hallway behind.


    "-12813!" it received some damage, but quickly got up and grabbed its morning star back.


    This fight was getting really bad, and Stark had no idea how to beat this thing for now¡­


    ''Think, Stark, think¡­!'' Stark faced the giant monster as it removed the debris from its armor and got up again.


    "KRAKKR~" and the guard was also getting angrier for no apparent reason, I mean, it was the one that decided to crash onto the wall?!


    Soon enough¡­ they would be able to use ''THAT'' perk for the first time¡­

 Chapter 167: The Superior Clone

    It seems like the goal of the [Mad Rush] attack just now was simply to retrieve its weapon, so killing Stark was just a bonus to it.


    Its silver armor was unscathed, and Stark could see that a giant hole had formed on the wall the guard hit, meaning that he could see another hallway from there.


    ''Need to do this quickly... if someone sees or hear the noises they could steal the key...''


    But wait... wouldn''t that mean a chance to kill and retrieve his map, as well as two rewards...?


    ''Hm...'' Stark actually hesitated, but in the end it didn''t matter as long as nobody showed up.


    ~THUMP~


    The guard took another massive step, making Stark''s body jump slightly because of the sheer force.


    And then... it turned its pupils toward the spot the clones were supposed to be at.


    "Krakr...?" for the first time it sounded confused, and its pupils widened, the aura around them faltering slightly.


    "AURA SMASH... MERGE!" taking advantage of that small opportunity and time frame, Stark focused his aura on his right hand and began to summon the giant crimson fist.


    The [Elite Guard] kept looking at ''THAT'' thing for a few more seconds, almost if shocked. your chapter source MVL EMPYR


    "Krakkark?," which roughly tranted to, "What that is?" was what it said at that moment.


    And then, if sensing something was wrong, it immediately began rushing toward it, knowing that it couldn''t allow such a thing to transform.


    "Not today, asshole, only five more seconds after all...!" Stark wouldn''t let all his efforts go to waste, so he quickly finished charging up the [Aura Smash] and sent it toward the guard when it was only a few meters from reaching the clones.


    ~BOOOOM~


    It could obviously dodge or at least deflect it under normal circumstances using its massive weapons or the [Chrono Dodge] skill, which Stark hadn''t seen yet.


    But... it''s panicked state and rush in stopping the clones made it ignore its surroundings, resulting in the giant fist, much bigger than its head, hitting it straight on the chest sideways.


    ~FWISH, CRASH~


    It was sent flying toward the wall right beside it, crashing into it and almost destroying it because of the sheer impact of the crimson aura.


    "-58171!" the damage was still rtively low as to how much it would have dealt normally, but it was fine as it had stopped the guard from interrupting the clones'' transformation.


    And then, at that moment...


    ~FWISHHHHH, BWING!~


    A giant light emerged from the corner of the hall from Stark''s perspective, while the guard was just watching it with widened eyes.


    And...


    [''The Superior Clone'' was sessfully summoned!]


    [Description: You can choose to summon your three clones and merge them all together (much like with Aura Smash), thus creating a superior crimson copy that is ALMOST as good as the original]


    This was the perk he had been wanting to use, although it took around thirty seconds for them to merge, which wouldn''t seem like a lot normally, but just in this battle, it almost felt like minutes because of the speed of the attacks.


    ''Come...'' Stark called out for his clone, and with speed to fast it was invisible to the naked eye, it ced itself in front of the boy so that he can observe it.


    Even the [Elite Guard] was confused because of the speed, taking a few seconds to turn its head to the spot it was on and immediately getting up, knowing it needed to get rid of them both fast.


    ''...''


    The [Superior Clone] resembled the usual clones, except the aura that made its body was much darker in color, and it flowed faster and stronger than before.


    Just by viewing it, Stark knew that thing was the real deal as its entire body was surrounded by powerful crimson aura.


    ''...'' it just stood there, a big smile on its face as it awaited Stark''s orders.


    "Can I control you?" this was Stark''s first question.


    He had usually been able to control a clone by concentrating his aura in his eyes and sending it to the clones, but maybe that was because they are pretty much.


    But what about the [Superior Clone]? Would he be able to control it? If so, how well?


    This could definitely be big, as taking control of such a thing while staying back would be overpowered.


    ''...'' the clone put its crimson hand against its chin and acted as if it was thinking, then... it just shrugged.


    [Maybe yes, maybe no]


    This was its answer, meaning Stark would need to try it himself.


    But for now...


    "KRAAKKAKRKAKAK~" the elite guard roared so hard that the ceiling was shaking, and small debris kept falling all over.


    Then... it dashed toward Stark and his clone, carrying both it''s bloodied sword and the morning star.


    "MORNING STAR''S DARKNESS!" it used one of its [Advanced] skills while rushing at them both, and suddenly...


    ~FWISH~


    As if it was sucking up the darkness of the elite''s eyes, the morning star grew in size, at least thrice as big as originally, now it was even bigger than the arm of the elite and five times as big as Stark'' body.


    Its silver spikes were also reced bypletely dark ones, emitting a very dark aura.


    "K...KRKAKRA~!" even the guard seemed to struggle carrying it, so it justunched its sword at the two Stark.


    ~BOOOM~


    The impact of the weapon exploded the floor, but the two easily avoided it as this attack was mostly just to get rid of the weapon.


    "KRAAKKRKS~" the guard tried to carry the morning star, but actually grazed its own arm in the process.


    "27291!" that weapon''s damage was way too high, and now that it was bigger, faster and stronger, it would be more difficult to avoid it.


    "Aura Smash... MERGE!"


    "...?" Stark was confused as he wasn''t the one that used this skill but... his clone?


    He hadn''t ordered it to, it was doing it on its own for some reason, and the smile on its face showed that it was confident in its abilities.


    Frankly, Stark would expect that thing to explode in its face, but who knows, maybe it got strong to be able to master it...?


    After managing to put the giant handle of the dark morning star between both its hands, the elite guard smirked behind its helmet.


    It was carrying it like a baseball bat, but oh well...


    And then...


    "CRITICAL HIT SPIN!" it used another one of its [Advanced Skills], this one not stronger than [Morning Star''s Darkness], yet when paired together... they became deadly.


    And so, Stark and his [Superior Clone] got ready to deal with that guard.

 Chapter 168: Killing The Elite Guard

    "CRITICAL HIT SPIN!" the elite guard began to slowly spin around while carrying its morning star horizontally, positioning it for the spikes to hit its enemies directly, which would definitely be an insta-kill not only for the clone, but also Stark.


    Then¡­


    ~FWISH, FWISH~ see more mvle mp|y|r


    It began to go faster¡­ faster¡­ AND FASTER, until eventually¡­ the guard''s figure was only but a blur, reced by a series of afterimages.


    The [Elite Guard] was spinning so fast it was invisible to the naked eye, and its morning star kept crashing onto the obsidian walls, but it was the walls that were getting destroyed, not it.


    ~BOOM, CRASH~


    Before Stark and the [Superior Clone], the giant spinning figure of the guard, its white aura surrounding itpletely as if it was a tornado, kept approaching the two.


    It was taking up the entirety of the hallway, with no way to escape, and all there was behind Stark was the room the guard hade out of, and it was just a dead end.


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!" the clone''s expression didn''t falter as it kept smiling, then sent its giant crimson fist toward the elite guard, who was slowly getting closer.


    Of course, it could go much faster even in this [Spin] form, but it was as if it was enjoying tormenting the prisoners.


    ~FWISH, BOOOM~


    The giant fist crashed onto the giant.


    "-49382!" it did damage, but the giant guard didn''t even falter.


    Wind was blowing through Stark''s hair as the aura and speed created force, and the ground shook beneath his feet.


    ''¡­'' Stark''s clone just shrugged, and yet it didn''t stop smiling.


    Was it the [Superior Clone] perk that made it so confident in everything, or¡­?


    "DODGE CONTROL!" as if showing Stark what he should do, the clone dashed toward the giant guard and immediately disappeared.


    [Dodge Control] wouldn''t let you get hit no matter what, so it basically just teleported to the other side.


    ''Already knew that¡­ but didn''t want to use it in case there was another solution¡­'' Stark thought that he needed to keep this skill in case anything else happened¡­


    But¡­


    Once the cone was on the other side of the hallway¡­ it drew a circle above both Stark and the spinning guard, then hit its palm, a crimson aura glowing in it.


    And¡­?


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!" a crimson glow appeared on the ceiling above Stark, and when he looked at it, his face turned pale.


    ''DID IT¡­ JUST USE IT ON ME?!''


    He could see the [Superior Clone] smiling, seemingly having nned everything.


    The [Superior Clone] wasn''t listening to Stark, or at least it wasn''t doing ONLY what he wanted it to do, almost as if¡­ it gained some kind of sentience?


    Of course, this wasn''t truly possible, but his aura merged with his could make it do things even he couldn''t predict.


    ~FWISH, FWISHH~


    The giant beam was charging up while the [sublevel 4 ELITE Guard] was approaching, now only a few meters away as its giant morning star kept getting closer to Stark.


    The [Superior Clone] was basically¡­ forcing Stark to use [Dodge Control], or else he would get killed by its own beam since he wasn''t immune.


    ~FWISHHH, BOOOM!!!~


    "DODGE CONTROL!" the morning star actually was about to smash Stark''s head when he activated the skill, but his aura moved his head at terrifying speed, defying thews of physics to dodge.


    ~BOOOOM~


    The beam exploded, its radius taking over not only Stark but also the [Elite Guard] as it didn''t expect anything while the human was cornered.


    ''That clone¡­'' Stark eyed it for a bit, his pupils widening, ''Its¡­ smart¡­?''


    Usually, it''s Stark giving all the instructions, with the clones only following what he was asking them to do, yet¡­ this time¡­ it was the [Superior Clone] itself who made up a n to both escape this situation but also to damage the guard immensely.


    ''¡­!''


    The crimson beam descended and began to hit the entire radius it was aimed at, hitting both Stark and the [Elite Guard], except that thanks to the [Dodge Control], Stark was able to teleport away right next to the [Superior Clone], who looked at him with a wide smile on its face.


    "Never do that shit again¡­" Stark rolled his eyes, and the clone just shrugged, "Especially when we had [Crimson Ball Transmission]¡­"


    Of course, he had never used it before, so that is the reason why the clone decided to not risk it and used [Dodge Control].


    Meanwhile¡­


    ~BOOOM~


    The intensity of the crimson beam hit their face, and all they could do was watch as the elite guard was getting destroyed by the beam.


    "-58372! -59281! -63928! -61928! -73144!" it would take a while to stop itself in its spin rush, so it couldn''t even dodge.


    Armor? Defense? None of this matters when your very body was getting disintegrated by a giant beam that could take out anything within it.


    And so after a few seconds¡­ the beam stopped.


    The ceiling and floor within the circle radius of the beampletely disappeared.


    And as for the [Sublevel 4 ELITE Guard]¡­ it was nowhere to be seen.


    Like literally, in its ce were only a massive pile of ashes, and the morning star had alsopletely disappeared.


    ''¡­''


    [You have in ''Sublevel 4 ELITE Guard lv100'', gained 2,183,449EXP!]


    It truly was dead¡­ just like that.


    It almost felt weird for Stark, he was so used to enemies always managing to use up everyst one of their skills before being defeated, yet the guard didn''t even get to use some of its skills like [Chrono Dodge], [Guard Sacrifice] or even its ultimate skill [The Fourth Elite].


    ''Well¡­ I guess it''s better this way,'' he shrugged.


    But this also instinctively made Stark turn his head toward the [Superior Clone], its expression was cold and malicious, the grin on its face growing more as it saw the ashes of the guard.


    ''¡­'' Stark didn''t know what to think of this, but the clone had pretty much taken out the elite by itself.


    Should he be concerned or happy that such a perk had been gifted to him? He didn''t know¡­


    ''Okay, what now¡­''


    And right at that moment¡­ many panels appeared around him as he was surrounded by the golden glow thrice.


    [Your level has increased to level 44, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 45, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 46, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 20599/1000000], he had finally reached the stage where he needed 1M experience every time to level up.


    But in the end, even if his clone did the damage, he still got all the experience as it also meant the clone grew stronger alongside him.


    And so at that moment, Stark began to read the panels as they should be able to help him¡­


    But of course, the first he observed was¡­


    [Level 45 Reached: please pick a card]

 Chapter 169: Domi-Chain Restrain and Floor Key

    [Level 45 Reached: please pick a card]


    And of course, three cards appeared in front of the boy, their color was pink, and yet again no indicator to show him which one could be the best.


    Frankly, Stark had never thought of it, but just how different would his life be if he had chosen another card from the ones he had been given?


    What if he never got [Aura Smash], [Clone Frenzy] or [Invincible Dodge]¡­?


    After all, it had all been luck, and the other cards also held different skills, whether they were better or worse than the ones he got were all up to luck.


    ''Let''s just get this over with¡­'' he closed his eyes and began to aim his hand randomly, reaching for the cards and picking the first one that he touched, it had be somewhat of a ritual for him.


    But¡­


    ~THUMP~


    Something grabbed his shoulder before he was about to grab one of the cards, and when he looked back, he saw it was the [Superior Clone], shaking its head as if telling Stark this wasn''t the right thing to do.


    ''¡­?''


    And so before the boy could even ask anything, the clone headed behind the cards.


    ''¡­!!!'' Stark immediately understood, and if it worked, then it was insane.


    The cards didn''t turn once the clone went behind them, but did it truly mean he could read them¡­?


    Cards can only be read by the very person who they are given to, which is why asking other people to read your cards isn''t an option to begin with: there was no way to cheat the system.


    But¡­ what about a semi-sentient clone made out of the user''s aura, then could it maybe¡­ just maybe¡­?


    Suddenly, the [Superior Clone]''s smile grew bigger.


    And then¡­ it pointed to the card to the right.


    "Can you see the read about the skills?"


    ''¡­'' the clone shook its head, seemingly it couldn''t know the name or the description of the skills, which was a bummer.


    But then, why would it pick this card in particr.


    ''¡­Oh!'' Stark''s eyes widened, "Is it because of the images?"


    "¡­" the clone nodded.


    Of course, he had no current way to know the skill he would pick, but the cards always had some sort of drawing rted to them at the front, so this was the only thing that could help outside of the panels.


    Basically¡­ the clone picked the drawing that looked to be rted to the most powerful skill out of the bunch.


    Of course, such a logic was wed, as there was the possibility of a boring drawing being rted to the most powerful skill, but this was already a good enough indicator.


    "Can you tell me the drawings?" he asked, this could also help as he would be judging too.


    But¡­


    "¡­" the clone shook its head.


    ''Sigh¡­'' Stark reached for the card the clone pointed at and picked it up, making the other two disappear.


    And when he turned it to see what the drawing was¡­


    He saw the picture of two crimson chains intertwining one another.


    "¡­"


    He looked back to his clone, and it was giving him two thumbs up.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Domi-Chains Restrain]


    [Type: Legendary]


    [Description: A skill that allows the user to create a powerful, crimson chain that can bind enemies in a restrictive grip, making it impossible for them to move or use their abilities freely. The longer they remain bound, the stronger the chains be. With enough restraint, the enemy will lose consciousness, allowing the user to freely engage in battle with other foes in the area.]


    [Note: The chain has 10000HP, but as long as it is not broken, it will continue to slowly bind itself around the enemy like a moving snake, oh, and you also get one chain for now, plus twenty minutes between each use]


    ¡­


    ''¡­!'' Another legendary skill was granted to him, and this one also seemed interesting.


    Of course, descriptions give an overall idea to how the skill works, but it was always better to try it out for yourself before attempting to use it in battle, which was why Stark loved the [Memories Museum] so much.


    After reading the description a few times over, Stark closed down his new skill''s panel and looked at the one next to it.


    [You will be able to spin the ''ss Wheel'' in 4 levels!]


    Of course, this was logical, although Stark did wonder what other ss could he possibly get, and how would he align its usage with [Domination] and [Alchemist].


    Of course, getting a new ss was always good, but¡­ what if it was totally useless?


    For example, getting [Warrior] seemed utterly useless in his case since he only used his fists with his domination aura, so other than some skills that could help, then he probably had absolutely no use to it?


    ''¡­I''ll think about itter,'' he mumbled as he moved to the third and final panel.


    And¡­


    [You have eliminated ''sublevel 4 ELITE Guard'', and¡­]


    ''And¡­!?''


    [He had the key to the next floor! Good job!]


    Suddenly, the key materialized out of the thin air into his right hand.


    ''NICE¡­ VERY NICE¡­!!!'' Stark''s widened as he opened his palm and saw a bronze-key with a very small ''sublevel 3'' note attached to it.


    ''Spatial Inventory,'' he wasn''t going to y any risky games and instantly put the key inside of his inventory void, no way in hell he would allow anyone to steal it as it would be a battle to the death.


    And now¡­ everyone was stuck on this floor until Stark eventually finds the exit =).


    Plus, if he ever died, the key would stay inside the inventory, not leaving it, meaning that the others would be stuck inside and die of starvation.


    Well, if they don''t just straight up kill one another that is, and even then it wasn''t sure they would get the perks rted to keys.


    Basically¡­ he had the perfect excuse to stay alive in front of the others as long as he got a key.


    ''Very good¡­''


    "¡­" the [Superior Clone]''s smile grew very wide, stretching from one corner of his face to the other, and it was bing uncanny at this point, it seemed to like Stark''s idea: if he dies, everyone else is fucked.


    Stark realized it somewhat, but [Superior Clone] seemed¡­ how to say¡­ evil?


    He was more malicious and ill intentioned than Stark himself, was it because of his domination aura or something?


    ''Doesn''t matter as long as it listens¡­'' he jumped the destroyed obsidian wall the elite guard had made and ended up in another hallway, then the clone followed closely.


    He tried to summon back the clone to himself, obviously, but¡­


    [If you bring the ''Superior Clone'' back to you, then the transformation will be cancelled, and you will have to wait for all three clones to regenerate, meaning 1h30!]


    ''Yeahhh I''m not waiting that long for something that isn''t even sure to happen since the transformation does take a while to take ce¡­'' in the end, he just decided to keep it close to him.


    And so like that, now that they had the key to the next floor in hand, the two Stark continued walking through the maze of the prison''s fourth sublevel floor.


    Of course, all the others weren''t doing nothing either, as they were all slowly leveling up and looking for the key as well: the map showed the exit, so all they needed was the key for it.


    ''None of you are escaping until I get out¡­ =)'' Stark smiled as he turned around another corner.


    "=)" the clone smiled too, nothing but bad intentions on its expression: nothing mattered to it except for the safety of the original Stark.

 Chapter 170: Group Gathering at the Exit

    [Your level has increased to level 47, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 48, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    ''Phew¡­'' it had been an hour since Stark defeated the [Elite Guard], yet there had been no additional deaths or any other announcements, everyone was truly just waiting for someone to unlock the door or trying to find the key themselves.


    He had encountered more [sublevel 4 Guards] on his way, along with some other types of monsters like [Skeleton Prisoners] and [Threat Robots], but they were all taken care of rather easily by¡­ the clone.


    Yep, it was still there, walking behind Stark, a wide smile on its face, and the more they killed, the happier it seemed to be, the way it was walking also became weirder as it was leaning left or right after each step.


    "KRAKAKRA~" yet again they met two more [sublevel 4 Guards], at first he had somewhat struggled against them, but now they were a piece of cake both to him and his clone.


    "DOMI-CHAINS RESTRAIN!" Stark shouted, and a giant crimson chain came out of the ground beneath, heading toward one of the monsters.


    It enrolled itself around its arm and continued to roll slowly like a snake trapping its prey.


    Domi-Chain Restrain or Domi-Chain in short was an extremely powerful skill against single enemies orrge ones, as most of the time they were really easy to restrain.


    ~CLING, CLANG~


    The chain immediately headed toward its second arm and restrained it as well, all of this in the span of two seconds, meaning it didn''t have the time to react.


    And now that both is arms were out¡­ it couldn''t do anything but watch as the chain quickly but surely took out its other limbs and soon enough life force.


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!" the clone sent a giant fist toward the second guard.


    "-169382!" its body exploded in a thousand pieces as the first hit it and left a giant hole.


    As for the other guard, it couldn''t its arms, legs, and now even move its torso as they were all being slowly chained by the crimson chain, which was expanding from the ground beneath Stark, with seemingly no end to it.


    ~THUMP~


    The guard lost its bnce and fell, its face full of pain as its energy was drained by the chain.


    And then¡­


    [Enemy fell unconscious because of the chain!]


    ''You do you¡­'' he looked at his clone, and it smiled as it rushed toward the guard, stopping right in front of its head.


    And then¡­


    ~SLAM, SLAM~


    It began to punch it.


    Stark didn''t know why, but it enjoyed torturing monsters and taking them out slowly gave it the most pleasure, so he just let it do that.


    And so after thirty seconds¡­


    [You have in ''sublevel 4 Guard lv95'', gained 128392 EXP!]


    [You have in ''sublevel 4 Guard lv95'', gained 126930 EXP!]


    But this wasn''t all, since the moment the guard being held by the chain died, it retracted on itself really fast and went back to its original spot of apparition.


    [Sessful bind, chain regained!]


    It was a perk he had learned after using the chain a few times: if the chain manages topletely restrain an opponent for Stark to kill it, or if it knocked them out, then he wouldn''t need to wait for 10 minutes, the chain would immediately be usable again.


    [Experience: 439281/1140000]


    There wasn''t anything left to do, so they just kept going, hoping their luck would be better as they had just been wandering aimlessly now, and their stamina wasn''t infinite (well, at least Stark''s wasn''t, he didn''t know about the clone).


    But¡­ after only ten minutes¡­


    ''¡­'' Stark turned around yet another corner that looked the same as all the others and¡­ ''¡­!''


    He saw four people standing against the walls, sitting, or just walking in circles, all the while talking to one another!


    In the middle of them was a giant bronze-textured door with a sign reading ''sublevel 3'' next to it.


    ''Found it¡­'' he smiled, but it was weird why so many people were there, and none of them were killing each other?


    ~THUMP~


    He took a single step in that hall, and all eyes fell on him.


    "Oh! If it''s not Chosen¡­!" Officerughed, his guns still in hand.


    The people present were: Officer, the white-haireddy Stark saw as she was in front of his cell, and¡­ the two others he hadn''t seen.


    Stark stopped in his tracks, wanting to speak to them over some distance to make sure this wasn''t a trap, and his clone obviously stopped behind, not revealing itself to the public as it was at the corner of the hallway.


    "Oh!" Officer nodded, "I guess you didn''t get to know them since they stayed in their cells then immediately ran through the metal door¡­"


    "I guess¡­" Stark shrugged, he didn''t care much.


    "HEY!" a man with dark gray eyes that had a white star-shaped detail in the irises, and scraggly hair with a mixture of two colors: pale reddish pink and apple green, suddenly got up and shouted, taking Stark aback, "NAME''S YURI!"


    He was wearing a dark teal zer with gold buttons over a long-sleeved white dress shirt and a gold and ck striped tie.


    "¡­?" Stark had frankly expected those to have stayed inside their cells to be of the mysterious type or at least be super cautious of everything, yet¡­ this guy seemed extremely extroverted.


    Stark''s gaze then moved on to the person next to him, it was a woman with yellow eyes and short, unkempt taupe brown hair with two long ear-like hair locks that stick up on both sides of her head.


    She was wearing a pair of round, metal-rimmed red eyesses, and a had a device resembling a tablet between her hands.


    She was wearing a maroon sweater and a long pair of ck jeans.


    After realizing it was her turn to introduce herself, she taped a few letters on the tablet and¡­


    "Kokoro!" a blue panel emanated from the tablet like a hologram, showing whatever she wrote.


    "Oh yeah, Kokoro doesn''t talk much she told us, so don''t even bother, I tried haha¡­" Officer nervously joked.


    "And her?" the white-haired girl didn''t even give him a single nce.


    "Oh, she didn''t tell us her name either, so yeah¡­" Officer shrugged.


    She was sitting against the wall, wearing an elegant long ck dress with a semi-long skirt that reached her tights.


    These were all the people present here.


    [7 participants remain!]


    Akira, the guy who killed two people, probably was still alive, and he couldn''t see the sect leader dying so fast after being so calm all this time, meaning that the person that had died was probably¡­ Lolia.


    "What are you doing here?" he asked the group.


    "Just taking a break as we''ve been searching for that key for a very long time!" Yuri shouted again in response.


    "Hm~" Stark finally feltfortable taking a step forward as he wanted to open the next floor already.


    But the moment he did that, the clone followed closely after him. Get thetest from m-vl-emp _yr.


    And so when the clone showed itself to the others, its powerful and overwhelming aura could be sensed by all the people in the hall: they saw it as clear killing intent.


    ~FWISH, BOOOM~


    All of them activated their auras, even the white-haired woman, and although she didn''t move from her spot, she finally looked in Stark''s direction, which could be seen as her acknowledging the threat.


    ''¡­'' the clone''s smile grew wider as it saw the participants activate their auras and summon their weapons the moment they saw it.


    ''What the hell is happening¡­'' Stark sighed, would he really have to fight these people because his clone was just¡­ twisted?

 Chapter 171: Leaving the Fourth Sublevel

    "=)" the clone kept smiling, peeking from behind Stark''s shoulder.


    It couldn''t stop its aura from pouring out itself, so to everyone else, it just seemed like in killing intent, and an extremely powerful one at that.


    "¡­!" Officer already had his guns in hand, but they suddenly began to morph slightly with their owner''s will, a beautiful ocean-like aura waving around them, then he pointed them not at Stark, but at his clone, "What''s that thing!"


    "Stay back buddy," Yuri''s attitude went from extroverted and cheerful to full serious mode, his gray eyes shining deeply as aura poured out of them.


    Inparison to Stark''s aura though, his waspletely gray, and as for his weapon¡­


    ~SWISH, SPARK~


    Ten golden stars began to surround the boy, all shining.


    [Power of the Stars] was his weapon, and it was unique, no matter how you thought about it.


    "¡­" Kokoro didn''t speak at all as she didn''t tap anything on her tablet, instead she just got up, and began to hold her tablet with her two hands while pointing it at Stark''s clone.


    ~FWISH~


    Five blue things came out of the tablet, and they were¡­ holograms: a sword, a shield, a spear, a person in armor holding a sword, and a two meters tall monster that REALLY resembled the guards Stark had fought, actually, no¡­ it definitely was a guard.


    ''Perception!'' Stark yet again used his skill to check out what her ''main'' weapon was, and it was¡­ [Synchro Tablet].


    Basically, she could use her tablet and aura to summon holographic and powerful weapons/people/monsters that could actually deal real-life damage.


    Guns, golden stars, and a tablet that can summon holograms, it was a very unique set of weapons¡­ and Stark''s fist inparison seemed pretty in, was that the power of [Domination] and its ability to grant ANY kind of weapon?


    As for the white-haired girl, she did in fact activate her aura, it was white and surrounded her, but she didn''t summon her weapon.


    "¡­=)" and almost as if trying to sabotage itself, the clone positioned itself forbat, alerting the others that there was true danger now.


    ''Sigh¡­'' Stark almost wanted tough, "Clone Frenzy¡­ HP Transfer!" he activated the perk he had never used until now since it was both useless and too dangerous to give 2000HP to his clone.


    And then¡­


    ~SLAM~


    He gently mmed the back of its head.


    "-1482!" his attack was extremely weak, so it didn''t deal enough damage to kill it with the additional HP he had given it.


    "¡­=(" the clone held the back of its head for a few seconds, almost acting as if it was hurt, but Stark knew it was all acting since these things don''t feel pain.


    "Don''t mind it¡­ it''s just¡­ me!" Stark turned back to the others and shrugged.


    "¡­" all of them looked at one another, then back at Stark, before deactivating their auras.


    The golden stars disappeared as they all suddenly shed to the ceiling (or sky), the holograms slowly went back to the tablet, and Officer just put down his guns.


    "You should tell that thing to watch out¡­ it''s really creepy," Officer could be seen sweating a bit, and it was the same for all the others: they truly didn''t like that thing, it was almost like it was staring at their souls, and ready to kill them at any moment.


    ~STEP, STEP~


    Stark began to head toward the others, and specifically toward the door as he wanted to open it.


    "So Akira and Leader are still trying to find the key?" he asked while opening up his [Spatial Inventory].


    "Precisely," Yuri went back to cheerful mode, "They said they didn''t want to wait in here doing nothing, so we''re just waiting for them to find it¡­"


    ''So they saw them, meaning that it was Lolia who died¡­''


    "Ok, so who killed Lolia?" he suddenly asked.


    It had been less than two hours since the trial started, but it had already be taboo to ask about the whereabouts of a participant or about who killed them.


    "Probably the crazy katana guy or the sect leader," Officer shrugged, his expression darkening as a crimson vortex began to form in his eyes, "Fucking criminals¡­" he mumbled.


    "And about the rewards, do you know what they are?"


    "Nope, they wouldn''t tell us, so we don''t even know who did it, maybe they are even¡­ among us," Yuri joked around, but nobody could deny that it was a possibility.


    Stark was now only three meters away from the door, his eyes never leaving the other participants, and in that regard, [Superior Clone] was the best possible bodyguard.


    ~TAP, TAP~


    The clone gently taped Stark''s shoulder, and when he looked back, he could see that the smile on its face was wider than ever before as it pointed at Yuri.


    [He did it], it couldn''t talk, and it hid behind Stark so that no one saw its movement except for him, but he immediately understood.


    ''¡­'' Stark''s eyes fell on Yuri as thetter smiled at him, an innocent look on his face, but Stark''s gaze was judgmental, and when his clone informed him of Yuri''s actions, he immediately noticed how fake his expression was.


    ''Thanks,'' Stark mumbled to his clone as he reached the door, he truly couldn''t trust any of these people, even Officer that seemed to hate crime could have other motives after all.


    "Are you gonna wait for them to get the key too?" Yuriughed.


    ''Annoying¡­'' Stark gritted his teeth as he pulled out the key of his inventory void and suddenly inserted it into the door''s lock and twisted it.


    Of course, Stark''s clone stayed on guard if anybody tried anything, acting like a bodyguard as it looked at each of the participants one after the other, the smile on its face would probably haunt them.


    A blinding light emitted from the keyhole the moment he did that, taking all the others aback.


    The bronze door slowly creaked open, revealing a dark corridor with a spiral of stairs going up.


    [The sublevel 3 Floor has been opened! Head to the exit to be able to climb to the next level!]


    And so that panel appeared in front of everyone, even those that were still trying to find the key in the giant maze.


    Finally, after almost two hours and three deaths, they would finally be able to reach the third sublevel, meaning only¡­ 4 floors to go, if they counted floor 0 which would only be the fight against the warden. your chapter source mv-l,e mp _yr


    ''¡­Let''s go,'' Stark mumbled, and his clone smiled as they both began to ascend, the others shocked that he had so casually opened the door.


    Soon after, they began to climb up as well, then it was Akira''s and Leader''s turn.


    And so just like that, everyone left the fourth sublevel.

 Chapter 172: The Dungeon of Fear (Third Sublevel)

    The stairway was dimly lit, the only source of light being the faint glow of their auras as they ascended higher and higher.


    Stark was the first who went, so he was technically leading the group, with the rest of them following closely behind.


    Stark''s clone was climbing the stairs backward, keeping its aura eyes on the group and making sure that a fair distance was kept, and if something ever happened, it wouldn''t hesitate to all its arsenal of skills to at least take down two of them with it.


    As they climbed, the atmosphere grew heavier with each step, the weight of their experiences in the trial pressing down on them.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity of climbing, they reached yet another bronze door that looked very simr to the one he had opened before.


    Stark approached the door cautiously, there was no handle or key slot this time, so he just pressed his palm on it, and then¡­


    ~FWISH, DING~


    [Chosen has reached the third sublevel first, granting reward¡­]


    ''¡­'' all the others peeked and saw the panel appear above the door, their eyes widening.


    ''Seems like that trial really wants us to kill each other, haha¡­'' if the first person to touch the door would be rewarded, then it meant people would fight to the death to reach it first.


    This time though, no one did anything, they all just stared at Stark as the panel closed, and the door began to slowly open, revealing the third sublevel.


    [Sublevel 3: The Dungeon of Fear]


    The room beyond the bronze door was vast and shrouded in darkness, save for a few flickering torches that lined the walls.


    ''Does every floor have a different atmosphere and aesthetic?'' Stark wondered as he stepped foot inside the floor. m vl _emp y,r the story tform


    [Once you enter a floor, you aren''t allowed to go back!]


    ''Of course¡­'' Stark didn''t even bother to look behind him, instead opting to check out his surroundings.


    He found himself in a dungeon-like environment, with damp stone walls and floors with patterns, and in the distance, he could hear cold metal chains rattling against the stone.


    It truly felt like they were in a prison dungeon: asional torches as sole source of light in the darkness, footsteps and weird noises in the distance, cells with sturdy silver bars, basically¡­ this floor was much more oppressing than the previous.


    [Introducing a new perk once everyone enters this floor :D]


    ''Not like I''m gonna sit around and wait for the others to find out,'' Stark gestured for his clone to follow him, and it nodded as they both turned around another corner while the others just entered the floor.


    ''¡­'' no more talking now, and each and every one of them headed toward a different path, making sure to split as to not allow anyone to try and betray someone else.


    They were all very cautious of their surroundings, so normal surprise attacks probably won''t work.


    ~PLOP, CLING~


    The ambient sound of water drops and of the chains was still present, but it didn''t bother Stark as he kept going deeper, his clone right behind, the smile on its face never going away.


    And after only five minutes¡­


    [Everyone has entered the third sublevel!]


    Seems like Akira and Leader easily found the exit thanks to their maps, and so the panel that would introduce the new ''killing'' perk soon appeared.


    [Introducing the "TOP 3" perk!]


    [If before the end of sublevel 2, only three people remain alive, then you willpletely skip sublevel 1 (the hardest and most deadly of them all) as well as the ones you are in, even if it is sublevel 3, immediately heading toward the warden!]


    ''Cheap tricks¡­'' Stark couldn''t help but let out a smallugh, basically, if right now only three people were alive, then they would immediately be sent to the warden, cutting short any danger they woulde across.


    This wouldpletely defy the point of this trial, as it is to prove that the domination users in question are worthy of owning their abilities.


    So why¡­?


    ''Maybe¡­ just maybe¡­ the warden is something that even three domination users cannot take down, sending those alive to their doom¡­'' he couldn''t know right now, but to be honest, all of this seemed so weird, and it was entirely possible that after each floor, the perk would be more and more tempting, to the point even Stark or even Officer would be forced to kill.


    "Spatial Inventory," Stark opened the void and took out two [Potion of Regeneration], three [Potion of Speed] and three [Potion of Strength], then he drank them all, getting him back to full HP and granting him and his clone a boost in speed and strength.


    ~PLOP, PLOP~


    There were skeletons of humans inside the dozens of medieval jail cells scattered across the hallways, yet he hadn''t encountered any monster yet.


    And then¡­


    ~DING!~


    [As the first to get the key AND open the door to the next floor, you have been granted one reward from the list without having to kill!]


    [Reminder that if you kill, you get your map back and two rewards instead of one, wink wink ;)]


    ''Doing anything to tempt me, heh~'' Stark ignored the second panel and instead focused on the first one.


    [Would you like to unlock your reward now?]


    [Y/N?]


    A colorful clickable button appeared below the question, and Stark didn''t hesitate to click on Y as there was no reason not to.


    Of course, under normal circumstances, the others would have to think about instantly using their rewards since they would need to hide them in case anybody would steal them or even figure out that they had murdered, but it was a different story for Stark since¡­ he has [Spatial Inventory]!


    [Nice! Now just spin the wheel!]


    ''Seems oddly familiar,'' this almost reminded Stark of the times he had to spin his ss wheel, but of course deep he knew this was different.


    A crimson wheel with horns on top of it and a very overwhelming aura appeared in front of the boy.


    There were 10 sections, except the one with the ''Killing Spree'' perk was chained, meaning it was impossible to get.


    [If you fall on ''Killing Spree'', you get nothing ?? (should have killed more people, its on you)]


    [Now just pull the tail to spin the wheel!]


    And as it said, a demon tail emerged from the front, inviting Stark to pull it, and he did so without a single ounce of hesitation.


    [Good luck!] and then all the panels disappeared.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    The wheel began to spin at intense speed, hovering over every perk avable.


    ''Not as much pressure as the sses, that''s for sure¡­'' yet he was surprisingly calm.


    And so after around thirty seconds¡­


    ~BIP, BIP¡­~ it slowed down, then suddenly stopped moving altogether, ~BEEEEPPPP~


    It had chosen the reward, and it was¡­


    [Reward: Revive Token!]

 Chapter 173: Double Revive is Possible?!

    [Reward: Revive Token!]


    ''¡­'' Stark observed the panel in front of him as the wheel stopped on his reward, ''Wait a damn minute¡­''


    [Revive Token: A token that will allow you to revive yourself once in the event of death, one time use.]


    ''But I also have [Chosen One], which can revive me once too¡­'' Stark''s face began to contort into a smile as scary as his clone''s.


    Because it meant¡­ that he could revive himself twice.


    People would fight to the death to be able to revive themselves just once, and pay astronomical amounts of money to get their hands on items that coulde even close to save their lives, and here Stark was, with the ability to revive himself twice¡­


    ''This is good¡­ this is VERY good¡­'' heughed out loud like a maniac, and thankfully there was nobody to hear him, or they would probably attack since he would seem crazy.


    But right at that moment¡­


    ~CLING CLING~


    He heard some noisesing out of some of the cells ahead of him, as well as in the hallway behind him: it was the sound of chains, and of small steps hitting the concrete stone.


    ~CRACK~


    A giant hand held the corner of the hall, and destroyed a part of the wall with its sheer strength.


    And so, the giant monster (even bigger than the sublevel 4 guards), appeared.


    [Name: Chain Cyclops]


    It had beige skin with a brown cloak over its genitals (oddly simr to the guards, heh), except it was way more muscr, didn''t have disgusting bumps all over its body, and on its face¡­ was just a single eye.


    There was no mouth, no nose, nothing, it was just a giant eye that looked down on Stark as the cyclops seemed to be at least fifteen meters in size.


    In the cyclops'' left hand was a giant silver chain, and he was spinning it around with scary momentum.


    ~THUMP, THUMP~


    His footsteps echoed everywhere as he slowly approached Stark.


    But this wasn''t all, since there were two other types of monsters: the first was some sort of green lizard with sharp teeth that made a weird sound as it walked on the ground, they were around two meters in size.


    [Name: Dungeon Lizard]


    And the other were giant bats, the size of a human torso, pping their dark wings, these bats didn''t have eyes, they only had a veryrge mouth on their bodies, one that could easily swallow a human head if they grabbed it with their sharp dark teeth.


    [Name: Blood Mouth Bat]


    So basically, behind Stark was a giant cyclops, while in front of him were two lizards and three bats.


    Yet, Stark''s giant smile never disappeared from his face, and his crimson aura surrounded him, giving him a crazy look that even his clone would envy.


    And so when he turned his gaze to the monster¡­


    "¡­!" they immediately looked distressed: the lizards took a few steps back while the bats pped their wings in the opposite direction, slowly getting away from Stark.


    powered by NovelFire|empyr


    [Dungeon of Fear] monsters are supposed to cause fear to the opponents because of their terrifying appearances, yet¡­ in front of this very human, THEY were the ones that feared for their lives.


    Stark then turned his head to the cyclops, staring it in the eye, and its sole eye also widened, a few drops of sweat appearing on its bald forehead.


    But this one didn''t back, instead it stood its ground, yet Stark didn''t to care much, after all¡­ even his clone would be enough to take care of these things.


    ~THUMP~


    Although it definitely looked like the cyclops was hesitating, it still took another step toward Stark.


    ''Perception,'' meanwhile, the boy decided to check out his opponents as they would probably be the mostmon monsters in the lot.


    ¡­


    [Name: Chain Cyclops (STRONG)]


    [Level: 105]


    [HP: 218000]


    [Strength: 5427]


    [Stamina: 1203]


    [Speed: 836]


    [Defense: 2382]


    [Skills: Cyclopsian Might, Chain Whip, The Final Blow, All-Seeing Eye, Stone Wall, Dungeon of Fear, Steel Smash, Eye Block]


    ¡­


    He wasn''t an ELITE, but he was at the category right below it: strong, plus it seemed like the level of monsters was now above 100.


    ¡­


    [Name: Dungeon Lizard]


    [Level: 103]


    [HP: 112000]


    [Strength: 2193]


    [Stamina: 3768]


    [Speed: 3231]


    [Defense: 1482]


    [Skills: Lizard w, Tail Whip, Dungeon of Fear, Lights Out, Enemy Detection, Attach Camouge¡­]


    ¡­


    This one was much weaker, and its HP were even lower than the guards even though it had a higher level, also most of its skills seemed useless inbat¡­ maybe there was a trap?


    ¡­


    [Name: Blood Mouth Bat]


    [Level: 102]


    [HP: 138500]


    [Strength: 2482 (to be able to behead)]


    [Stamina: 4928]


    [Speed: 2011]


    [Defense: 736]


    [Skills: Blood Absorb, Mouth Throw, Darkness Burst, Dungeon of Fear, Bat Swarm, Miniature Duplication, Behead (if it hits you, you''re dead), Fly¡­]


    ¡­


    The bats were also pretty average, except for the fact they cold behead you if their skill hit you, otherwise their defense was so low only one or two hits would be enough to send them away.


    All monsters had the [Dungeon of Fear] skill too though, maybe it was a passive?


    "=)" meanwhile, Stark''s clone just positioned itself in front of the lizards and bats, leaving Stark to take care of the cyclops.


    ''Sigh¡­'' he turned around, hoping his clone wouldn''t be dumb enough to fall into a trap, but¡­ to be honest, it was so twisted and evil that he couldn''t see it lose.


    Are all [Superior Clones] going to be like this? And if yes, then doesn''t that mean it is Stark''s very own aura that is the problem?


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," the clone, before even starting its fight with the other monsters, summoned three spears and sent them all at the cyclops'' eye.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    It was too slow to avoid it, and so all three spears hit its eye.


    "-37162! -40103! -38994!"


    "=)" it didn''t even look back to see what it did, and that surprised Stark.


    "¡­!!!!" the cyclops couldn''t scream since no mouth (duh), but it held its eyes with its two hands, and it looked to be in a lot of pain.


    ~OPEN~


    When it opened its eye back, there were giant blood tearsing from it, and three red spots on it where the spears hit.


    "I get it¡­" Stark sighed, but this was pretty damn obvious: the cyclops'' weakness was its eye, and the moment it was destroyed, the monster would be blind.


    It was kind of easy to figure out, but why the hell did the clone intervene before Stark could even begin to analyze his opponent?!


    ~DASH~


    "AURA SMASH!" Stark looked back, but his clone was already rushing at the rest of the monsters, activating his skills in the process.


    "I really need to figure out what that thing is thinking¡­" he decided not to think too much about it and faced the cyclops again, but this time it would be him against it.

 Chapter 174: The Chain Cyclops

    The cyclops, now almost blinded in its one eye, roared in anger as it swung its massive chain wildly in Stark''s direction.


    "CHAIN WHIP," almost like a snake, the chain perfectly targeted the human, as if it had a conscience of its own.


    Stark dodged with ease, his movements fluid and precise, his crimson aura burning brightly around him.


    "ALL-SEEING EYE!" but the cyclops, even though its eye was bleeding, opened it as much as possible, allowing it to follow Stark''s movements perfectly.


    And so¡­


    ~FWISH~


    "CHAIN WHIP," using the momentum, it turned its wrist, meaning that the chain came back to wrap itself around Stark.


    "Crimson Spears," but the boy just summoned three spears while the cyclops was distracted and sent them at the eyeball.


    ''¡­!'' the cyclops saw iting, and it feared for its eye so it immediately half-abandoned was it was doing.


    "STONE WALL!" it mmed its fist against the ground of the dungeon and a giant wall from the same material emerged from below, blocking all three spears.


    "¡­" Stark shrugged, but he decided to use this opportunity to do something as the cyclops couldn''t see him because of the giant wall, "Crimson Ball Transmission!"


    He didn''t use the skill much as he wasn''t used to it, only using it three times against other monsters on the fourth sublevel, but it basically worked like this¡­


    ~FWISH~


    A crimson ball the size of a tennis ball appeared in Stark''s right hand, emitting a powerful aura.


    [Throw the ball in the location you want to teleport at!]


    He closed one of his eyes and focused¡­


    Then¡­


    ~FWISH~


    He threw it very far, aiming for a spot right behind the cyclops.


    ~BIM~


    Stark''s uracy was terrible with this as he hadn''t trained, so although the ball did end up hitting the floor behind the cyclops, it was very far from where he had aimed at.


    As soon as it grazed the stone ground though¡­


    [Target set!]


    The ball didn''t move or bounce at all though, staying stationary on the spot where it hadnded, and a red circle formed around it, almost like a bullseye but with a weird pattern.


    [Snap your fingers when you want to teleport!]


    Now that his ''TP'' point was set, all Stark needed to do was snap his fingers and he would almost instantly be teleported.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    The giant stone wall fell apart after a few seconds, and the unsuspecting cyclops stared down at Stark, getting ready to attack again.


    "CHAIN WHIP!" the cyclops roared, ready to strike at Stark once more, but the boy was already prepared.


    ~FWISH~


    The giant silver chain was sent toward Stark, ready to destroy him, but¡­


    "DOMI-CHAIN!" Stark replied ordingly, also sending his very own crimson chain toward the cyclops''.


    The two chains shed in a dazzling disy of power, causing sparks to fly in every direction.


    The cyclops'' massive strength was evident as it pushed against Stark''s chain with all its might.


    But¡­ strength isn''t everything =), is it not?


    ~BAM~


    Stark''s chain was indeed sent away, but it had also stopped the cyclops'' one too, and to add to that¡­


    ~FWISH, VIM~


    It turned around by itself, and started wrapping around the cyclops'' chain like a snake.


    "¡­!" the cyclops couldn''t control its chain as much as before as it was slowly getting infected by the crimson aura of Stark''s


    ''Works on weapons¡­?'' Stark scratched his chin while squinting his eyes, it was interesting to know.


    The cyclops was visibly trying to tame its chain and get Stark''s out of the way, but it couldn''t no matter what, even going as far as holding the edge of its weapon with its two sturdy hands and pulling.


    ''AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!'' taking yet again advantage of that opportunity while the cyclops was busy getting rid of the chain; Stark began to concentrate his power on his right hand as he ran in the cyclops'' direction.


    ~SLAM~


    The cyclops finally decided to use its brain, if it even exists, to hit the chain and destroy it as it only had 10000 HP.


    "¡­!" then its giant pupil fell on Stark, noticing that the human was getting closer, so it immediately decided to attack again.


    Are monsters just brain-dead robots with the sole orders they were given being ''VIOLENCE''and ''KILL HUMANS''? Who knows, but they sure do look like it!


    "STEEL SMASH!" its free hand''s color began to change, going from beige to silver-like, and it was obvious: it literally turned to steel, like actually.


    ~FWISH~


    It aimed it down at the running Stark.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," the hand was extremely big, so Stark was forced to roll away thanks to his invincibility frames. Discover worlds on m _v _lempy _r.


    ~BOOOOM, CRASHHH~


    The sheer impact of the attack destroyed the area around the floor that had been hit, but it also resulted in the cyclops'' hand being stuck temporarily as it couldn''t get it out.


    "DUMBASS," Starkughed as he turned around and used the cyclops'' own hand and arm to head toward its head.


    "CYCLOPSIAN MIGHT!" the cyclops began to charge up its powers, the aura around it being more bright, and the pupil in its eye growing three times its normal size, then¡­ "CHAIN WHIP!"


    After taking control of its chain, it immediately sent it toward Stark while actively trying to get its steel hand out of the hole it had created.


    ~JUMP~


    Stark avoided the attack by jumping, but¡­


    "CHAIN WHIP, CHAIN WHIP, CHAIN WHIP!!!" thanks to the use of [Cyclopsian Might], the cyclops was able to continuously throw attacks at the human.


    ~FWISH, SLIDE, JUMP~


    Stark would avoid them all though, getting closer to the giant eye, and then, when his [Aura Smash] was fully powered up¡­


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!" he punched the air in the direction of the giant eye, sending a giant crimson fist as big as it was toward it.


    ~FWISH~


    The fist left a powerful crimson trail as it headed toward the cyclops, who could only watch in shock as the attack closed on it.


    ~BOOOOOOOM~


    It hit its eye straight on, right in the middle, with not a single possibility to deny the fact it was a critical hit.


    "-219382!" the damage was beyond the 200K mark, something Stark had never achieved before, but it was mostly because the weak point of the cyclops made its defense irrelevant.


    And so that meant¡­


    [Chain Cyclops HP: 0/218000], well to be honest the final attack would have been enough, but the clone had done some damage at the start with the spears.


    Its HP reaching 0, the cyclops stumbled, knowing that its end was close.


    But¡­ it wouldn''t go down like this.


    And so¡­


    [Death of the cyclops iing!]


    [Passive skill activated: The Final Blow!]


    It had a skill that could be used if it was about to die.


    ''WHAT?!'' Stark''s eyes widened as he saw the cyclops stand back up, its eye had popped because of the fist, but it could still sense where Stark was, and so it unleashed everything on him.


    Maybe it was a bad idea to sit there and do nothing, but Stark couldn''t deny that the sight of that monster still trying to eliminate the human after knowing that its death wasing regardless was¡­ kind of amazing?


    ''BRING IT ON,'' he smirked as he got ready to avoid it all (hopefully).

 Chapter 175: The Final Blow

    "THE FINAL BLOW!" the cyclops'' eye turnedpletely dark, and its skin also changed color, bing entirely red now that it was in its final state: the one right before it would die.


    ~FWISH~


    Its silver chain became sturdier and made out of pure ck obsidian, one simple swing resulting in the entirety of the walls around to be destroyed. |


    ¡­


    [Skill: The Final Blow]


    [Description: When its HP reach 0, this skill will automatically activate, granting the cyclops godly powers and a new form, but this will onlyst for one attack, afterward the cyclops will immediately pass out.]


    [Note: The attack can beparable to the one of a ''Cmity'' level monster, so you better run!]


    ¡­


    ''Oh well¡­ who cares when I have [Dodge Control]'' Stark smirked as he got ready to avoid it, the cyclops grabbing the edge of its darkened chain and getting to swing it with all its might.


    "DODGE CONTRO-" Stark immediately wanted to activate his skill.


    But¡­


    "EYE BLOCK!" the cyclops'' eye and its now crimson pupil glew even brighter, then a beam of light hit Stark directly, putting some sort of lock symbol on top of his head.


    "DODGE CONT-" and afterward, he couldn''t use his skill anymore, "DODGE CONTR-"


    "Huh¡­?" no matter how many times he tried to chant his skill, all that would appear before him was...


    [''Dodge Control'' has been temporarily blocked by ''Eye Block''!]


    ''This¡­'' Stark looked up to seeing that the cyclops was on the verge of striking with his chain, probably destroying the entire hallway with it as it was much more powerful than before.


    ''Is¡­'' Stark looked toward his clone, it had already eliminated all the other monsters, and was looking at Stark with a huge smile on its face.


    ''A joke¡­'' It seems like Stark''s clone could still use [Dodge Control] as it wasn''t affected by the skill.


    "Right¡­?" Stark turned his head toward the cyclops again, and it was already beginning to swing down at intense speed.


    ~FWISH, VIOUM~


    "TIME VISION," Stark instinctively activated the new perk of the [Focus] skill when the chain was right above his head, threatening to destroy him if it ever as much as grazed him.


    [3 seconds of slow left!]


    Of course, using [Time Vision] didn''tpletely stop time, it just slowed it down to around 0.25 of the actual time, which meant that he could still actively observe the chain slowly go down toward him.


    But he just decided to use these three seconds to think¡­


    [Dodge Control] was out of the question, although his clone was currently using it, probably since it could only lock a skill from ONE entity.


    [Invincible Dodge] wasn''t an option either since dodging would do nothing as the area effect would surely kill him, meaning that trying to dodge normally or with [Judicator''s Wings] wouldn''t do anything.


    He had already used [The Purgatory Shadow] and none of his other equipments would help.


    ''Think¡­''


    [1 second of ''Time Vision'' left!]


    ''¡­!'' suddenly, Stark''s eyes widened as he finally saw it, and he almost wanted to hit his forehead for being so dumb, ''I know how to escape now!''


    [''Time Vision'' stopped, time is resuming]


    ~BOOM~


    The cyclops'' chain hit the exact spot Stark was in, and the entire hallway aheadpletely shattered by the sheer impact: the walls were destroyed, the floor copsed, revealing the fourth sublevel under it, and everything was shaking, safe to say even those very far from Stark could sense it.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark''s clone on the other hand was able to easily dodge all the attack thanks to [Dodge Control], avoiding not only the chain, but also the destruction and debris.


    And as for the original¡­


    ''¡­?'' he opened his eyes, and found himself right behind the cyclops, unaffected by the attack as the damage wasn''t that big from behind.


    And as to how he did it¡­ well it was obvious.


    ¡­


    ''I KNOW HOW NOW,'' he peeked from behind the cyclops and noticed that the [Crimson Ball Transmission] TP point was still there, perfectly ced.


    And so he just snapped his finger.


    ~SNAP, FWISH~


    His body almost instantly disappeared, leaving a crimson smoke of his exact figure, and after a fraction of a second, he found himself at the spot the ball had hit after emerging from a massive crimson sh, resembling a portal.


    [Teleportation sessful]


    The ball and circle symbol disappeared, but it had already saved Stark and done its job.


    ~BOOM~


    That''s when the chain hit, and all Stark did afterward was brace himself for impact, and he received 0 damage in the process.


    And so after ending its attack, the cyclops turned back to its normal color, losing all of its power and aura, then falling to the ground with arge thud.


    ''¡­'' Stark rolled his eyes, this had been way too much for a ''STRONG'' level monster, he wished his clone actually helped too if it had eliminated the monsters already, but oh well.


    ¡­


    [You have in ''Chain Cyclops lv105'', gained 572621 EXP!]


    [You have in ''Dungeon Lizard lvl103'', gained 154039 EXP!]


    [You have in ''Dungeon Lizard lvl103'', gained 152304 EXP!]


    [You have in ''Blood Mouth Bat lvl102'', gained 145928 EXP!]


    [You have in ''Blood Mouth Bat lvl102'', gained 143212 EXP!]


    [You have in ''Blood Mouth Bat lvl102'', gained 144955 EXP!]


    ¡­


    [+1,313,059 EXP!]


    And so¡­


    [Your level has increased to level 49, granting you two skill points and boost in stats]


    [Experience: 612340/1195000]


    ''I guess that''s done¡­'' Stark sighed.


    "=)" meanwhile, his clone immediately jumped over the giant hole that had formed, then made its way walking on the corpse of the cyclops before reaching Stark.


    To be honest, he wasn''t even that interested to know how it killed the rest of the monsters, because if it could do the job, and he got EXP from it, he had nothing toin about.


    ''Well, I doubt I''m going to be able to find the key twice in a row, plus I would need to watch out more than before if I want to open the door¡­'' Stark scratched his chin while thinking, he would indeed keep going to increase his level, but his chances of finding the key were slim now, this level was much darker and harder to navigate the fourth sublevel.


    Well¡­ except if [Chosen One] suddenly decided to activate again that is, but that was unlikely¡­


    "=)" the [Superior Clone] had gained a will of its own, but it couldn''t refute the words of the original, so it just waited around, analyzing their surroundings in case any more monsters showed up.


    ''Well, let''s keep going,'' Stark nodded and jumped over the giant hole using the cyclops body, going back would only result in meeting someone else = fighting to the death and taking unneeded risks after all.


    Of course, if someone attacked, he wouldn''t even hesitate for a single second to counter with everything he had, but it was rather peaceful on his side, so he didn''t mind.


    But of course¡­ ''peace'' wasn''t something that everyone could get, because as soon as Stark took one step toward the next hall¡­


    [A participant has been in by another yer!]


    [Oh~ I''m loving it when the killing starts to be more interesting :)!]


    ''¡­'' these two panels appeared before Stark, and he couldn''t help but sigh.

 Chapter 176: Officer VS Leader

    (Far from Stark, still on the third sublevel)


    ~PEW, SHOOT~


    Officer was currently busy shooting monsters with his guns, each bullet dealing up to 50000 damage, meaning that he could easily take down a swarm of them without any issues.


    His guns adapted to his surroundings and feelings. see NovelFire,em,pyr for more


    At first, he could only summon pistols, but after reaching level 30, he gained the ability to transform them into Uzis, dealing less damage but giving him more speed and a faster shooting rate, also his ''bullets'' are made out of aura, so as long as you give him time, he can shoot infinitely.


    It was a rather unique ability, and it was obvious that the stronger he got, he would be able to upgrade his guns into shotguns, snipers, and maybe even rocketunchers.


    "Phew~ that''s done for," he wiped his forehead after taking care of five [Dungeon Lizards] and three [Blood Mouth Bats], each dying after around 4/5 shots.


    In terms of strength, he was obviously weaker than Stark, but when it came to taking down enemies precisely and fast, he was way better than the other boy, who could only use his fists.


    "¡­" even when fighting against a [Chain Cyclops], he did struggle slightly more than Stark because of its high defense, but once he figured out that its eye was its weakness, he shot a dozen bullets at it and it died.


    "THE FINAL BLOW!" of course, the cyclops used its final attack, but¡­


    "FULL PRECISE MOVEMENT," he used one of his legendary skills, and a trail of aura behind as he parkoured right behind the cyclops, shooting its neck a few more times to make sure it died.


    ~BOOM~


    ''¡­'' Officer shrugged as he was surrounded by the golden aura and then the level up prompt appeared before him.


    [Officer: Level 57]


    Stark was obviously not the only one able to level up, so of course all the others had also gained some levels sinceing here, although it was also pretty obvious Stark was the most motivated out of them all.


    ''Need to watch out for all those criminals¡­'' he mumbled as he clearly remembered the text above Yuri and Akira.


    Officer had the [Police Judgment] skill, which helped him identify good and bad people, something he had acquired solely thanks to his high sense of justice, and all he wanted was to put all criminals behind bars.


    A golden scale would appear above their heads, and if it went to the right, surrounded by a crimson evil aura, then it meant the person was a criminal, if the scale went to the left and surrounded by a green aura, then it meant the person hadn''t done anything yet.


    He used it in this trial to identify all the criminals he would need to take care ofter, and for now, that list was: Yuri as he killed Lolia, and Akira since¡­ well¡­ it''s obvious.


    As for Stark¡­ the scale stayedpletely neutral, it didn''t show whether he was good or bad, but that worried Officer even more since he had never seen something like that before.


    Plus, when he saw the other crimson Stark, the scale went crazy and dozens of panels appeared around him, stating that it was not just evil, but¡­ [Pure Evil], which was why he panicked and immediately pulled out his guns.


    It was also something he had never seen before, even Akira and Yuri had been given the [Evil] title, so why the hell was that thing [Pure Evil]? He didn''t know, but surely it would be bad¡­


    ''¡­'' Officer was already pissed because of this trial: it made him seem like a criminal since he was technically a prisoner of the Lucullus prison, but he was probably the most righteous out of all these people.


    But of course¡­ being a hero of justice or righteous doesn''t mean anything in the [Domination Trial].


    And so when he took a few steps after assigning his skill points¡­


    ~FWISH, VIOUM~


    He sensed something behind him, and when he turned back¡­ he saw a giant green snake rushing in his direction, its mouth big enough to swallow him whole.


    The snake was floating in the air, and its body waspletely made out of green aura except for its eyes and teeth that were white¡­


    ''A human created this,'' Officer immediately sensed something was wrong and avoided the attack by ducking under it, resulting in the giant snake to explode against the wall behind him.


    "REVEAL YOURSELF¡­ LEADER!" he instinctively also knew the culprit.


    "¡­" and as expected, Leader, the sect leader looking guy with his long ck hair and green robe that hid his feet swaying lightly, that robe of his had a giant snake drawing behind it resembling the one he had sent.


    "Should have known instantly," Officer didn''t hesitate to pull out his guns and point them at Leader.


    "¡­" but the other party didn''t even speak, instead he just sighed, "I truly wanted to send you away with the less amount of pain possible, but¡­ it seems like you have chosen the hard way."


    Leader raised both hands, and the air around him started to ripple. The snake reformed on the ground and began to grow, elongating its body and increasing in size until it was asrge as a whale, it slithered gracefully across the ground, ready to strike.


    As guessed, Leader didn''t have any kind of weapon, instead he used summon-rted abilities, and his only summon was the ''snake'', which is why his cult worships these very same snakes he creates.


    "GUN DISPLAY!" Leader summoned four pistols behind him, they were floating in the air and all of them had a blueish aura, aimed at Leader, "SHOOT!"


    ~PIOU, PEW, SHOOT~


    All six guns shot dozens upon dozens of bullets toward Leader, whose expression didn''t even budge.


    "Snake Shield¡­" he calmly mumbled as he lifted his arms up, summoning another serpent that formed a circle around Leader, creating a transparent barrier that none of the bullets could break through.


    And then¡­


    "Serpent Restrain¡­" he raised one of his feet, then swung it upward.


    ~FWISH, BIM~


    And two very small snakes came out of the ground beside Officer, then began to slowly bind the guy by restraining his legs.


    "¡­SHIT!" Officer stopped shooting his bullets as he aimed them at the snakes, this was very bad news for him.


    But this was already over¡­


    "Snake Fury¡­" Leader pointed at his opponent, and the giant snake that had been resting suddenly got up,unching itself toward Officer, who couldn''t move because of the small snakes restraining him below.


    "¡­" he turned his head in the direction of the giant snake and saw its mouth opened, ready to swallow him: it was a terrifying sight as the aura of the snake was everywhere, and it was almost as big as the hallway, its white eyes leaving a small trail behind.


    No matter how many bullets he shot at it, it wouldn''t disappear.


    And so what had to happen happened.


    ~FWISH, NOM~


    Officer waspletely annihted by the snake, and when the giant mouth closed on him, he received enormous damage (even with the domination aura blocking most of it)


    "-67382!"


    "Cri¡­mi¡­nal¡­" Officer slowly pointed at Leader before falling, his body destroyed from the aura and teeth of the summon.


    And so, Officer obviously died.


    [A participant has been in by another yer!]


    [6 participants remain!]


    "¡­" Leader''s face stayed neutral through all of this, and he just snapped his fingers to make all his summons disappear, leaving only the destroyed body of Officer on the ground.


    He had gotten his reward after all¡­ who would be his next target?

 Chapter 177: Leaders Next Target

    Only ten minutes after the announcement of another person dying, while Stark was busy fighting off two [Dungeon Lizards] under the watchful gaze of his clone¡­


    A new message appeared.


    [The sublevel 2 Floor has been opened! Head to the exit to be able to climb to the next level!]


    ''Oh¡­?'' was it because of the rewards they had gotten, or maybe it was just that someone got lucky and somehow found the key extremely fast, it hadn''t even been more than 30 minutes since they entered this level after all¡­


    The sound of the announcement echoed through the dimly lit dungeon halls for everyone to hear.


    The fact it was done so quickly probably meant the person that had opened it was the only one up here now, the rest of the people still busy fighting monsters.


    And as expected, after only two minutes since the first announcement¡­


    [Akira has reached the second sublevel first, granting reward¡­]


    ''Maybe he got the [Key Location Map], he did get two rewards after all¡­'' Stark thought as he sent a crimson fist toward thest [Dungeon Lizard].


    ~BOOM~


    "-66381!" and so it fell dead on the ground.


    [You have in ''Dungeon Lizard lvl103'', gained 153559 EXP!]


    [You have in ''Dungeon Lizard lvl103'', gained 154122 EXP!]


    ''Only one or two monsters¡­'' Stark couldn''t contain his excitement: he was level 49, so close to being level 50 and finally being able to unlock his new ss, as well as many other features, much like when he reached level 25.


    It was kind of anticlimactic to get to level 50 just like that in opposition to having to fight a ''Godless Demon'' apostle likest time for his first milestone, but who cares?


    ''Now I need to figure out the way to the exit¡­'' he didn''t have a map, and he had gone pretty far inside the [Dungeon of Fear], so finding his way back wouldn''t be possible easily¡­


    [Only two people remain in the third sublevel!]


    Plus, it seemed like that most people had already rushed to the second sublevel using their maps after checking the announcement.


    But this also meant that¡­ someone else was still there¡­?


    To be honest, Stark already had an idea of who had died and who did it (his clone also confirmed it): Kokoro, Yuri, and Akira wouldn''t be possible since they were cautious, plus thetter had opened the second door.


    And the white haireddy looked too strong to be taken out like this, which meant the only people remaining were Officer and Leader, and he had a deep feeling that the former was killed by thetter.


    ''Need to watch out for the sect leader I guess¡­ always had a bad feeling about him,'' it was all spection of course, but it was pretty spot-on.


    It didn''t matter much though, he would be alone on this floor for a while and would have all the opportunities in the world to get to level 50, then he would be much stronger¡­!


    Even if it wasn''t a big fight that got him to this huge milestone, it didn''t really matter to him.


    [WARNING! If you enter the second sublevel, then the limited offer of getting your map back and TWO rewards will be cancelled, think wisely!]


    ''Well¡­ not like I''m going to meet anybody as most of them are up, and thest guy must be currently heading to the exit too¡­'' it was sad such a reward would be left out, but he surely wouldn''t be able to take this offer currently.


    Or at least¡­ that is what he believed.


    ''I guess there''s Yuri, Akira and Leader on the dangerous list now, although I think the first two are much more dangerous by their auras alone-'' Stark mumbled while walking.


    But¡­


    ~FWISH, CROWKA~


    He sensed somethinging from behind, and when he and his clone turned around, they saw a giant green snakeing at them.


    "=)" the clone didn''t even budge, keeping its massive smile on its face as it crouched down to avoid the massive snake, and Stark did the same.


    ''Must be one of the participants,'' he immediately thought, ''I remember one of them having a snake at the back of his robe¡­''


    And as expected, it was at this moment that Leader revealed himself, the same expression on his face, almost as if he expected Stark to do that.


    But he did: the exact same thing happened with Officer, and it wouldn''t change with Stark, who was much weaker.


    "Heh~ a sect leader trying to kill someone, should have known, did you do that to Officer?" Stark smiled as widely as his clone, they basically looked like twins.


    "¡­!" Leader for the first time did look slightly surprised, he didn''t know how Stark knew, but it was weird.


    Plus¡­ what was that thing behind him?


    Leader wasn''t present when Stark exined about his clone, so to him, this was just¡­ an anomaly, and a scary one at that.


    Even he could see it: that thing was twisted and evil, maybe even more so than he himself was as a sect leader.


    Leader''s sect was called "Snake Symphony", and they all worshiped the snakes that he created, making him somewhat of a god to his followers, who ranged in the thousands.


    "I hope you don''t regret that decision of yourster," Stark and his clone positioned themselves forbat, with absolutely zero hesitation to kill the guy.


    And for some reason¡­ Leader actually hesitated.


    He had beenpletely confident in himself when against Officer, easily taking him down using the usual method he did when killing people weaker than he was, but this time¡­ he felt like it wouldn''t work.


    Maybe it was those evil smiles that he hesitated, or maybe this aura¡­?


    ''¡­'' Leader breathed in before summoning the giant snake as big as a whale in front of him again, ''It''s going to work.''


    His n had never failed, why would it not seed against a kid so weak, he was thest to reach level 50 andst to leave this floor after all, right¡­?


    "I guess that''s your decision, then let''s start this battle," Stark shrugged.


    "=)" the [Superior Clone] looked excited.


    [FIGHT!]


    ''Heh~ guess I shouldn''t have talked too soon¡­'' Stark mumbled to himself, after all he had said that this rise to level 50 would be anticlimactic, yet here he was, facing off against the possible strongest enemy he had fought against until now, even stronger than [Judicator], [Sierra], [The Corrupter Ghoul] and [Soyer]¡­


    "SHOW ME WHAT YOU''VE GOT, SECT LEADER," he smiled as he activated his aura as well.

 Chapter 178: The Unavoidable Combo (Or is it?)

    While all the others had already ascended to the second sublevel of the Lucullus prison, Stark and Leader were now facing one another, with the clear intent to fight and kill the other party.


    It had been Leader that attempted to ambush Stark, but now that he was forced to fight, he wouldn''t hesitate to take this opportunity to climb to level 50 but also to ept the offer he had been given.


    "¡­" Leader''s expression remained neutral as he saw Stark activate his aura, the clone behind him still smiling widely.


    Frankly, Leader hated that clone more than any of the other participants, and he didn''t know why, something just felt off about it: its eyes, its mouth, and its entire figure, it felt like it could kill him whenever it wanted, but just chose not to for fun.


    But of course, he would never show his expression faltering, it was something he learned as a sect leader: always being shown as all powerful with no ws.


    "GET READY, SECT LEADER!" Stark shouted with a smile as he stood his ground.


    ~FWISH~


    Leader on the other hand already had the giant green aura lying in front of him, but he also decided to summon dozens of others that ranged from small to middle-sized, each of them surrounding his body: shoulders, neck, one was on top of his, others around his torso and legs.


    "Am I supposed to be impressed," Stark rolled his eyes while activating [Perception], if he so wanted to waste time, then Stark would use it wisely to check out his opponent.


    ¡­


    [Name: Leader]


    [Level: 61]


    [ss: Domination]


    [HP: 34000]


    [Strength: 2938]


    [Speed: 5372]


    [Stamina: 4314]


    [Defense: 5409]


    [Skills: Domination, Snake Summoning, Venomous Touch, Ultimate Fusion (MYTHICAL), Serpentine Charge, Reptile Swarm, Serpent Restrain, The Symphony of Snakes, Snaky the Giant Snake, Giant Bite, Attack Frenzy, Snake Shield, Better Summons (PASSIVE)¡­]


    ¡­


    ''Hm¡­'' his HP were very low, but it was expected as the [Domination] does seem to leave out HP to prioritize skills and stats, meaning that even a hit from Stark would probably only do around 8000 points of damage as the [Domination] aura would block most of it.


    As for his general stats, they were insanely good, way better than Stark''s and even better than the level 100 people he had fought at the ''ssiTop Event''¡­


    And of course, he had the [Domination] skill as well as twelve others since he was level 61, meaning that he got one skill every 5 level, much like Stark.


    "Reptile Swarm!" was the skill he had used to summon all these snakes around him, and he could send them all to Stark any time.


    Meanwhile, the giant (and strongest) snake out of them all that was lying in front of Leader, its eyes never leaving Stark, and its tongue hissing, was from the [Snaky the Snake] skill, and yes, it sounded ridiculous, but that skill is extremely powerful.


    "AURA SMASH!" not wanting to do nothing, the [Superior Clone] immediately sent two crimson fists at Leader.


    "Snake Shield," but he just used this skill to summon a serpent that circle in front of Leader and formed a giant barrier.


    ~BOOM, BOOM~


    The crimson fists did nothing to the transparent barrier.


    "=)" but the [Superior Clone] didn''t seem affected.


    ''Alright¡­ it''s time,'' Leader had used this method dozens if not HUNDREDS of times against monsters and humans alike: letting them attack first, blocking their attack, and while they are busy anticipating whates next, he would bind their feet to the ground using another one of his skills then send [Snaky] to deal the final blow.


    This was an attack that hadn''t failed ONCE, and he would make sure today wasn''t the first either, it couldn''t be: he was stronger than Stark, and he looked so weak¡­


    ''Come on¡­'' his expression was neutral on the outside, but deep inside, he was trembling slightly, it was the first time it happened, and he didn''t know why, ''ALRIGHT, LETS GO!''


    "SERPENT RESTRAIN¡­!" just likest time, he raised one of his feet then swung it upward in Stark''s direction.


    ~FWISH, QUWIK~


    Two snakes came out of the ground below and attached themselves to his legs, making him unable to escape.


    "SERPENT RESTRAIN¡­!" but he used it twice, this time in the clone''s direction to restrain it as well since it could ruin his ns.


    "=)" the [Superior Clone] looked down at the small snakes restraining its legs, then back at the original, who looked indifferent to the attack as well.


    Not only did he have [Invincible Dodge], but he also had [Dodge Control] avable in case anything happened.


    "COME ON¡­" Leader whispered while focusing his entire aura on the snake in front of him, making it get up then sending it at intense speed toward Stark and his clone, it was taking the entire hallway, so normally, avoiding it should be impossible, "IT''S MY WIN¡­"


    ~FWISH, GROOWWW~


    The giant green snake opened its mouth, big enough to swallow both Stark and his clone in one go, yet none of them looked afraid of that thing.


    "¡­" Stark looked at his clone then made a quick gesture with his head, asking it to do ''that''.


    He didn''t even n to waste his [Dodge Control] or [Invincible Dodge] on such a WEAKbo of attacks.


    And so¡­


    "DOMI-CHAIN," the [Superior Clone] summoned the crimson chain and sent it toward the giant aura snake, closing its mouth and slowly wrapping itself around it.


    "¡­!" Leader for the first time in months if not years showed signs of legitimate surprise, "KEEP GOING¡­!" he wanted to shout to his snake.


    But¡­


    ~FWISH, STOP~


    The chain wrapped itself around the snake''s mouth, face, and body; making it abruptly stop right before reaching Stark as the chain was absorbing its energy, making it fall to the ground, unable to keep going.


    ~FWISH, KICK~


    Right afterward, Stark and his clone got rid of the small snakes attached to their legs by punching or kicking them.


    "MOVE¡­" Leader ordered [Snaky The Snake] to keep going, but¡­


    [Snaky is unable to move since he is bound, try againter!]


    "Well, I''ll just summon his back to the space and use himter then¡­" Leader lifted both his arms with the intent to bring Snaky back to himself, but yet again¡­


    [Snaky is restrained by the ''Domi-Chains'', making him unable toe back until the chains are off him!]


    "¡­" Leader was astonished: his most powerfulbo had been stopped by a mere chain while his opponents were restrained, and they didn''t even seem to care about that, taking it as some sort of weak attack.


    [Snaky the Snake] was Leader''s second most powerful skill, yet it was now tamed by Chosen, making him unable to control it as long as it was bound.


    ''¡­'' Leader breathed in and out again, focusing his aura and attention on what he should be doing next, ''It doesn''t matter, I''m still stronger¡­''


    He got ready to keep going while using his other skills, after all it wasn''t because his most powerfulbo had failed that it was the end of the world, it was bound to happen at some point against someone who had the convenient skills to stop it.


    But¡­ even when he thought of all of this¡­ the faces of Stark and his clone at that moment, their massive smiles as they saw his surprised look, sent shivers down his spine.

 Chapter 179: Fists vs Snake Summons

    Now that his second powerful skill [Snaky the Snake] was tamed by the crimson chain, Leader could only watch as the other two removed the small snakes that were restraining them and then looked back at him.


    His n has miserably failed simply because Chosen had the PERFECT skills to counter this attack, was it finally karmaing back at him for everything that he did in the real world? Or maybe it was something...?


    Maybe... Stark was smarter? No, this couldn''t be, he was in control of thousands of people, and they would do anything by a simple request, a child like him cannot be smarter...


    ''These smiles...'' he silently gritted his teeth internally, ''You dare show such an expression in front of an all-powerful being...'' Leader truly believed he was some sort of god because of the constant cheers and praises from his followers.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," Stark and his clone summoned six spears and threw them all toward the enemy.


    "SNAKE SHIELD!" but it seemed like that skill of his had no limitations, as the snake just circled him again and created the transparent barrier that deflected all the spears.


    "=)" Stark looked at his clone, and it just lightly pointed its head at Leader.


    "..." Stark thought about the implications of the clone''s suggestion, but it was too risky, especially when Leader was almost as fast if not faster than them, plus he had the [Venomous Touch] skill, which surrounded his entire body with poison that could deal damage over time if they even as much as grazed him.


    This could be deadly to his clone as it only had around 500 HP left...


    But there was a solution to that very same problem he was facing, and although it was risky, he did think that it was for the best.


    "HP Transfer..." he sighed as he pointed at himself, a green trail of aura appearing at the tip of his index finger, then he pointed at his clone, "Send."


    ~FWISH~


    The trail of aura shot at the clone, and it hit it straight on as it didn''t avoid it, after all why would it when it was the original that did that?


    [+10000 HP to Superior Clone]


    He had given around half his life to the clone, but it was needed if they wanted to battle someone who constantly fought with hundreds of small snakes that could poison you.


    [Stark HP: 12300/22300]


    "VENOMOUS TOUCH," sensing the increase in their auras, Leader immediately activated one of his passive skills, which made it so that his body is poison itself: if Stark or his clone punched him, then they would receive the [Poison] status for a minute.


    And then, without wasting time...


    "SERPENTINE CHARGE!" he yet again used the skill he had used first to ambush both Officer and Stark.


    He pointed his arm at Stark with his palm facing them, then a giant magic circle appeared around a huge chunk of the hallway.


    ~FWISH, FWIIISHH.... VIOUM~


    And as expected, a giant green snake came out of the magic circle, vertically rushing at the two enemies with its mouth open.


    "SNAKE RESTRAIN," plus, he yet again attempted to restrain the two Stark with his skill, summoning two small snakes that were ready to bind their legs again.


    ''A sect leader that doesn''t even think...?'' Stark was confused, there was no way he truly believed that this would work, right?


    I mean, he did watch the fight Stark had against Soyer, so he should have at least been able to identify some of his skills...?


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," both Stark and the [Superior Clone] activated their skill to roll away, fazing through the small snakes and also the giant one, dealing 0 damage as it exploded against the wall behind them.


    "...?" Leader was surprised: his attack had surely hit them, but it literally just went through them like it was air, "...!" that''s when he remembered something like this did happen with Stark before, but he was so focused on sending everything at them that he didn''t realize it.


    Leader was losing his patience, and Stark''s arsenal seemed to be highly focused on countering/blocking/dodging for some reason, which was his PERFECT counter...


    "AURA SMASH," Stark and his clone sent four crimson fists at Leader, who immediately activated [Snake Shield].


    But this time...


    ~BOOM, CRACK~


    A very small crack formed at the corner of the shield, almost invisible to most, but Leader knew this was bad: his shield wasn''t invincible, it just had 500,000 HP, if these went down, it would be destroyed and would take 12 hours to reconstruct it.


    And right now...


    [Snake Shield HP: 312821/500000]


    It was almost half destroyed by the spears and crimson fists the two Stark were constantly sending.


    ''You little...'' Leader began to grit his teeth, losing his temper as everything he sent would be countered by those two fuckers.


    But he couldn''t give up yet¡­


    "REPTILE SWARM," he opened his arms widely, and dozens upon dozens of snakes began to materialize around him: some were in the front, others behind, some on his body and the rest even on the walls and ceiling, but they were all looking at Stark, their eyes glowing with red aura as they got ready to all attack at once.


    Getting rid of so many enemies would seem hard, and if they were bitten by a dozen of them, they would be paralyzed and killed.


    So what could they possibly do...?


    ...


    [Skill: Reptile Swarm]


    [Description:] Summons 300 snakes (increases with skill level) that all attack the enemy at once, each of them only have one hp, but it is hard to get rid of them all.


    [w:] ''They all attack at ONCE''.


    ...


    "=)" Stark''s clone didn''t have to read the w that it already figured out how to win this battle.


    "...!" but Stark also figured it out as well, and so he just looked at his clone, asking it to do it instead of him.


    "Go, my minions...!" Leader pointed at the Stark, and all 300 snakes rushed at them with the full intent to eat them both alive.


    But...


    ~FWISH~


    The [Superior Clone] drew a big circle on its palm, then pointed at the ceiling right in front of them, absolutely confident its n would work.


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH," the crimson glow appeared in the sky to announce the fact the beam was powering up.


    Stark and his clone had perfectly calcted the moment the beam would erupt, so they just stood there, looking at Leader with big smiles on their faces.


    ''Why aren''t they moving...'' for the first time, Leader sweat a bit, ''Anyone who saw my reptiles would usually try to run or fight them off, but I would always kill them while they were distracted... WHY AREN''T THEY RUNNING?!''


    "=)"


    "=)"


    And when the small snakes were about to reach them, the entirety of them concentrated in one simple area as they had all been ordered to reach for the boys¡­


    ~FWISH¡­ BOOOOOOM~


    The giant crimson beam descended upon all of them at once.


    "SsSSsss¡­"


    "Sss-"


    "¡­"


    Each and every single one of the snakes was INSTANTLY vaporized by the attack.


    And so, while the giant crimson beam was still descending, hiding Stark and his clone from the unsuspecting Leader, he suddenly had a bright idea.


    "It''s our time to attack now, we''ve been on the defensive for long enough," he smiled, and the clone nodded.


    He immediately put his n into action.


    "CRIMSON BALL TRANSMISSION!"

 Chapter 180: The Ultimate Fusion

    Stark had been attacked by Leader around four times, while all he and his clone did was dodging all the attacks he sent at them, since they REALLY wanted him to despair.


    Since the moment they saw him and his calm expression, they instantly knew that guy thought himself superior to all of them since he probably had power and influence in the outside world.


    But Leader had forgotten just one simple thing: the outside world doesn''t matter during the ''Domination Trial'', you can be the king of a country, a president, a CEO, but you would still get killed if you didn''t fight with all your might.


    Plus, they knew from that simplebo with [Snake Restrain] and [Snaky the Snake], as well as his expression after they avoided it that this was probably what he did against all his other opponents, yet it somehow didn''t work against Stark and his clone since¡­ well¡­ they weren''t dumb?


    And after four attacks, it was apparent that Leader was slightly panicking, although he kept his neutral expression on the outside, his aura was more shaky and less confident than before.


    ~BOOM~


    The crimson beam that eliminated all 300 snakes was still there, separating Stark and Leader, while also keeping them hidden as it was impossible to see through the beam.


    And so¡­ Stark decided to take advantage of this opportunity to finally attack and end this battle.


    "CRIMSON BALL TRANSMISSION!" he summoned the crimson ball in his hand, then immediately threw it.


    The ball couldn''t be damaged while it was in the air, so it passed right through the beam, and thanks to [Focus], Stark had perfectly been able to aim for where he wanted to: right behind Leader.


    The ball lobbed above the sect leader, who was too focused using [Snake Summoning] to create new snake allies, so he didn''t even notice it flying above him, then swiftly falling.


    "Stay back here," Stark smiled at his clone, and it nodded.


    And then¡­ before the ball even reached the ground, while it was still falling, now around Leader''s waist¡­


    Stark snapped his fingers.


    ~SNAP, FWISH~


    Stark''s body disappeared from its original spot and a trail of crimson aura went a lightning speed toward the spot the ball was currently in, resulting in Stark teleporting right behind Leader.


    The transmission was almost instantaneous and made no noise, so there was no way for Leader to know¡­


    And he didn''t, at least¡­ not until it was toote.


    "DOMI-CHAIN!" Stark could have obviously dealt a good amount of damage by immediately attacking, but it would be dumb as he could definitely guarantee his victory if he just yed it safe.


    ~SCWING, BIND~


    The crimson chain headed toward Leader, who immediately sensed that something was wrong and turned around.


    But¡­


    ~FWISH~


    All he saw the Stark''s fist in front of his face, and he could do nothing to block this attack as [Snake Shield] couldn''t be activated this fast from this close¡­


    "URGHHH!" Leader subconsciously tried to block the fist with his own, but the force was too strong. The blow sent him flying backward, mming into the ground and almost entering the area of [Heaven''s Wrath].


    "-9382!" when [Domination] aura shed against [Domination] user, then the amount of damage would be massively reduced, which was why [Domination] were always some of the greatest to ever ur.


    "SNAKE SUMMONING!" Leader summoned two snakes in his hands and used their teeth to stop himself from entering the giant beam, and he actually seeded at thest second, his legs on the verge of being vaporized.


    But of course¡­ the fact Stark hit Leader could only mean one thing¡­


    [You have received the ''Poisoned'' effect for one minute (100 damage per second)]


    The [Poison] effect would obviously do 6000 damage; and thankfully enough he had more than enough HP to survive this, but it was still very annoying.


    ''¡­'' Leader tried to take a step forward to stop Stark but¡­ ''Huh?''


    He hadn''t noticed the chain since had deliberately punched him at that exact moment to divert his attention, meaning that the chain was already up to his knees, and carefully rolling around him.


    ''I can''t move, shit¡­'' Leader immediately used [Giant Bite] and summoned two semi-sized snakes roughly the size of his legs, then ordered them to bite off the chains.


    But¡­ when he thought he was free since the chains dide out once the snake bit them¡­ something else appeared behind him, someone much more powerful than anything he had ever felt before.


    The beam had already disappeared by this point, and Stark''s clone didn''t remain idle, after all they had a n since the moment Stark teleported, and it was going perfectly.


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE," Stark''s clone immediately began to charge up the attack once Stark went away, taking a long time to gather all its aura inside the giant fist, making it more powerful than before.


    And once the beam disappeared and [Superior Clone] noticed Leader was struggling to remove the chains¡­ he shot the giant fist, roughly 1,5x times the size of Leader, toward him.


    "SNAKE SHIE-" Leader turned around and immediately summoned his shield again, but¡­ it was too slow.


    ~FWISH, BOOM~


    "-14281!" the damage was incredible for something against a [Domination] user, and it meant that Leader was now at his final 6000 points of health.


    "Gurh~" Leader stumbled slightly, the attack making him feel intense pain, and blood pouring out from his eyes and mouth.


    He genuinely couldn''t understand how he was losing against such a weak kid.


    "HOW¡­ HOW¡­ HOOOOOOW~" he suddenly shouted out of nowhere,pletely leaving his normal andposed self behind, his face full of fury.


    He was surrounded by a huge amount of green aura, and in addition to that¡­


    ~FWISH~


    His hair, normally long and ck, suddenly began to turnpletely green, and scales began to appear on his face, his pupils dting and transforming into a yellow color resembling those of a snake.


    "SSSSssssTOPPPP~" he hissed while speaking, his tongue also transformed, it wasn''t human anymore.


    And once all of this shit was over¡­


    "ULTIMATE FUSION!!!" he activated his [Mythical] skill, which was pretty much his ultimate.


    Basically¡­ Leader had turned into some sort of snake man.


    "Heh~" Stark found this transformation ridiculous, but couldn''t deny it looked strong.


    "=)" the clone on the other hand just pointed at Leader andughed while holding its forehead.


    This time, it would truly be the end of Stark''s first fight against another [Domination] user.

 Chapter 181: Leaders MYTHICAL Skill

    "ULTIMATE FUSION¡­ REPTILE MODE!" Leader had pretty abandoned much his calm expression, now staring at Stark and his clone like they were his biggest enemies ever, which they probably were, not going to lie.


    His long hair that reached his knees went from ck topletely green, with snakeing out of it, and his body also began to develop scales on it, plus his eyes looked like those of a serpent ready to attack, basically... his past body had been left behind, almost as if he was reborn.


    Also, both his arms and legs were nowpletely surrounded by dozens of snakes, making it very disturbing as the serpents were swirling all around him, he was their master after all.


    "Get ready to be ssstopped¡­" Stark saw a snake tongueing out of his mouth whenever he said the letter ''s''.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Ultimate Fusion (MYTHICAL)]


    [Description: Fuses with his snake summons to be one big ''snake-man'' himself, granting him a boost in strength and making his attacks more poisonous and powerful]


    [w: none, you just have to beat him up]


    ¡­


    ''Hm¡­'' Stark didn''t quite like this transformation, but he couldn''t do much about it.


    "=)" and of course, the [Superior Clone] wasn''t even bothered as it literallyughed in Leader''s face, amused by its attempt to win.


    "GET READY YOU SSSSTUPID FUCKER¡­" Leader dashed in the clone''s direction.


    "=D" but the clone didn''t even take him seriously.


    "ATTACK FRENZY," Leader''s eyes glew with a yellow color as he sent his snake-filled fist toward the clone.


    ~FWISH~


    But it just avoided it by moving its head to the side, the smile on its face growing wider as it immediately attempted to take him by striking his legs.


    "SNAKE SUMMONING!" But Leader was ready and summoned five snakes in front of the attack, causing the clone to stumble and fall to the ground instead.


    "=)" the clone now on the ground, looked up to Leader with the same sadistic smile.


    "SERPENTINE CHARGE," Leader also smiled this time as he pointed his arm toward the clone, the giant circle looking much moreplicated and powerful than before.


    And from that distance, not even one meter, then this attack would surely hit and kill the clone.


    "Goodbyeeessss, BITCH!" he activated his attack and the giant snake began toe out, its mouth wide open.


    But¡­


    "Tsk, tsk, tsk," Stark, who was right behind, shook his head, "A sect leader shouldn''t swear!"


    "TARGET MANIPULATION," he didn''t want to use [Domi-Chain] yet, so instead he opted for another skill that he didn''t use much in battles.


    ~FWISH~


    He pointed his right arm at the enemy, his index and middle finger raised at Leader like a gun, a deep aura concentrated on them.


    And then¡­ his aura was shot toward Leader, hitting him and making his entire body surrounded by a small outline of crimson color.


    "GOT YOU¡­"


    And so right before he could summon his snake to kill the [Superior Clone]¡­


    ~FWISH, SNAP~


    Stark turned his ''gun'' hand to the right, resulting in Leader being slightly sent to the direction he pointed at.


    ~SSSSSS, BOOOM~


    Leader sent the giant snake, but as his body swayed to the left, his arm and circle did as well, meaning that it missed the clone by a hair''s length.


    "WHAT THE?" he turned to see Stark pointing his arm at him, and that''s when he noticed that he had been controlled by Stark''s aura¡­ which made him even more furious, "YOU FUCKING AsSSSSHOL-"


    He tried to swear but¡­


    ~PUNCH, SLAM~


    The [Superior Clone] immediately took advantage of that to get up and hit Leader in the face, sending him flying toward Stark.


    "-4837!" didn''t do much damage because of his snake-man form, but it was still good.


    [''Superior Clone'' has received the [Poisoned] status for 1 minute]


    The fact that for every 5000 points of damage, the enemy would receive 6000, frankly made it extremely unfair, but oh well.


    "AURA SMASH," Stark focused his aura and sent three crimson fists toward Leader who was repeatedly hitting the ground after being hit.


    "SNAKE SHIELD¡­" but even while being hit, he still activated his shield and tanked all three attacks.


    ~CRACK~


    More cracks began to form on the shield, though.


    Meanwhile, [Snaky the Giant Snake] was still unconscious because of the [Domi-Chain] aura, meaning that it was just lying there almost in the middle of the hallway, taking lots of space as they were forced to fight only on one side of it.


    It did advantage Stark and his clone though as they were fighting from close range while throwing projectiles¡­


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," then Stark and the clone, as if they had linked minds, both threw six spears at Leader from different directions.


    "ARGH, SHIT¡­" Leader was enraged as he immediately got up, "SNAKE SHIELD¡­ EXPAND!"


    Obviously Stark wasn''t the only one who could use perks, all other people had some too, and ''expand'' was one of the perks of the [Snake Shield].


    ~BOOM, CRACK~


    The [Snake Shield] would grow in size, forming a giant circle around Leader topletely protect him from any attacks.


    But this also made it easier to damage the shield, which was why he hadn''t activated it.


    [Snake Shield HP: 98392/500000]


    [Leader HP: 5500/34000]


    "ULTIMATE FUSION¡­ HEAL!" he used the second perk of his mythical skill, and most of the snakes that were on his body suddenly bit any part of his body they could reach, inflicting him with their poison.


    But in this case¡­


    [+10000HP], instead of being poisoned, since he was a snake-man himself, he had been healed.


    "Spatial Inventory," while Leader was busy getting healed, Stark pulled out his inventory void and grabbed three [Crystal Stun] potions from it.


    Oh, and yeah, Stark is always under the effect of the [Strength] and [Speed] potions, since he always makes sure to drink some before being in battle.


    "CRIMSON BALL TRANSMISSION," the clone sent a ball,nding it right next to Stark, then snapped its fingers to teleport right next to the original.


    "Here," he handed two of the three stun potions to it, and it just smiled as it knew perfectly what they needed to do.


    The [Crystal Stun] potions didn''t work against the [Cyclop] or monsters that were too big or immune, but against a simple human that was affected by it like any other¡­? It was extremely deadly.


    Maybe Leader was immune to it, who knows, after all he had the body of a snake, and he was also immune to poison and many status effects, so you could never know.


    But¡­ Stark just a gut feeling that this was THE solution to end this battle.


    And so¡­ Stark and his clone took a step forward, their potions in hand as they were ready to eliminate the sect-leader once and for all.


    But of course¡­ the other guy didn''t stand doing nothing after being healed¡­


    Instead¡­


    "SYMPHONY OF SNAKES!" he used the final skill he hadn''t used yet, and also probably the second strongest beside [Snake Fusion] since it was legendary¡­


    And so just like that, both parties were ready to give it everything they''ve got to end the battle.


    The winner takes all: rewards, levels and confidence, while the loser just dies.

 Chapter 182: Symphony Of Snakes

    "SYMPHONY OF SNAKES," Leader was tired of being yed with, he had always been respected and worshiped by his followers, and even those outside his cult were always fearful of his powers since they didn''t know he was a [Domination] user.


    Even among [Domination] users and ssifiers, he had always been super strong, being able to take most of them down using his simplebo he did every time, and when he felt bored, he wouldn''t use it and instead torture them with his poison.


    Basically¡­ he liked to torment people and show them they never stood a chance to begin with.


    But doesn''t that remind you of someone else¡­ isn''t that just like¡­ Stark?


    No¡­ he was just¡­ an inferior version =).


    ¡­


    [Skill: Symphony Of Snakes]


    [Rank: Legendary]


    [Description: By using the powerful aura of the ''Snake Guardian'' to support his body, the user transforms into a new form. In the new form, the transformed user is capable of summoning and controlling hundreds of snakes, whose bodies be an extension of his own.]


    [Note: This skill adapts to all other skills!]


    ¡­


    "ASSsssHOLE!" Leader got up, some blood apparent on his face as he had been hit by Stark''s powerful aura fists twice already, as well as the merged [Aura Smash].


    And now that he had activated his most powerful legendary skill, while using [Ultimate Fusion]''s reptile form¡­ he was unstoppable.


    As if proving his point, [Symphony of Snakes] instantly activated.


    Leader''s body started to swell, hundreds of snakes poured from the ground, walls, and ceiling to connect to his snake-man form to create a single, massive entity.


    "DO YOU SsssEE WHY YOU ARE GOING TO LOSsssE NOW?" Leader looked down upon Stark.


    He was now just as tall as the [Sub-Level 4 Guards], although it was just that his entire figure was made up of snakes, now that he himself grew, which meant that his head was just as small as before.


    ";D" the [Superior Clone] couldn''t help butugh while pping its knees, the fact Leader was controlling such a massive bodypletely made out of visible snakes, while his head remained just as small, looked frankly ridiculous.


    But Leader was in no mood to be mocked, "YOU SssshALL NOT Laugh! THIS IS A BATTLE OF LIFE AND DEATH HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT?"


    ~FWISH~


    He extended his arm toward the clone, and like some sort of shotgun, dozens of snake were sent toward it.


    "=)" but it just moved to the size to avoid the snakes, which all died once separated from the main body.


    [Symphony of Snakes] was a skill of course, but its form by itself could result in hundreds of different attacks Leader could send.


    ~SMASH~


    Leader then smashed the ground using his snakes, and a massive crater was left there, almostpletely breaking the floor.


    "YOU WILL DIE TODAY!"


    "AURA SMASH, CRIMSON SPEARS," Stark and his clone yet again sent all of their attacks toward Leader, who used the now massive shield to block them all.


    ~BOOM, CRACK, CRACK¡­~


    The shield was now almostpletely destroyed, but Leader was in such a frenzy state that he didn''t even notice, too focused on eliminated the humans.


    [Snake Shield HP: 21921/500000]


    ~STOMP, STOMP~


    It looked like Leader didn''t REALLY know how to control this form though, he was struggling to take a few steps, and all his attacks¡­


    ~FWISH, VIOUM~


    No matter how many he sent¡­


    "Haha," even Starkughed as Leader missed a ''Snake Shot'' while he didn''t move.


    ~BOOM, AVOID~


    They were just not hitting.


    "Probably the skill he got at level 60¡­" Stark could easily guess this, no one could be a pro at using a skill instantly after all, not even he was this good.


    "SsssTOPPPPP THISsss BULLSsssHIIT!!!" Leader was getting angrier.


    But¡­


    Stark and his clone had enough fun, as they instantly stoppedughing.


    They looked at one another before nodding.


    And then¡­


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT!" they both activated their skill, rushing at Leader for the final push and then beginning to run around him at a crazy speed, leaving crimson trails behind them.


    [9 seconds remain for ''Double Assault'']


    "AURA SMASH!" the first thing they did was for the clone to send all three of his fists toward the giant Leader.


    Meanwhile¡­


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!" while that was happening, and while still running circles around the giant snake-man, Stark focused his aura in his right hand,bining all three fists into one.


    [8 seconds remain for ''Double Assault'']


    "SNAKE SHIELD," Leader, thinking he could easily deflect the attacks, activated his giant shield and got ready for impact.


    But¡­


    ~BOOM, CRACK¡­ BOOOM!~


    When all three fists hit, the transparent shield that had been protecting him all this time suddenly exploded, with no way to get it back now as it would take at least 12 hours for him to be able to use it again since it was the cooldown for such a powerful defensive skill.


    "YOU LITTLE¡­" Leader realized toote that his shield had been broken, then he immediately tried to punch the clone with one of his ''snake arms'', sending it at intense speed toward it.


    But¡­ this was exactly what they wanted.


    "=)" the clone kept smiling as it slowly pointed one of his fingers toward the other direction.


    "¡­?" Leader turned his small head in the direction the clone pointed, and he saw¡­ a giant fist, half the size of his giant snake torso, rushing at him.


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!" Stark had used the distraction from his clone as well as the destruction of the shield to use this attack himself.


    And it hit.


    ~BOOOOM~


    It hit Leader''s torso, which was what Stark aimed for since the head was too small.


    And¡­


    "-13382," this would usually be enough to kill, but [Symphony of Snakes] and [Ultimate Fusion] blocked damage really well even without a shield.


    [6 seconds remain for ''Double Assault'']


    But of course, both Stark and his clone knew of the possibility their n wouldn''t totally kill Leader, so they immediately looked at one another and in less than a fraction of a second created a second n.


    Both their minds were linked as if they were one, which was pretty obvious since the clone was made of Stark''s aura.


    ''ALRIGHT, LET''S DO THIS,'' Stark pointed at Leader, a crimson mist still around him, it was the after effect of the merged crimson fist after being used while [Double Assault] is active.


    And so, taking advantage of that¡­


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," both Stark sent the spears in Leader''s directions while beginning to run in circles around the giant snake-man again.


    "NO¡­!" but as if sensing those attacks, Leader just swung his giant arms in the directions of the spears, destroying them all in the process as the snake took all the hits, so he received zero damage.


    "Alright, I think we''ve had enough fun," Stark smirked.


    "=)" the clone also put one [Crystal Stun] potions in each of his hands.


    This was their final n: using those three potions to destroy Leader.


    He only needed one or two more attacks to be defeated, that was true, and he honestly kind of looked defenseless right now since he was so panicked: nothing like this had ever happened before.


    HE was the one humiliating people, yet this time¡­ he felt like HE was the one being toyed with by Stark and the clone.


    And the worst feeling of all¡­ was that he also felt like he couldn''t do anything about it, all he could try was to keep attacking and fight as long as he could.


    But this time¡­


    "=)"


    "¡­"


    They weren''t ying anymore, so they just got ready to throw all the potions at Leader.


    Starting the final n: Operation Stun-Chain!


    [4 seconds remain for ''Double Assault'']


    [Finish him quick =)!]

 Chapter 183: The Fall of Leader

    [4 seconds remain for ''Double Assault'']


    Stark and his clone, seeing that Leader was going on a frenzy swinging his ''snake'' arms everywhere, which sent hundreds upon hundreds of snakes in all direction, knew they needed to get this over with quickly.


    They had already lost enough precious time, and the others must have already leveled up a lot, and possibly already are on the verge of finding the key to the next exit, so he needed to be quick and catch up to them.


    And the only thing blocking his advance¡­ was Leader.


    [But of course¡­ he wasn''t a threat to begin with =)]


    "YOU PIEECCsssES OF SsssHIT¡­" the sect-leader that a far cry from his usualposed self, and Stark could onlyugh as he imagined the usually confident Leader talk to his religious followers in the crazed state he was in.


    If he had his phone, he would have surely recorded it, but now all he needed was to eliminate him.


    ''Operation Stun-Chain¡­ BEGIN!'' he gave a thumps up to his clone, and both of them began to run around Leader again, who repeatedly, at incredible speed, began to smash all his surroundings.


    The movements of both parties were so fast you wouldn''t be able to see them by your naked eye.


    [3 seconds remain for ''Double Assault''], and only one second had passed as Stark had made at least 4 turns around Leader.


    "GO!" he shouted, and his clone immediately backed away.


    ~FWISH, VIOUM¡­~


    And then¡­ he threw the two [Crystal Stun] potions he had in hand toward Leader.


    "¡­!" but the long-haired man had heard the signal, and also noticed the movements of the clone and the potions, so he obviously knew he couldn''t allow them to hit his body or face directly.


    And so¡­


    "NICsssE TRY!" he used one of his giant snake arms to block both potions, who exploded on it upon impact.


    ~CRACK, BOOM~


    The potions released the white mist on Leader''s arm, and suddenly¡­


    [Leader''s right arm was stunned!]


    His arm was made of semi-living snakes that Leader had summoned from who knows where, so it meant that they were also affected by the arrow, and the mist spreads extremely easily, resulting in Leader''s right arm to bepletely infected, and thus stunned.


    ~CRASH~


    Hundreds of snakes fell unconscious on the floor when Leader couldn''t attack with that arm anymore, letting it hang there as it would be useless for a while.


    "AURA SMASH, CRIMSON SPEARS," and to add to that pressure, the clone kept sending projectiles toward Leader, who was forced to block using his left arm as to not receive damage.


    "SERPENTILE CHARGE," he summoned not ONE, but TWO giant green circles, one for each enemy he had.


    ~VIOUM¡­ PAW!~


    The dark green snakes that came out of the giant circles, their eyes full of whitish aura that left a trail behind, were much bigger and powerful than any other one Leader had sent before.


    ''Emotions do matter in the usage of aura, it seems¡­'' Stark thought as he saw that, it had been true that Leader got stronger the angrier he got.


    Was it why his clone was so strong? Or maybe¡­ something else?


    In the end, it didn''t matter much.


    ~BOOM~


    The snakes, at least five times the size of the two humans (well just one to be honest), rushed at them both, ready to kill them in one strike.


    But¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" they both rolled away at thest second.


    [Perfect Dodge x2!]


    They both got a perfect dodge, and it even showed it on the panel with the x2 sign.


    [In the case of a double ''Perfect Dodge'', time moves much slower than before!]


    And just as expected, instead of being able to see Leader''s body slowly go up after the attack, it was now so slow that the movements wouldn''t be visible if you didn''t REALLY focus on them.


    But this also meant that Stark could get more time to think.


    Well¡­ he didn''t really need it tho since¡­ operation ''Stun-Chain'' was going exactly as expected, actually it was going even better.


    "=)" the clone now just stared at Stark, its expression so sadistic that even he could feel how some of the others felt when seeing it.


    It just looked at Stark, after all it didn''t have anything else to do: the n nowpletely depended on what Stark did.


    And so¡­ he decided to finish it.


    "CRIMSON BALL TRANSMISSION," there was only a five minutes cooldown between each ball, so he already got it again and summoned it in hand.


    ~FWISH~


    The world retrieved its normal colors (since perfect dodge turns it to ck and white), and time began to move normally again.


    But instantly¡­


    ~FWISH, THROW~


    Stark threw the crimson ball perfectly, and [Focus] actually aided him as much as possible this time, even going as far as drawing the perfect line which he needed to throw the ball at.


    And so¡­ he did it.


    The crimson ball perfectly lobbed over Leader''s body while he was still trying to throw attacks at Stark and his clone, which they all avoided even though it was bing harder and harder to do so.


    "WITH THIS¡­" Stark''s aura took over his entire body, hiding his figure by surrounding it by crimson aura, with only his eyes and mouth being white, making him look like his creepy clone, although his expression was totally serious, "IT''S OVER!"


    ~SNAP~


    He snapped his fingers when the ball was right behind Leader''s head, and he already positioned himself to throw his potion from the location he was in.


    ~FWISH~


    He instantly teleported behind Leader, now able to see his small head from behind as it was normally mostly covered by the snakes and his giant body.


    "Good fight," Stark acknowledge Leader''s strength before the fight even ended, this was just how confident he was in his final attack, "You were strong."


    ~THROW~


    As said before, he had already positioned himself to throw the potion, and so the exact moment he teleported, he was already in the position to throw the [Crystal Stun] potion, which he did immediately.


    And it hit Leader''s head.


    ~BOOM, CRACK~


    "H-HUH?!" Leader looked back to see Stark smiling while floating in midair, "I GOT YOU NOW!"


    He moved his left arm and threw a massive fist that would surely kill and poison Stark if it hit.


    But right at that moment¡­


    "Huh¡­ I¡­ can''t move my body?" he couldn''t move his fist, or any of his body parts at all in that regard, resulting in the attack not hitting Stark, who just fell to the ground andnded graciously.


    [Leader has been stunned!]


    "DOMI-CHAIN!" the final part of the n was executed, and Stark threw the massive crimson chain around Leader''s body while he was stunned, and all he could do was watch in horror as the chain wrapped itself around his legs, then his torso, then his arms¡­ and after less than thirty seconds¡­ his head.


    "N-NO, PLEASE, NO STOP, I-" Leader was now begging for mercy, something he had never given to any of his opponents, something he himself loved to hear from his enemies.


    And now¡­ he was put in such a lowly position.


    "Pathetic," Stark shook his head as Leader''s entire body was taken over by the chain, his aura and life force being absorbed.


    And now that he couldn''t do anything¡­


    [Leader was knocked out]


    The [Ultimate Fusion] skill as well as the [Symphony of Snakes] both deactivated, resulting in both the giant snake body to disappear into thin air, but also his original one to transform back to its human form.


    And so Leader fell to the ground from that height, while his aura was deactivated.


    ~CRASH, THUD~


    He sshed onto the ground in a sickening thud.


    "-99999!"


    And so, just like that, Leader, the all-powerful sect-leader, died.


    ********


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 Chapter 184: Level 50 Reached

    Stark stood there for a moment, taking everything in.


    He had done it, he had defeated Leader, the one that tried to kill him first, the one that had probably killed Officer as well¡­ he did it.


    The body of Leadery there, his opened eyes void of any life essence, as falling from such a height caused his organs to be crushed, especially since being knocked out deactivated his aura.


    "=)" the [Superior Clone] was celebrating by doing random moves, the sadistic smile on its face not disappearing even for a single second, and its white eyes now leaving the corpse.


    It was waiting for Stark to do something.


    "Sigh¡­" this was the first time Stark actually killed a human.


    The first two times were during a [Deathless] duel, so nobody had truly died, but this time¡­ he had really done it, he was a murderer, even though it wasplete self-defense.


    But the thing that bothered Stark the most¡­ was that he didn''t even care.


    "You''re dead¡­" he mumbled as he began walking toward the corpse, "And I didn''t feel anything¡­ not even a thrill."


    He looked down on Leader, his eyespletely serious and with no mercy visible in them.


    Then he crouched down, inspecting the body of Leader.


    Of course, he didn''t care much to leave it here, as it would surely get eaten or destroyed by the other beasts.


    But the thing he REALLY wanted was¡­


    "I knew it¡­" Stark smiled just as sadistically as his clone, after all that thing had to get its personality from someone, right?


    In Stark''s hand was a weird spray-like item with some green liquid inside of it.


    [Monster Scent: Upon usage, all monsters will ignore you as they recognize you as their own, even if you kill many of them, thissts ten minutes, one time use]


    As expect, Leader was the one that killed Officer, and so Stark was able to get the item since he didn''t have anywhere to hide it, and didn''t use it beforehand.


    "Spatial Inventory," he put the [Monster Scent] right next to his [Revive Token].


    But of course, that wasn''t all¡­ no¡­ this was only the beginning.


    Because¡­


    [A participant has been in by a yer!]


    The notification appeared for everyone to read, and it wouldn''t be heard to figure out that he was the one who did it since he and Leader had been the only ones left behind¡­ but it didn''t matter, he didn''t care about that.


    Instead¡­ another panel appeared before him, a panel that brought intense pleasure and hope to Stark.


    [You have in ''Leader lv62'', gaining 3,492,221 EXP!]


    ''¡­!?'' Stark was astonished by the sheer amount of experience he had gotten.


    Was killing a [Domination] user always this profitable? And if so¡­ then wouldn''t hunting other users be the best way to increase your level?


    Stark shook his head, he couldn''t let such desires take over him, after all, if he did that, then the [Superior Clone] would detect it and probably immediately go on a rampage.


    Anyway, killing Leader granted him the most amount of experience he had gotten at once, even more so than Soyer and the Corrupted Ghoul.


    And this could only mean one thing¡­


    ~DING, DING, DING~


    He was surrounded by the golden aura thrice.


    [Your level has increased to level 50, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 51, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 52, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Experience: 702242/1348000]


    Of course, removing the fact that he had actually climbed up to level 50, Stark noticed that the amount of ''skill points'' he was getting increased to three instead of two.


    Would they keep going by one every 25 or so levels? If yes then that''s great!


    [Skill Points: 22 Avable!]


    He had more enough skill points to upgrade a bunch of his skills, that was great, but for now¡­


    ~DING, DING, DING¡­ DING~


    Many panels appeared around Stark, there were so many that he was actually surrounded by them, blocking his view.


    ''Let''s take it in order¡­'' Stark smiled, "Oh yeah, can you defend me?" he asked the [Superior Clone] who just mischievously smiled as it positioned itself to fight whoever or whatever came in its view.


    ''Alright¡­ first of all¡­'' he turned his eyes toward the first panel that had appeared.


    And it was¡­


    [Level 50 Reached: please pick a card!]


    ''Heh, of course,'' Stark nodded as the usual three cards appeared-¡­?


    ''Huh?'' Stark squinted his eyes, as if not understanding.


    There weren''t three cards disyed in front of him, but FIVE, each in a crimson color with two eyes staring at him, a visible vortex of darkness in them, that was the back of the card.


    "Hey, clone, help me out!" he asked his clone for aid as it just killed a [Dungeon Lizard], and it immediately rushed toward Stark, "Please check the drawings behind the cards and tell me which is the best¡­"


    "=)!" it nodded its head and went behind the five cards.


    And after a few seconds¡­ it pointed at the one to the far right.


    Stark immediately grabbed it, he actually fully trusted his clone since it had no reason to lie, even though it was insanely twisted and evil.


    And when he turned the card¡­ he saw the drawing that always represented the skill: this time it was a pair of eyes with the text "EGO" written under them.


    Yes, this was all.


    "This is the skill you picked?" although this was the first time text was written on one, it was weird his clone picked this one¡­


    "=)" the [Superior Clone] just shrugged as it pointed at a second card.


    "¡­?" weirdly enough, none of the cards disappeared when Stark picked one, usually they would evaporate instantly.


    And so¡­


    ~FWISH~


    All the cards turned at once, revealing that ALL of them had the same drawing.


    The white eyes staring at Stark''s soul, as well as the ''EGO'' text was visible on all of them.


    ''Does this mean¡­ my choice didn''t make a difference to begin with?'' Stark wondered, this wasn''t logical.


    Or maybe¡­


    "Hey, clone, were the drawings different thest time?" maybe his choice didn''t matter to begin with, maybe whatever he picked, he would have gotten the same skill¡­?


    But¡­


    "=)" the clone shook its head, meaning that the previous times, the two other drawings werepletely different from the one he had picked.


    "Phew¡­" Stark sighed, it would have been pretty sad to know his choice, even though it was luck, didn''t matter.


    And so he decided to immediately check out this skill, it was the first time five cards appeared, and also the first time each of them had the same skill behind¡­


    So what could it possibly be¡­?


    [Rank: MYTHICAL]


    ''¡­!'' Stark''s eyes widened, a [Mythical] skill all of a sudden?


    Of course, Leader also had his own mythical skill, but it was still fairly new for Stark to get something so powerful just like this, and coincidentally when he reached level 50¡­


    No¡­ it couldn''t be a coincidence, maybe every [Domination] user would get a mythical skill once they reached level 50.


    In the end, it didn''t matter much, as he excitedly looked down to read the description.

 Chapter 185: EGO, The Mythical Skill

    [Skill: EGO]


    [Type: MYTHICAL]


    [Description:] You shall not know until the time is right.


    [Note:] Your ego is increasing¡­


    ...


    "¡­" Stark was confused, no description, and the note only made it weirder.


    What the hell is an ''EGO'', and why is it increasing?


    But¡­ the weirdest thing of all¡­ was the small bar below the skill panel.


    [EGO Meter: 0%]


    This was all the info he had.


    Were all mythical skills like that? Is the user supposed to figure it out on his own, since they are way too overpowered? Or maybe it''s only for Stark¡­?


    In the end, it didn''t really matter much, and so Stark moved to the next panel, maybe that EGO thing would increaseter.


    ''Alright¡­'' he looked to his left, and the next panel was¡­


    [Congrattions, you have killed another yer, thuspleting the offer that had been given to you! WOOHOO!]


    [You have earned the ''MURDERER'' title!]


    ''¡­'' Stark looked at those panels as they appeared with the nkest of expressions.


    [You now get your MAP back!]


    And the moment it said that, all the panel faded away, reced by a giant one that looked like a map of the third sublevel.


    It was a view from above, almost as if given by satellite, and Stark was marked by a small shing red dot.


    Every passageway, dead end, and turn was clearly marked on the map. But there was something else too ¨C a golden arrow pointing towards the exit, marked by a blinking green dot.


    It wasn''t very far from his location, actually only five turns, and he would be there, yet it would have probably taken him hours if he didn''t have that map now.


    ''So useful¡­'' he couldn''t believe the others had that while he was stuck with himself, his clone, and his pure instinct alone to figure out where he needed to go.


    [As part of the offer, you also get TWO rewards from the ''Kill Perk'' instead of one! Good job!]


    ''Finally¡­''


    [Would you like to unlock your rewards now?]


    [Y/N?]


    ''Yeah.''


    [Spin the wheels then, participant!]


    He had already done it once before to get the [Revive Token], but this time, two giant wheels appeared before him, both had the weird demon horns on top of them, and their auras was overwhelming.


    "¡­"


    [Pull the tails!]


    Just like before, two demon tails emerged from beside the wheels, urging Stark to pull them both at the same time.


    ''Killing Spree is unlocked¡­''


    When he first spun his wheel, that section was chained, but now that Leader was dead, it meant that only five participants remained: Kokoro, the white haireddy, Akira, Yuri, and himself.


    And so¡­


    [The ''Killing Spree'' reward has been unlocked as promised, since only five participants remain!]


    In retrospective, it would surely make you think: 10 people alive at the start, and now only 5.


    But¡­ Stark didn''t care much about that.


    ~GRAB, FWISH~


    He grabbed both demon tails at the same time, then pulled them both, resulting in both wheels spinning at the same time.


    [Good luck!]


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    The wheels began to spin at intense speed, hovering over every perk avable.


    Stark saw the arrows point at the different perks avable, all 10 of them were extremely good, but it was obvious some were better than others.


    ~BIP, BIP~


    It would make a rather pleasing sound after passing each section.


    And¡­ after thirty seconds¡­


    ~BIP¡­ BIP... BIP¡­~


    It began to gradually slow down, then both wheels suddenly stopped,nding on their respective rewards.


    And they were¡­


    [Reward: Key Location Map]


    [Reward: Killing Spree]


    "Oh nice, so I got the ''Key Location Map'' and ''Killing Spr-'', WAIT WHAT?"


    Stark immediately looked onto the descriptions.


    [Key Location Map: You will receive a map that shows you which exact monster holds the key that will allow the group to head to the next level]


    He already knew this one, but he couldn''t deny this was probably one of the best rewards.


    And the second reward he had gotten, the best reward of them all¡­ the one with only a 1/10 chance to get it after five people had died¡­ was [Killing Spree].


    [Killing Spree: This reward charges up a destructive power that increases after each monster/enemy defeated, the more monsters killed, and the strongest they are, the more this attack''s power increases, also note that the amount of monsters killed counts since the beginning of the trial!]


    ''Doesn''t even seem that good inparison to [Revive Token] or some other ones, though¡­''


    But as if to shut him up¡­


    [With enough monsters killed, you will be able to instantly kill the warden in one blow¡­]


    "Oh," Stark was actually surprised, being able to defeat the final boss of this trial in one attack seemed impossible, but if even whatever was controlling all of it said it, then it must be true¡­ it never lied after all.


    [Killing Spree: You have in 64 monsters inside of this trial, the power of the perk is massive, but only use it when necessary!]


    ''I guess that''s all of it for now¡­'' he didn''t even need to put his rewards inside his [Spatial Inventory] since none of them were actually physical: [Key Location Map] just showed the dot of the monster which held the key, while killing spree only counted the monsters in a panel.


    ''Next panel¡­'' he moved his gaze to the right, and this time¡­


    [Survey: do you realize that your life is only ever going to be full of suffering and torture?]


    [Y/N]


    ''Of course, already knew that,'' he pressed on the Y option without hesitation, these survey questions were getting weirder and weirder, but for the second time, Stark couldn''t shake off the feeling that these would be importantter.


    [Thank you for the answer, see youter for the next survey =)]


    ''Only two more panels,'' Stark thought as he turned his head to the right for the hundredth time, probably.


    [You have reached level 50, you can now initiate the ''breakthrough'' sequence to increase the skill level limit from 15 to 25 (Silver-Tier)!]


    [You need a "Breakthrough Stone (Bronze-Tier)" to ascend to Silver-Tier though!]


    ''Oh yeah¡­ that thing¡­'' the first time it happened was during level 25, and it basically increased his skill level limit from 10 to 15, but this time it was from 15 to 25, making it much better.


    Stark noted at the back of his head that he would need to buy a breakthrough stone (which were all pretty damn expensive) forter.


    And these were pretty much all the panels Stark had to go through, quite a big amount of them, but it was expected after reaching level 50!


    ''¡­''


    Looks like it''s time to go back out there, as he had his map, meaning he could easily find the exit.


    "¡­"


    No¡­


    "¡­"


    Something''s missing¡­


    "¡­"


    And so as expected, once Stark turned his eyes again¡­ he saw a giant panel, at least ten times his size, in front of him.


    [You have reached level 50, you already know what that means¡­]


    Stark''s heart raced with anticipation as he read those words.


    "ss Wheel!" he shouted, he didn''t know why he did, but it just felt right.


    And so¡­ the giant colorful wheel appeared, the same size of the panel that was previously there.


    [8 sses avable, spin the wheel!]


    [Pull me!]


    Stark didn''t want to waste a single second, so he immediately reached for the also now giant lever that was beside the wheel and used his two hands to pull it down.


    Yet again¡­ the wheel began to spin, announcing that Stark''s fate would yet again change, for better¡­ or for worse.

 Chapter 186: Third Class and... Merging?

    [8 sses Avable: Warrior, Archer, Exorcist, Soul Wielder, Incubus, Assassin, Beast Tamer, Magus]


    As the wheel spun at an intense speed, Stark couldn''t help but feel a mix of excitement and anxiety.


    He wondered which ss he would end up with at level 50.


    He first got [Domination] at level 1, which had been a lifesaver since it was what made him so strong even though it brought just as much trouble.


    Then he got [Alchemist] at level 25, and although this ss wasn''t specifically of the ''fighting type'', it still helped him as a permanent passive since he could make and drink potions whenever he wanted to aid him: he also would be able to sell those very same potionster at a fair price, increasing his worth.


    And now¡­ he was level 50, meaning that he would get another ss.


    And so after what felt like an eternity, the wheel finally came to a stop, revealing his destiny.


    [You have been chosen as¡­]


    The message on the screen hesitated for a moment before it continued.


    [An¡­]


    Stark''s breath caught in his throat as he read the next word.


    [An Exorcist!]


    And just as it said, the giant red arrow at the top of the wheel hadnded on the [Exorcist] ss.


    [Congrattions! You have unlocked the ss: Exorcist!]


    ''Oh¡­'' Stark''s clone had stopped whatever it was doing and went beside the original, reading the screen as well.


    "¡­" strangely enough, it wasn''t smiling anymore.


    It was the first time it didn''t have that giant =) on its face, which made it infinitely creepier as to why it suddenly changed like that.


    [You can spin the wheel again at level 75!]


    Not wanting to waste more time as the others must already be on the verge of finding the key by now, Stark checked out the ss''s description.


    ¡­


    [ss: Exorcist]


    [Description:] Specialists in banishing evil/cursed spirits and curses, possessing abilities to purify their surroundings and protect others from malevolent forces (mainly fight demons and use divine power)


    [ss Effect:] Holy aura surrounds you, and demon-type monsters are much weaker when facing you.


    [ss w:] Strong against demons, ghosts, and cursed monsters, but pretty weak against the others.


    [Basic Skills:] You do not need any, Domination has already absorbed it.


    ¡­


    ''Interesting-'' Stark nodded, it wasn''t much different from Alchemist in terms of presentation , "WAIT WHAT?"


    He read thest panel again, the one with the basic skills, and¡­ there were no skills?


    "Domination has already absorbed it?" Stark was confused, it didn''t even make sense.


    And yet¡­ he somehow had a really bad feeling about it¡­ no¡­ the feeling wasn''t bad¡­ it was just¡­ ufortable?


    "¡­=)" Stark''s clone began to gradually smile again.


    And after less than a minute¡­ something else appeared in front of Stark, something¡­pletely out of this world.


    [We do not need to burden ourselves with such a ss¡­ =)]


    ''¡­?''


    [Exorcist is an interesting ss, but it is too weak, meaning that it would be easily forgotten if not used against demons, and even then¡­]


    ''¡­!'' Stark''s eyes gradually widened.


    [So¡­ why not absorb it¡­rade =)?]


    ''What do you mean-''


    [Domination is currently absorbing the ''Exorcist'' ss¡­]


    [Do not resist it, it is a process that will make US stronger]


    ''THIS IS¡­ WHAT?'' Stark was actually astonished, he couldn''t understand anything that was happening.


    Absorbing the [Exorcist] ss since it isn''t convenient? Doesn''t that mean that [Domination] would basically be much stronger by absorbing the powers of the [Exorcist] ss? And if so, then would he get skills rted to it¡­?


    Stark''s pupils were shaking, the ufortable feeling wasn''t leaving, it was just increasing by the second, slowly turning into dread at the face of the unknown.


    "=)" the clone just stood there though, it looked like it already knew what was about to happen.


    But after yet another minute¡­


    [100/100]


    [Absorptionplete!]


    [The ''Domination'' ss has absorbed the ''Exorcist'' ss, thus inheriting its aura and powers!]


    [Basically¡­ Exorcist has be part of Domination, it didn''t disappear, it is still with us, but we just made it so that it is easier to use¡­]


    And with this information out of the way, all the panels disappeared, and no matter how much Stark waited, no more appeared: this was everything.


    ''STATUS WINDOW,'' he shouted in his mind.


    ¡­


    [Level:] 52


    [Health:] 6300/24900


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [sses:] Domination; Alchemist; Exorcist (Absorbed by Domination).


    [Note: A ss that is absorbed by Domination doesn''t disappear, it just bes part of Domination as a whole, meaning you can still use its powers, but they be much stronger as Domination enhances them!]


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    [Attributes:] Strength 3392; Speed 4149; Mind/Soul 3987; Stamina 3590; Defense 3493


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv15; Focus lv15; Aura Smash lv10; Clone Frenzy lv15; Invincible Dodge lv5; Double Assault lv5; Crimson Spears lv1; Heaven''s Wrath lv5; Alchemist lv3; Potion Crafting lv3; Target Maniption lv1; Dodge Control lv1; Crimson Ball Transmission lv1; EGO lv1 (Mythical)¡­


    ¡­


    Exorcist was still showing, but beside it was a small text saying that it was already absorbed by Domination.


    [As Exorcist has been absorbed, you have been granted one skill!]


    ''¡­?'' Stark didn''t even have the time to think that it appeared before him.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Crimson Purification]


    [Tier: Legendary]


    [Description: A divine ability that eradicates evil and impurities from the surrounding area, dealing massive damage to demonic and cursed enemies while increasing the Holy aura, making you stronger against these types of foes. However, it has no effect on other types of enemies.]


    [Note: 10 minutes cooldown between each use]


    ¡­


    Everything was going so fast: he got his new ss, but apparently it would be useless under normal circumstances, so Domination had absorbed it to make it more powerful, and now he got a skill that merged both [Domination] and [Exorcist] into one¡­?


    At first, it didn''t seem to make much sense: the Exorcist ss was primarily used against demons, so people who had it were mainly dispatched to rifts where these beings resided, however, now that it had been absorbed by Domination, the holy aura and attacks would be strong even against regr enemies, or at least that is what he thought.


    [Domination X Exorcist is now active, have fun!]


    ''Oh well¡­ I''ll just think about itter¡­'' he turned his gaze toward his clone, and immediately, his eyes widened.


    Usually, the [Superior Clone] would only be made out of crimson aura, only its eyes and mouth made out of white one, but now¡­


    "=)" there were now some strands of golden aura in the body of the clone, and its eyes had reversed crimson crosses in them, shining with red aura.


    Basically¡­ it finally hit Stark that Exorcist had actually merged with Domination.


    And the most interesting of all¡­ was that his aura had also changed, the golden strands visible in it too, making it much more ''holy''.


    [You can spin the ''ss Wheel'' again at level 75]


    "That''s incredible," Stark smiled, "But I need to move, so thest thing I need to do is just¡­ use my skill points."


    And so Stark opened his skill panel again, he had 22 skill points avable, and he would make sure to use them well.


    Did all of this make sense to him? Would it even matter in the future?


    Frankly, Stark didn''t know, and all he could see in his field of view was the giant smile of the now [Holy Superior Clone], much more sadistic than before, as if absorbing [Exorcist] made it more evil than before (although it should be the opposite).


    ''Sigh¡­ I don''t know, let''s just get this over with,'' and so he picked the skills he wanted to upgrade.

 Chapter 187: The Big Upgrades and Perks

    [Skill Points: 22 Avable!]


    Stark poured all of his focus onto the skill panel, wanting to upgrade THE skills that he thought would be best at this very moment.


    No one knew what awaited them at the following floors, and there was no saying if he would need to fight someone else: they only went up two floors, yet five of them had died.


    At this rate¡­ only 2¡­ no¡­ only 1 person would live to see the warden.


    ¡­


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv15; Focus lv15; Aura Smash lv10; Clone Frenzy lv15; Invincible Dodge lv5; Double Assault lv5; Crimson Spears lv1; Heaven''s Wrath lv5; Alchemist lv3; Potion Crafting lv3; Target Maniption lv1; Dodge Control lv1; Crimson Ball Transmission lv1; EGO lv1; Crimson Purification lv1


    ¡­


    These were all the skills he had, and to be honest there was starting to be a huge amount of them.


    If he got too many, he would surely abandon some of these skills to use stronger ones, which was what other people must do, as it is impossible to take every skill into ount in a battle.


    Somehow¡­ for some strange reason¡­ Stark didn''t like it, but he shouldn''t be bothered by it for now, so he quickly moved on.


    ''Hm¡­'' although he wanted to do it fast, he also wanted to choose wisely, rushing and picking a bad skill in this situation to upgrade was like asking for death.


    And so after two minutes of deep thinking¡­


    "Alright, got it all," he selected all the skills he wanted and assign the amount of skill points to them.


    [You have upgraded ''Invincible Dodge'' to level 10!]


    [You have upgraded ''Double Assault'' to level 10!]


    [You have upgraded ''Dodge Control'' to level 5!]


    [You have upgraded ''Alchemist'' to level 5!]


    [You have upgraded ''EGO'' to level 5!]


    Stark decided to go for the safe options this time, as these were all skills he was guaranteed to use, except for [EGO] but it was a mythical skill so it would be dumb not to upgrade it, as well as [Alchemist] since he had two skill points left, and it was at level 3, so why not.


    And of course, upgrading 5 skills to their threshold could only mean one thing¡­ PERKS!


    ~DING, DING, DING, DING, DING~


    Five panels surrounded Stark, and he began reading them to assimte the new perks he was getting, it was always good to know even if you couldn''t test them out after all.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Invincible Dodge lv10]


    [New Perk: Combo Dodge]


    [Description:] If many attacks areing your way, you are able to continuously dodge them in opposition to being able to only dodge once, the limit is 10 dodges currently though.


    [Note:] Basically, if someone attacks you 10 times, then as long as it is continuous within a short time, then you will be able to avoid all the attacks by fazing through them (as long as you have the right timing of course)


    If you do dodge an attack and no attackes after a second, then the [Invincible Dodge]bo will be considered over, and you will have to wait a minute to use the skill again, as per usual.


    ¡­


    ''Interesting¡­ so I can dodge 10 attacks one after another as long as there is less than 1 second between each of them¡­'' Stark was already happy as this meant being able to avoid many attacks at once, it almost fucked him up many times before after all, ''Next¡­''


    ¡­


    [Skill: Double Assault lv10]


    [New Perk: Increased Usage]


    [Description:] You can use Double Assault for 20 seconds instead of 10, that''s all.


    ¡­


    ''Fair,'' Stark shrugged, it was incredibly good, and there was nothing much to say about it either, so he just moved on.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Dodge Control lv5]


    [New Perk: Semi-Control]


    [Description:] When you activate this skill, your aurapletely takes over your body, thus meaning you cannot control it whenever it is dodging, but thanks to this perk, you have regained a bit of control while dodging, meaning that by trying hard enough, you can dodge all attacks while also lending some good hits (you still can''t use any other skill while Dodge Control is active though¡­)


    ¡­


    ''I do remember the feeling of not controlling my body, and the fact I can''t use skills while it is active sure is annoying, but hopefully it will slowly and slowly give me back the control, so I can do everything while dodging¡­'' Stark nodded in approval, and his clone kept smiling, it seemed joyful the more perks it was getting¡­ wait no, not it, but Stark¡­ obviously, right?


    "=)"


    ¡­


    [Skill: Alchemist lv5]


    [New Perk: None]


    [Description:] You can just craft potions that require this skill level, that''s all.


    ¡­


    This skill waspletely passive and mostly for potion crafting, so it waspletely normal.


    Thus¡­ Stark moved to thest skill, the one he had been waiting for the most: EGO, the mythical skill.


    ¡­


    [Skill: EGO]


    [New Perk: EGO EGO]


    [Description: Your ego is¡­ never mind, just keep increasing it]


    [EGO Meter: 0]


    ¡­


    "¡­" Stark was hesitating between calling it a scam or something great that he would surely discoverter, but as expected, he got no information on this skill, it was so bad even the description of the skill itself looked like it hesitated to tell him, "Oh well," he just shrugged.


    With that out of the way, he had done everything that needed to be done concerning the fact he reached level 50, and he felt great about it: new ss (although it was absorbed by Domination), new skills, new perks, all in all it was good.


    ''Alright, need to reach the second sublevel now,'' Stark opened up his mouth and began to follow it, rapidly turning over the corners and checking where the red dot (him) waspared to where the green one (the exit) was.


    And so after less than three minutes¡­ he arrived in front of a silver door that was already opened.


    ''Quick, quick,'' he didn''t waste time and began to climb the spiral of stairs that would lead him to the second sublevel.


    And so after a minute, he could see the entrance of the floor, the silver door in front of him already opened, but impossible to see inside because of the light beyond it.


    "Everyone must be already far inside the second sublevel''s maze, let''s just go," he began to calmly walk toward the door, his expression as neutral as ever before, while his clone was still behind, the big smile on its face still there, but they had one thing inmon: both surrounded by a powerful crimson aura, now enhanced by the specks and strands of golden and holy aura from the exorcist ss.


    It was truly only the beginning, and he was ready to explore that floor while hopefully not meeting anybody.


    But¡­ unbeknownst to Stark¡­ all the other participants were waiting for him beyond that door.


    "=)"

 Chapter 188: Stark is the Winner?!

    "Seriously, for how much longer do we have to wait?" Yuri sighed, "We would have probably found the key already by now¡­"


    Kokoro taped letters on her tablet, and after a few seconds a blue panel appeared, disying what she wrote, "Risking our lives for no reason is useless, even more so now that we are only six," at this point, Leader hadn''t died, him and Stark were still fighting.


    "¡­" the white-haireddy kept inspecting her slender hands, unbothered by the presence of the others.


    "Come on, people," Akira pped his hands as he smiled, "I already told you, but I got the [Instant Use Key] from killing one of the other ANNOYING yers¡­ so all you need to do is wait for everyone to enter this level so that we can head toward the final one together¡­"


    As Akira said, he had been the first to enter this sublevel, and so whenever someone went up the flight of stairs, he would show them the key and advise them to stay here, in exchange he promised that he would open the door to the next sublevel once everyone reached this floor.


    He even went as far as showing his second item, which was the [Healing Spring], to prove that he wasn''t trying to ambush them all then use his perk item to kill them all.


    And in the end, surprisingly, all of them sat down beside the entrance of the second sublevel, just waiting for the final participants that were still down to show up.


    But after less than five minutes¡­


    [A participant has been in by another yer!]


    "¡­!"


    The four people that had been previously silent read the message and figured out why it had taken the other people so long toe here.


    "They were busy fighting, huh," Yuri shrugged, "I guess only five of us left¡­"


    "Hm¡­" Akira scratched his chin, "But I do have a question now¡­"


    "What is it?" a blue panel appeared above Kokoro''s tablet.


    "I mean¡­ if only five of us remain, and there are four of us here, it means that only one person among Chosen, Officer and Leader survived, right?" Akira had a big smile on his face as he revealed that fact to the others.


    And it was undeniably true: all those alive were obviously present, and the only other three they knew were still alive were those three he cited.


    Which meant¡­ one among them was a monster that had essentially killed another monster, or one monster that killed two people: people who kill must be truly confident in their strength, and so if someone killed another participant, it would undeniably mean that they are strong, enough to be called a monster at least.


    "I don''t wanna seem biased, but Leader probably killed Chosen, then killed Officer, it seems the most logical since he is the strongest among them," Akira shrugged, it waspletely logical thinking, Officer didn''t seem that strong with his guns, especially against a legitimate sect-leader with no mercy in his eyes, and Stark¡­ well¡­ wasn''t he the weakest among them all?


    "What if Leader killed someone, then got killed by the other one?" Yuri proposed.


    ~TAP, TAP, TAP~


    Kokoro''s expression became more serious as she mercilessly taped words on her tablet, her eyes darting everywhere as if she was analyzing something.


    And so¡­


    "Impossible, I have already analyzed all three of them, and by far there is no chance Leader would die to any of them, Chosen was probably the first to die, then Officer followed!" Kokoro had a skill called [Tablet Analysis], allowing her to analyse things at incredible speed, and most times her predictions were right, making her someone incredibly useful in terms of gathering information.


    And so with that, everyone nodded: they were already ready to see Leadere out of the door, his usual neutral expression visible on his face.


    "How are you so sure?" Yuri asked, he had a feeling this was wrong.


    ~TAP, TAP~


    "As I said, I gathered information about their powers, we obviously saw Chosen fighting, and as for Leader¡­ well¡­ I knew about him from real life," Kokoro revealed as she continued taping, "He is a powerful sect-leader, feared by thousands of people, and I know about some of his skills, but one thing is for sure: they are terrifyingly powerful, so it isn''t likely he would die to Chosen based on the skills he showed to us!"


    "Interesting," Akira nodded.


    "¡­" the white haireddy was looking at Kokoro.


    And to add to that¡­ Kokoro continued taping and gave her final statement.


    "There is a 0.4% chance that Chosen won against Leader, that is all I know, so Leader definitely won," Kokoro sighed, it was her skill that told her everything, but she truly believed in its analysis powers.


    But¡­ she continued taping regardless.


    "But¡­" Kokoro''s expression darkened, "If by some miracle, the person we seeing out of this door is Chosen¡­ then¡­ please be wary of him."


    Her aura sent chills down the spine of them all, even the white-haireddy, although none showed it on their faces.


    "Let''s just wait for Leader then, doesn''t matter if he killed two people as long as he doesn''t try it on us," Akira shrugged, seemingly ready to kill the sect-leader if he tried anything.


    With those words, it seemed everyone had already considered the fact Chosen and Officer died to be the truth.


    Everyone except¡­ for the white haired woman, who knew that something was up.


    And so¡­ after around ten minutes¡­


    ~THUMP, THUMP~


    They heard noiseing from the beyond the darkness of the door, precisely the sound of someone climbing up the stairs.


    "It''s him," Akira sighed.


    "Fucking finally," Yuri rolled his eyes.


    ~THUMP, THUMP~


    The sound of footsteps in the hallway leading to the door were heard getting closer and closer.


    And once the sole survivor of the ''Sublevel 3 Incident'' appeared¡­


    "Leader, finally you are here, dear friend!" Akiraughed while pointing the key toward the door to show it to him.


    But¡­


    "Leader¡­?" Stark smiled as he looked at the four people sitting around the entrance, "I''m sorry, but you won''t be able to find him anytime soon."


    All participants had faces full of disbelief and shock, except for the white-haireddy who actually let a small smirk once seeing Stark emerge from the entrance.


    "What are you all doing here?" he asked, acting as if nothing was wrong.


    "You¡­ are¡­ alive?" Akira asked, he was the first to be surprised: Leader was powerful, just like Kokoro said, and he TRULY expected him to be the one to emerge victorious.


    And yet¡­ Stark won?


    "If by some miracle, the person we seeing out of this door is Chosen¡­ then¡­ please be wary of him," thest words Kokoro said rang in the ears of everyone as they looked at the boy.


    "So¡­ Leader and Officer are¡­?" Yuri hinted, trying to get the answer out of Stark.


    "Yeah, dead, Leader killed Officer then he tried to kill me," Stark shrugged, he didn''t really care to reveal anything as it was already pretty damn obvious he was the one who killed if he was thest person toe out of the third sublevel, "And of course, the moment he tried to kill me¡­ I just HAD to end his life, didn''t I =)," Stark smiled as coldly as his clone.


    And with that¡­ all people present realized two things: Stark hid most of his skills from them during the fight against Soyer, yet still won, and¡­ he was an extremely dangerous person.


    "Well, anyway," Akira retrieved hisposure, "I got an [Instant Use Key] as a reward and n to use it on this level."


    "That''s good, then let''s get going," Stark began to head in a random direction, of course he nned to take the exit, but not with any of these people as it would be too dangerous.

 Chapter 189: New Deadly Perk: Private Duels

    "¡­" Stark opened up his map and began following the arrow that pointed toward the green dot, which was the exit.


    But right as he was about to turn around the corner¡­ someone called out to him.


    "HEY!" it was Yuri, the guy almost the same size as him with the scraggly hair, "Where is the ''THAT'' thing?'' he asked.


    "¡­?" Stark turned around to see that Yuri had a determined look on his face, "That thing¡­? Oh!" he immediately understood what he meant, and so he smiled.


    For some reason, the [Superior Clone] didn''t follow closely behind him, maybe since it knew itself that its presence could result in chaos among the participants?


    ''Juste,'' he ordered the clone, and suddenly¡­


    ~FWISH~


    It emerged from the other side of the door.


    And the moment it did¡­


    ~FWISH, VIOUM, KWICH~


    Every participant activated their powers, especially Akira who had never seen it before.


    The clone''s aura was now even more overwhelming than before, the small strands of golden aura from [Exorcist] somehow enhanced it and making it even more powerful.


    And¡­ the clone''s body was also extremely beautiful, it was glowing, and although it waspletely made out of crimson aura, the small specks of holy aura made it as if there were hundreds of stars in it.


    "=)" Yet that chilling and cold smile never went out.


    ~THUMP, THUMP~


    All participants were cautious around the clone, it was quite the scary thing even for them.


    Meanwhile, the [Superior Clone] just looked around before dashing toward Stark, arriving beside the original in less than a second.


    "We''ll be leaving, see you at the exit," he spoke as he turned the corner with his clone.


    "What the fuck was that thing¡­?" Akira''s pupils were still shaking a bit.


    "We don''t know, but I think I understand why Kokoro said we need to be wary of him¡­" Yuri added, he was biting his thumb''s nails, "Anyway, I''m out of here," and he disappeared out of the thin air, leaving star particles behind as he also headed toward the exit.


    ~TAP, TAP~


    "See youter," Kokoro taped a button on her tablet, and a blue light emerged from it, taking over her body like some sort of shield, "I hope to see you all aliveter."


    ~FWISH~


    She began to float in the air thanks to that blue light then headed toward a direction the others didn''t take.


    "Just us two now, heh~" Akira smiled as the beautiful white haired woman, who didn''t even acknowledge his presence, "Well, we''ll meet at the exit again anyway," and so he took yet another hallway.


    There were at least seven different halls to take from the entrance, so pretty easy to take different paths as to not meet one another.


    "¡­" the white-haired woman didn''t move for another minute, instead looking at the ground, her eyes clearly thinking about something else, "Stark Heartsouls¡­" she mumbled as she finally got up and took another path as well.


    ***


    Back to Stark, he was walking beside his clone, the two just looking ahead, while thetter obviously kept smiling.


    And at the very moment everyone separated¡­ new panels appeared before him.


    [5 participants alive!]


    [Wee to the Second Sublevel: The Undead Realm]


    Stark looked around, he hadn''t really taken his surroundings into ount, but the halls were filled with eerie purple mist that seemed to twist and coil around the walls like ghostly tendrils, and the air was heavy with the scent of decay and the sound of distant whispers echoed through the corridors.


    There were some torches made out of human bones, and a blue fireing out of them, giving the small amount of light needed to be able to see, plus the walls and floor were made out of sturdy ck stones, a linear granite line in the middle of each of them.


    "Just go to the exit¡­" he mumbled to himself as he continued following the map.


    But of course¡­ that wasn''t all the panels, there was ONE missing, wasn''t there¡­


    And it was¡­


    [New Perk!]


    ''Oh boy¡­''


    [Introducing the ''Private Duel'' perk!]


    [It is too difficult to find another participant and kill them safely while avoiding suspicion from the others, so this perk allows you to ask for a duel with another yer, and as long as they ept, you will be both put into a giant arena, away from all yers and monsters, guaranteeing a fair fight!]


    [Use the ''DUEL'' panel to request a duel with another yer, note that the duel will NOT start until both parties agree!]


    [Note: when receiving a duel request, the person who requests the duel will be anonymous!]


    And before he could even register what all of this was about¡­


    [You have received a "DUEL REQUEST" from "ANONYMOUS PLAYER"!]


    [Do you want to ept the duel request?]


    [Y/N]


    "¡­" someone, as soon as they saw that new perk, probably immediately sent invitations to everyone, ''Fuck that shit,'' Stark didn''t click neither on Y nor N, he just minimized the panel.


    Stark had already a pretty giant idea of who it could be: either Yuri, the guy trying to look innocent, or Akira, who didn''t hide his intentions to kill for rewards.


    "=)" the clone just kept smiling, the smile on its face telling Stark it was the right thing to do, as wasting time on pointless battles wouldn''t do him any good.


    And so just like that, Stark continued to walk through the purple mist, trying not to bump into walls or anything of the sort since it was pretty hard to see ahead, even with the map as it didn''t specifically show exactly where the turn was.


    [Watch out!]


    But after five minutes of nothing happening, Stark''s [Focus] skill warned him, and¡­


    ~BIM, BIM, BIM~


    All the eyes of the skull torches in the hall he was in lit up with a blue aura, and¡­


    ~CRUMBLE, GROWA~


    From the ground below emerged dozens of undead monsters, surrounding Starkpletely.


    ''I mean, I can just avoid them all and rush, but it would be annoying as I don''t know where the walls are because of the mist, plus¡­ it''s just free experience points, isn''t it =)?'' Stark positioned himself as he began smiling.


    "GROAOR!"


    "Klklkl¡­"


    "Ooooou¡­"


    He heard many different noisesing from around him, but he couldn''t see the monsters clearly.


    "Alright, let''s just get this over with," he waited for them to approach him first as to not make a fatal mistake.


    It wouldn''t be long until he would reach the exit of this floor anyway, so might as well take advantage of that and discover which monsters were in the ''Undead Realm'', right? As it would be his only ever fight in this sublevel.

 Chapter 190: Crimson Purification of the Undead

    Stark stood his ground as the undead monsters closed in on him, their ghastly forms illuminated by the eerie blue fire of the skull torches. The mist twisted and turned around them, creating a surreal and ominous atmosphere in the corridor.


    And when they got close enough¡­ Stark was able to see all the undead monsters: skeletons with rusted armor and jagged swords, ghouls with decaying flesh and glowing red eyes, ghosts with pale figures, their mouths open as if ready to suck Stark''s soul, and even a massive zombie with rotting limbs dragging behind it.


    They moved in a slow but coordinated manner, their intention clear as they advanced towards Stark.


    "GROAOR!"


    "Klklkl¡­"


    "Ooooou¡­"


    They were taking slow steps, but the more they approached, the more Stark could see their disgusting bodies and faces.


    And also¡­ he noticed just how many of them there were.


    From the ground, ceiling, walls, from all around Stark, there were at least fifty of those monsters.


    Of course, their sheer number meant that they weren''t even that strong, thus giving less EXP per monster, but it didn''t matter since it would be really easy to be overwhelmed.


    "Perception!"


    ¡­


    [Name: Skeleton Warrior]


    [Level: 90]


    [HP: 50000]


    [Skills: Critical Strike, Bone Shatter, Shield Bash, Skeletal Body, Undead¡­]


    ¡­


    [Name: Undead Ghoul]


    [Level: 93]


    [HP: 70000]


    [Skills: Feast of Flesh, Decay Aura, Shadow Crawl, Fly, Undead¡­]


    ¡­


    [Name: Trial Ghost]


    [Level: 92]


    [HP: 58000]


    [Skills: Ghostly Wail, Soul Drain, Phantasmal Form, Ethereal Touch, Undead¡­]


    ¡­


    None of these monsters were truly strong, one attack from Stark probably enough to destroy them all, plus they didn''t have that many skillspared to other monsters in the trial.


    Which meant that it was truly all about the numbers, and while Stark analyzed them, a dozen more monsters appeared, their numbers rising after each second.


    There was a single monster stood out from the rest though: the giant zombie.


    ¡­


    [Name: Undead Elite Zombie (ELITE)]


    [Level: 110]


    [HP: 400000]


    [Strength: 4873]


    [Stamina: 7281]


    [Speed: 1492]


    [Defense: 3910]


    [Skills: Raging Smash, Corpse Explosion, Decay, Flesh Feast, Diseased Bite, Undead Control (MYTHICAL), Rotting Grasp, Undead Regeneration, Hulking Presence, The Ultimate Zombie¡­]


    ¡­


    Not only was this zombie the bigger out of them, easily towering over Stark and being almost as big as the [Elite Guard] from the fourth sublevel, but it was also the strongest monster Stark encountered yet, even more so than the other elite.


    His stamina was extremely high for some reason, while the rest of his stats were still good, but still below those of the other elite guard.


    All in all¡­ this monster was powerful.


    The Undead Elite Zombie''s skin was a sickly green, with patches of flesh hanging loose from its body. One of its eyes was missing, leaving only a hollow socket that seemed to re at Stark with malevolent intent. Its jaw hung agape, revealing rows of jagged, broken teeth that dripped with ck ichor.


    It didn''t have any kind of weapon, just its bare hands slowly advancing toward Stark, carrying a bunch of corpses that were put together likes chains, it was a disgusting sight.


    "GROAOROA~" it roared, but by its tone, it didn''t seem like it was talking to Stark¡­ but to the monsters?


    And as expected, the moment the elite roared, the monsters suddenly stopped in their slow rush,pletely surrounding Stark.


    "¡­"


    "=)"


    But¡­ Stark wasn''t scared, and neither was his clone.


    Why, you might ask? Why would Stark not be at least worried of dying by those monsters and maybe even turning into of them, even though there were at least 80 of them around him now?


    Was it because he could revive himself twice? Or because he truly believed he coulde out on top against all the odds?


    Well¡­ no¡­ the real answer was¡­ [Crimson Purification]!


    It was the basic legendary skill he got from [Domination] absorbing [Exorcist] and merging them both into one.


    But¡­ wasn''t this sublevel called the [Undead Realm], and weren''t all those enemies somewhat rted to undead beings¡­?


    If that is the case¡­ then¡­ isn''t [Exorcist] in its perfect element?


    And so¡­ without wasting time, Stark''s aura grew as he kept smiling: none of these monsters could put a dent on him.


    "¡­?" the zombie was the controlling all the monsters tilted its ugly head, confused as to why the human was so vividly smiling.


    But after a few seconds, it decided that it was over and that they should get rid of him quickly.


    And so¡­


    "GROAORK!" he roared again, and all the monsters suddenly rushed at Stark, leaving their slow approach from before and now actually running.


    But¡­ this was futile.


    "CRIMSON PURIFICATION!" Stark shouted.


    [Description: A divine ability that eradicates evil and impurities from the surrounding area, dealing massive damage to demonic and cursed enemies while increasing the Holy aura, making you stronger against these types of foes. However, it has no effect on other types of enemies.]


    A blinding light erupted from Stark''s body, enveloping the entire corridor in a radiant glow. The undead monsters screeched and wailed as they were consumed by the purifying mes, their forms disintegrating into ash before vanishingpletely.


    This skill was extremely powerful against undead, able to weaken those that are very strong, butpletely annihte the ones too weak to tank the power of the holy aura.


    And so just like that, EVERY monster beside the elite zombie disappeared, the floor of the hallway now filled with deep gray ashes, which were previously the monsters that wanted to eliminate him.


    "Gro¡­arork¡­" even the giant zombie seemed to have been weakened, forced to get on its knees as a small part of its head had evaporated from the holy aura.


    "-173819!" this was the damage it had received from this attack,pletely destroying its control over the monsters as it had lost all its minions because of the holy auraing out of Stark''s body.


    "I feel like a true saint now," Stark smiled as he took a step toward the giant zombie.


    "Gr¡­" the zombie looked down on the floor, its expression darkening as it saw the ashes of itsrades/minions, and then¡­ "GROOAKRK~"


    It suddenly got up again, retrieving its full form, and although its now half-destroyed face wasn''t restored, it did make it much creepier than before as its sole yellow pupil looked at the human who dared to attack it like this.


    "GROAOOOOROA~" it roared again, also taking a giant step toward Stark, making the ground around him shake.


    And so just like that, Stark was forced to fight another elite monster even though he just wanted to reach the exit.


    But¡­ this was an opportunity to test out [Exorcist] while also getting stronger, so why the fuck not?


    "COME AT ME, ZOMBIE," Stark didn''t back down as he saw the zombie rush at him.

 Chapter 191: The Undead ELITE Zombie

    ~THUMP, THUMP~


    "DISEASED BITE," the elite zombie rushed at Stark, wanting to eat him alive as revenge for killing all its minions.


    But¡­ it was futile.


    "=)" suddenly, Stark''s clone snapped its fingers, the golden lines on its body glowing brighter than ever before, "CRIMSON PURIFICATION!"


    ~BOOM~


    A wave of holy energy surged from the clone, enveloping the elite zombie in a blinding light. The zombie let out a guttural scream as its decaying flesh began to disintegrate rapidly, unable to withstand the purifying power of the skill.


    After all, if Stark could use a skill, then his clone could too, which meant that he could use [Crimson Purification] twice.


    Smoke wasing out of the elite zombie''s flesh as it was affected by the holy auraing out from the clone''s body.


    "-142719!" although it was weaker than Stark''s attack, it wasn''t even that far inparison.


    And so the zombie elite fell to the ground again, it wasn''t dead or anything, but just too weak to even move as it justy there.


    "Gr¡­o¡­a..krz¡­"


    "Damn, undead monsters really are nothing now," Stark was astonished: the skill worked way better than he ever thought it would, able to take down dozens if not hundreds of undead instantly if they were within the range of the holy aura, "Well, let''s just kill this guy!"


    "DOMI-CHAIN RESTRAIN," he summoned the chain in his hands and threw it toward the zombie, its face and body facing the cold ground.


    But¡­


    ~GRAB~


    The zombie moved its arm at thest second to block the chain, then used his other one to break it in half¡­


    "Groa¡­k¡­" it began to get up for the second time, its spirit hadn''t left it yet (well yes it did, but you know), "GROAOROAK~" and after a few seconds, the elite zombie was back up again.


    It had lost one of its arms, its leg had a chunk of it, and overall its body was in worse condition than before, even though it was already bad at the start.


    [Elite Zombie HP: 83462/400000]


    It had already lost three fourths of its life from the two [Crimson Purification] skills, and even though it was back up and seemed to roar in anger, it was apparent that its movements were weak.


    But¡­


    "UNDEAD REGENERATION!" suddenly, the zombie activated one of its legendary skills.


    The ash that was scattered all over the hallway began to float in the air, then after a few seconds, it started heading toward the elite, precisely in the spots where it was damaged: its legs, and head.


    It couldn''t retrieve its arm since it was already detached from its body, but¡­


    "+175000!" it got back a lot of its health, plus the ash of the other monsters had actually managed to heal its leg and the part of its head that had been destroyed, meaning that except for its lost arm and some small destroyed pieces of flesh, it had mostly recovered its previous form.


    "¡­" Stark didn''t even seem bothered by this: it had lost an arm, so it was still much weaker, and even the zombie should know it, as it didn''t retrieve itsplete confidence even with that much.


    ~STEP, STEP, THUMP!~


    Yet again the giant zombie began rushing ( slowly as its speed stat was low) toward Stark.


    Its movements were weak, its body was scarred from the damages, but it was stilling for him.


    "DISEASED BITE¡­" the giant zombie jumped at Stark, its gaping mouth opened to swallow him whole.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Diseased Bite]


    [Description: A massive bite that will surely kill, but the special power of this skill is that those swallowed or bitten by the zombie will also transform into one of them, now under the control of the elite forever¡­]


    ¡­


    "GOAIRAKK~" the zombie''s mouth was now right in front of Stark as he was ready to bite him.


    But¡­


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE," Stark''s [Superior Clone] was already ready for this, and so Stark didn''t even bother moving out of the way.


    The clone had immediately begun charging up the fist the moment it saw the zombie lying down, and although it didn''t expect for it to get back up, it didn''t matter much since the attack had already been ready.


    And so¡­


    ~FWISH, VIOUM~


    The clone sent the giant fist, two times the size of the zombie''s head, toward it.


    ~BOOOOM~


    As it was currently jumping horizontally to eat Stark, the fist hit it straight on, breaking some of its already destroyed teeth and smashing its head in more than before.


    "GROAKFKQ~" it couldn''t even reach Stark that it was sent away in the opposite direction, crashing against the wall at the very end of the hallway.


    "-113928!" the damage was very good, able to damage the zombie''s corpse even more so than it already was.


    Oh, and as for the reason why [Crimson Purification] did just a littlez more damage than this attack against an undead was because although that skill was extremely strong against undead beings, it didn''t specifically mean that it could massive damage.


    Basically, its main power was to "WEAKEN" an enemy, and this is exactly what it did.


    "Groaoro~" and this is the reason why damage doesn''t matter in such a situation as although the fist hit him for 100k points of damage, the zombie still got up, clearly less damaged by this than by the holy aura.


    And just like that, Stark could truly understand why an [Exorcist] was so powerful against these beings.


    [Enemy stunned!]


    "Well, it''s our win," Stark smiled as he looked at its clone, and it nodded.


    "DOMI-CHAIN RESTRAIN," the clone sent another crimson chain toward the elite, and this time it couldn''t do anything but watch as the chain put itself around its legs, slowly but surely taking over its stomach, chest, arms, then head in that order.


    And after a few more seconds¡­


    [Elite Zombie is now unconscious!]


    The chain has sessfully absorbed all its force, knocking it out in the process.


    To be honest, seeing it in that sorry state, Stark REALLY wanted to wait another ten minutes for [Crimson Purification] to be usable again so that he can torture it more, but¡­ he didn''t really want to wait all this time, so he just decided to end its life.


    Much like the [Sublevel 4 Elite Guard], this elite died so quickly that it couldn''t even use most of its skills: Stark got rid of its minions immediately, then destroyed its body right afterward, making it harder for it to use skills, and then he knocked it out before it could even attack.


    It was a magnificent victory for him in that regard as other ssifiers always say that killing a monster before it could even act was something.


    "Aura Smash¡­ MERGE!" he focused his power in his right hand, and after ten seconds summoned the giant fist, much more powerful than his clone since he was original, sending it toward the unconscious giant zombie.


    And so¡­


    ~FWISH, BOOOOM~


    "-163748!"


    And just like that¡­


    [Undead Elite Zombie HP: 0/400000]


    [You have defeated the ''Undead Elite Zombie lv110''!]


    He was able to defeat that elite extremely easily, like¡­ it was ALMOST too easy.


    "¡­" Stark had a neutral expression on his face as he saw the corpse of the zombie, as well as the ashes around him.


    Was he getting too strong for even the monsters supposed to be at his level¡­? Or maybe it was just a convenient battle for him since he had all the right skills?


    He didn''t know, but it was good he could finally get this over with so that he can reach the exit.

 Chapter 192: Wielding Cross

    "Phew..." Stark was kind of happy he was able to get rid of all those monsters easily, and if it wasn''t for [Exorcist] and [Crimson Purification], then it would have been much muuuch more difficult, ''Let''s go I guess,'' he thought while looking at his clone and it nodded.


    After all, he had gotten rid of all the monsters, so there were no more threats.


    ''Just need to pass that huge zombie...'' he thought as the corpse of the deformed zombie was ced against the wall, precisely where his next turn was to reach the exit.


    Stark frankly didn''t like that, because somehow, the atmosphere around the zombie was just as dark as before, it was like some sort of aura was still swirling around it even though it was dead.


    ''...'' Stark never believed in the "it''s just my imagination" thing, so he carefully walked toward the monster, with the sole intent of turning around the corner and leaving this hall.


    ~STEP, STEP~


    Stark and his clone got closer to the massive zombie.


    ''Oh well, looks like everything was fine,'' and they were able to pass the zombie, now on the verge of turning around the corner, which meant they were closer to it than ever before.


    And right at that moment...


    "CORPSE EXPLOSION, ACTIVATED!"


    The zombie''s body began to glow with a terrifying crimson aura, almost as if it was... about to explode?


    ''Fucking knew it,'' Stark looked at the glowing zombie for a single second before dashing inside the hallway.


    But... [Corpse Explosion] was almost instantaneous, so there was no way to truly escape it from there.


    And so...


    ~BOOOOOOOM~


    The corpse of the massive zombiepletely exploded, sending blood, flesh and organs everywhere, reducing it to nothing but a pile of disgusting green flesh as all its body was scattered everywhere now.


    Thankfully enough, Stark''s quick thinking allowed him to get out of the radius of the explosion.


    But...


    ~SPLASH~


    Some of the blood that had been spread out everywhere actually hit him straight on since it emerged from the corpse like a fountain of blood, every wall having traces of blood on it now.


    ''...'' Stark stopped in his tracks: his body was covered in zombie blood now, and although it didn''t do anything, it was still disgusting, and thankfully enough his head had been spared, meaning it was mostly his clothes that had been tainted, "Fucking hell..."


    It was indeed unexpected, but it wasn''t surprising a monster was able to use a skill even after death to possibly take out its opponent when it least expects it.


    "Oh well," Stark quickly moved on as he still needed to get to the exit.


    But...


    ~DING, DING, DING~


    He heard dozens upon dozens of notifications, and around 80 panels appeared around him, obstructing his view.


    [You have in "Skeleton Warrior lv90", gaining 23272 EXP!]


    [You have in "Undead Ghoul lv93", gaining 25824 EXP!]


    [You have in "Trial Ghost lv92", gaining 24119 EXP!]


    .


    .


    .


    [You have in "Undead Elite Zombie lv110", gaining 2,658,487 EXP!]


    And so with all of this...


    [Your level has increased to level 53, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 54, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 55, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Experience: 1122262/1500000]


    And so that could only mean one thing...


    [Level 55: please pick a card]


    And so, just like before, three purple cards appeared in front of him.


    "Not five anymore, huh..."


    [Note that some cards will now contain skills rted to "Exorcist" as it has been merged with "Domination"!]


    ''Amazing news...'' Frankly, Stark wanted to stack up on the maximum amount of [Exorcist] skills possible.


    The reason?


    Not only were they immensely strong against undead and demons, but also...


    The major reason why was because of... the [Devil Abyss] rift, which he had the key of.


    If the name was true, then it would be filled with demons, so getting [Exorcist] skills for as long as he could was the best choice to dominate itpletely, even more so with the possibility of other ssifiers being present after he opened it.


    ''You know what to do, clone...'' Stark smiled at his clone, and it smiled back, the reversed crimson crosses that now served as its pupils shining brightly.


    And so the clone went behind the cards to check out the pictures that were on them.


    The clone couldn''t speak, so Stark just looked at it while it was observing each of the images, trying to discern which one would be better.


    And after thirty seconds... the clone pointed at the one in the middle.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark grabbed that card almost instantly then turned it.


    And on it was... the picture of a giant crimson cross floating above a stickman figure, at least five times the size of the figure.


    ''I knew you wouldn''t disappoint,'' Stark nodded, almost wanting to tear up because of his clone''s understanding.


    Why? Because it was DEFINITELY an [Exorcist x Domination] skill!


    And so Stark immediately read the details.


    ...


    [Skill: Wielding Cross]


    [ss: Domination X Exorcist]


    [Rank: Epic]


    [Description:] Activating this skill allows the wielder to summon a giant crimson cross above them, which emits a powerful aura that is very ufortable to undead beings and demons.


    But this isn''t the TRUE power of the cross, the real power is that the user can use that giant cross and swing it toward enemies for THREE attacks (meaning you can swing it three times), afterward it will disappear!


    [Note:] Each attack of the cross has a cooldown of five minutes, so use them carefully.


    ¡­


    ''Incredible...'' Stark almost wanted to hug his clone, this would definitely be a useful skill against demons and undead, making him a killing machine against those types.


    But right as he thought that everything was going well...


    [A participant has been in by another yer!]


    Another kill happened, although everyone had gone in different directions and vowed to meet one another at the exit for Akira to open it...


    ''...'' Stark''s expression did darken slightly,but he didn''t mind much.


    The only thing he needed to know was that among the other four, one of them was dead, killed by another person.


    Of course, Stark never TRULY believed in the fact that they would begin to cooperate together in escaping this trial together, it would have been too good to be true, after all, he could sense that ALL of these people were twisted in some way, even Kokoro and the white-haireddy who didn''t talk.


    "Oh well¡­ I guess teamwork was never an option¡­" although it would have been so much smarter to just fight the monsters together and then the warden since they were all extremely strong, it seems like one or two people among them believed otherwise.


    Now, Stark just needed to be more careful and head toward the exit to figure out who died.


    If one person had died while each had gone in different directions, it meant that either something else ambushed them by following them right after everyone left¡­ or¡­


    "The duel feature¡­" Stark mumbled, which would mean that the person who died had actually epted the duel in the hopes of killing the person who sent the invitation.


    Was it the person who sent his invite? He didn''t know, but for now, he just needed to increase his awareness as none of these people were allies to begin with.


    [4 participants remain!]

 Chapter 193: The Golden Palace of Death (First Sublevel)

    ~THUMP, THUMP, THUMP~


    Stark walked across the mist-filled hallways of the [Undead Realm] sublevel, and he surprisingly didn''t meet any monsters, maybe it truly was all about that elite zombie which was controlling them all?


    In the end it didn''t matter as Stark reached the green dot that indicated the exit, and there¡­ he saw the white-haireddy sitting against the wall, her eyes closed.


    She looked so peaceful, and the white aura around her was moving like a melody, making it extremely pleasant to watch.


    "¡­" Stark and his clone began to head toward the exit, and thedy opened one of her eyes to see who was here, "Just me, not here to kill you," he shrugged, and she went back to closing her eyes without answering.


    The fact she was already here meant that someone between Kokoro, Yuri and Akira had died.


    Not wanting to waste his energy, Stark sat against the wall right in front of the emotionless woman, not bothering to even look at her as it was useless.


    But right as he sat down¡­


    "I am confident you are going to survive," she spoke for the first time, her voice just as angelic as her aura.


    "I know," Stark didn''t even question it, he just confirmed what he already knew: he sure as hell wouldn''t die in this trial.


    "Good¡­" that''s all she said before going back to closing her eyes, it was almost as if she was meditating though.


    "=)" his clone though seemed to enjoy that, and it didn''t sit down as it couldn''t really get tired, so it just kept staring at thedy.


    "Sora," she didn''t open her eyes again, "Don''t say it in front of the others."


    It might sound confusing like that, but Stark immediately understood that it was her name (or maybe codename, doesn''t matter), which meant he was finally able to identify her.


    "Alright," Stark nodded as he now kept looking at his fist, it was surrounding by crimson and holy aura.


    A few minutester¡­


    ~FWISH, FFINNNNGGG~


    There was some sort of noise, and when Stark turned his head, he saw that it was just Kokoro, who was still using her tablet to float in the air rather than walking.


    ~TAP, TAP, TAP~


    "Phew~ That elite zombie was pretty though!" she typed on her tablet and the blue panel appeared in front of the two others.


    "Oh?" Stark raised his eyebrows, "I wasn''t the only one who had to fight that horde of monsters and that elite zombie that controlled them?"


    ~TAP, TAP~


    "Nope! Had to fight it as well, it seems like everyone did actually, maybe it was the way this sublevel was testing us since we already had the key to leave it?" she shrugged.


    It was rather interesting as it meant that everyone, including Sora, Yuri and Akira had probably fought the elite zombie.


    But now that Kokoro was here¡­ it meant that someone between Yuri and Akira had died.


    ~TAP, TAP~


    "I knew that neither of them were trustworthy, probably used the duel request thing to fight one another¡­" Kokoro sighed, it was the first time anyone could hear a small glimpse of her voice, although that wasn''t really words.


    And right as they spoke of them¡­


    "Hey!" Akira appeared from around another corner.


    "¡­!"


    "¡­"


    "=)"


    All people in the exit hallway turned their heads toward Akira, his white hair and mature face visible thanks to the light of the blue skull torches.


    "Shall we go," he adjusted his neck tie while walking toward the exit door, which was made out of gold.


    The fourth sublevel''s door was bronze, the third''s was silver, and this one was gold, so what texture could the first''s¡­? Only one way to find out!


    Akira approached the golden door, grabbing his key from his pocket and ready to ce it in the lock.


    But¡­ right as he was about to do that¡­ he turned around.


    "Hey," he spoke again, his expression darkening.


    "¡­"


    "=)"


    "¡­"


    No one said anything, except for the Stark somehow found himself smiling.


    He already had a giant idea as to why Akira suddenly stopped, and his clone too since the smile on its face grew wider.


    "Let me guess," Stark spoke first, and all eyes fell on him, "The ''TOP 3'' perk, right?"


    "¡­" Akira sighed, "Precisely."


    And so everyone remembered about it:


    [If before the end of sublevel 2, only three people remain alive, then you willpletely skip sublevel 1 (the hardest and most deadly of them all) as well as the ones you are in, even if it is sublevel 3, immediately heading toward the warden!]


    "I might sound crazy, but if someone sacrifices themselves here, then we would be able to directly reach the warden, meaning three people would be able to possibly live instead of only two or one if we don''t all die¡­" Akira''s logic would be okay under normal circumstances.


    But¡­ who wanted to die?


    WHO would sacrifice themselves after reaching so far?


    "Let me tell you something," Stark took the initiative, "No one is gonna sacrifice themselves or whatever bullshit you n, if you want to do that perk, then how about YOU die," Stark''s smile grew wider, and it even sent a shiver down Akira''s spine, "Or what? Are you going to try to kill one of us?"


    "¡­" Akira didn''t even say anything, he would usually try his hardest to argue back or force his way to whatever he wanted, but for some strange, he didn''t like Stark''s aura and expression, so he just turned around and turned the keyhole with the key inside of it, opening the golden door.


    [The door to the first sublevel has been opened, thus canceling the ''TOP 3'' perk!]


    But this wasn''t all¡­


    [Too bad! You all will regret that choice =)]


    And just like that, the panel disappeared.


    "I am touching the door," Akira suddenly said without even looking back, "If anyone tries to steal it from me¡­" his aura waspletely dark in color, surrounding him as if he was some sort of demon, "I will make sure they regret that choice even after they died," and so he began to climb the spiral stairs.


    "=)" Stark''s clone smiled, its expression clearly asking Stark to steal the reward so that they could beat his ass.


    ~STEP~


    Stark walked right behind Akira, walking up the stairs while staring at the murderer''s back, while his clone was busy protecting him from all angles.


    Kokoro and Sora followed afterward, and after around three minutes¡­


    They reached the end of the spiral stairs, the second golden door now in sight.


    ~FWISH~


    Akira put his palm against the door, and it glew.


    [Akira has reached the first sublevel first, granting reward¡­]


    After a few seconds, the door opened, allowing the group to enter thest sublevel.


    [First Sublevel: The Golden Pce of Death]


    [Have fun!]


    And when all of them entered the level¡­


    ~CLANG~


    The golden door closed behind them, meaning they obviously wouldn''t be able to go back.


    It was the final stretch, but just how many would survive at the end¡­? No one knew that answer, but it surely wouldn''t be much¡­


    After all¡­ this sublevel was extremely deadly.


    And in addition to that¡­


    [Introducing a new perk since you have reached a new sublevel!]


    A new perk would be revealed¡­ the worst of them all¡­

 Chapter 194: The Wheel Target Perk

    [Introducing the FINAL perk!]


    All participants trial looked at the screens in front of them the moment the golden door that led them to this sublevel suddenly closed.


    As it said, it was the final killing perk they would be getting in this trial since the next floor would be floor 0, where they would have to fight the warden and hopefully escape this nightmarish prison and trial.


    And so... after a few seconds... IT appeared.


    [New Perk: "Wheel Target"!]


    [A giant wheel will appear in front of everyone, this wheel will contain the faces of the four remaining participants]


    ''...?'' Stark couldn''t understand where this was going, the only times he had to use a wheel was for his ss.


    [The wheel will spin in front of everyone, and the person selected by the wheel will be the target!]


    "..." Kokoro and Sora didn''t talk.


    "Oh..." Akira scratched his chin.


    "=)" the clone kept smiling.


    [The person selected as the target by the wheel is going to be the ''Killing Target'' of the others!]


    [Basically... if someone is selected as the target, and you kill them, not only will the door to floor 0 will be opened, but the warden will also have half of its life reduced, plus each of the alive participants will be getting two rewards each!]


    This was an incredible offer: in exchange for one life, they would be almost guaranteed sess in the trial.


    But... would the target stay still?


    No... obviously not... they would surely attack and kill in hopes of eliminating the people that were chasing them.


    Yuri was dead, killed by someone (probably Akira), which meant he wouldn''t hesitate for a single second to kill anyone.


    And so, before anyone could even think deeply about any of this...


    [The wheel has appeared!]


    A giant crimson wheel with the text "Domination" written in white above it appeared.


    On it were four sections: the faces of Akira, Kokoro, Sora and Stark.


    But before the wheel could even spin...


    "MOON DOMAIN!" Akira activated one of his legendary skills, and a sphere-like domain surrounded them all as he pulled his shining silver katana.


    "If any of you move, I''m cutting them in half, you are in my domain, so you can''t avoid the shes and I can attack from any angle," Akira spoke, his face full of determination and ruthlessness, "I''m killing the target then we can get the fuck out of here..."


    "And what if you''re the target?" Stark spoke, he was the only one who could hold a decent conversation after all, as Kokoro used her tablet and Sora didn''t speak at all.


    "..." Akira seemed to think, "Then I guess we''ll find the key to floor 0 and the four of us will challenge the warden fairly, I still need you folks for that."


    "Kind of hypocritical, don''t you think?" Stark smiled, he was in the [Moon Domain] but was still strangely confident.


    "Doesn''t matter, you are all in my domain, so if I wanted I could sh you all right now, just ept the rules," Akira seemed to be determined to make things go his way.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    No one said anything, and Stark just kept smiling as he shrugged.


    Akira truly wanted to control this entire trial it seemed, otherwise why would he threaten them this much even though he already had lots of rewards (5) from killing others and opening the doors (as well as stealing one from Yuri).


    [Spinning the wheel! Good luck!]


    And so the giant crimson wheel began to spin by itself, turning so fast the faces of the participants were but a blur.


    ~TICK, TICK, TICK~


    No one talked as they all observed the wheel slow down, the anticipation in the air growing thicker by the second as EVERYONE wondered who the unfortunate soul that would have to face off against the other three would be.


    ~TICK.... TICK...~


    The wheel was slow enough to be able to see the faces of the participants.


    ''...''


    "=)" Stark''s clone was still smiling, almost as if it knew who would be selected.


    And so...


    ~TAP~


    It tapped Stark''s shoulder and gestured for him to run with its head.


    "...?" Stark was confused, after all it wasn''t certain who would be chosen as he had a 1/4 chance to be the target, and he was sure that the trial would be fair with all participants as it equally wanted to see them dead.


    But... once he turned his head back toward the wheel, wanting to check where it was currently as it would important¡­


    He saw IT... THE panel that he wished he would have never seen in this situation.


    [Talent: Chosen One, activated!]


    ''...!'' Stark instantly realized what this meant.


    [Chosen One] would only activate in such situations to help him out or to do something bad to him, and in this case where he had a 1/4 chance to be selected, what kind of good thing could over ur?


    Maybe it was a pun with the talent''s name since, you know, "Chosen One" and Stark would be the one chosen by the wheel, but it was still bad.


    And so... Stark immediately knew who would be selected as the target before the wheel even stopped spinning.


    ''Yeah... I''m out of here,'' he didn''t even want to try his luck.


    ~TICK.... TICK...~


    The wheel was now moving so slowly they would be able to predict who it wouldnd on.


    And at that moment...


    ~DASH~


    Stark ran in the opposite direction, toward a random hallway further inside the sublevel.


    "YOU LITTLE- IT DIDN''T EVEN STOP!" Akira was furious, and so... "MOON DOMAIN... SLASH~"


    He swung his katana in Stark''s direction, and as he was in Akira''s domain, the swing tranted into a giant silver sh that reached Stark out of nowhere: when Akira swung in his domain, the attack wouldnd wherever he wanted.


    But...


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," Stark rolled immediately once he saw the attacke in his direction.


    "FUCKER!" Akira was getting extremely mad for some strange reason, maybe he truly despised when things didn''t go his way?


    "MOON DOMAIN, SLASH!" Stark was still in the domain as it was fairly big from Akira upgrading it to the max, and so he immediately shed again.


    But¡­


    "COMBO DODGE x2!" thanks to the new perk of [Invincible Dodge], Stark was able to follow his first roll with another one, meaning he was able to dodge the second sh.


    "SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!" Akira was ruthless as he kept shing in Stark''s direction, not understanding how he would avoid him so easily.


    "COMBO DODGE x3; x4; x5¡­ x8!" Stark kept running.


    And after the 8thbo dodge hit¡­ he was able to escape the [Moon Domain].


    "=)" and now that they were out, Stark and his clone stopped, able to watch the wheel from their point of view while also escaping the shes of Akira as they wouldn''t be able to hit them from here.


    "I''M GOING TO KILL YOU, FUCKER," Akira shouted again as he turned his head toward the wheel.


    And at that moment, it stopped on¡­ Sora?


    Huh? Why would it stop on Sora? Wasn''t Stark the one going to be selected?


    "SEE, YOU DIDN''T EVEN NEED A REASON TO RUN!" Akira groaned again as he was ready to sh Sora in half.


    But at that moment¡­


    ~TICK~


    The wheel went crazy and suddenly did aplete 180-degree turn, resulting in the red arrownding on Stark, who was in the sectionpletely opposite to Sora.


    "Knew it," Stark sighed as he got ready to run.

 Chapter 195: Stark is The Target (who would have guessed)

    The other participants of the trial were visibly disturbed, even Sora having a semi-confused look on her face (although it still pretty emotionless).


    The wheel was going tond on Sora, this was a truth no one could deny, and yet¡­ it just turned out of nowhere tond on Stark.


    The very same Stark that had begun running away before the wheel could even reveal the target.


    ''Something fishy is going on¡­'' they all thought as they stared at Stark, who was observing them from afar.


    That guy somehow knew, and the smile on the crimson replica of him was still extremely cold.


    "OH WELL, IT DOESN''T MATTER!" Akira already had his katana in hand, so he just positioned it as he was ready to chase after Stark.


    ~TAP, TAP~


    "Sorry," Kokoro entered this word on her tablet as the blue holographic aura surrounded her, and she began to float, "I need to survive."


    Akira and Kokoro seemed ready to attack Stark in the hopes of being able to escape this trial.


    Meanwhile...


    "¡­" Sora just shook her head in disagreement as she turned in the opposite direction.


    She was the only one not interested in killing Stark, or maybe it was a trap, and she would ambush himter? In the end it didn''t matter as she turned around a corner, and he couldn''t see her anymore.


    "Are you sure about that," Stark asked as he smiled just as widely as his clone, "Are you confident you can take me and him, it is a 2V2 after all¡­"


    "Quit chattering and just die, do it for the greater good¡­!" Akira proposed, holding his katana with one hand but pointing the other at Stark.


    "Weren''t you the one who put us inside a domain to guarantee your safety? And didn''t you say if YOU were the target, then we would have to nicely look for the key?" Stark''s smile grew wider, the crimson around him beginning to surround his body and face.


    [EGO Meter: 20/100]


    ''Oohh¡­'' Stark noticed the panel as it appeared before him: his ego meter had gone up by 20 for some strange reason.


    "Well¡­ this was the easy way, now we''re going to have to kill you the hard way," Akira shook his head, "That''s too bad, I truly wanted to make your death painless¡­"


    "=)" but in response, Stark''s clone just pointed at Akira and visiblyughed at him, no sound came out, but everyone could easily notice it was mocking him.


    And so¡­


    [3¡­]


    Akira and Kokoro powered up their auras.


    [2¡­]


    Stark did the same, it was pretty much a 2v1, but thankfully his clone should also be counted as a person as long as it was alive.


    [1¡­]


    All participants face one another¡­


    And¡­


    [FIGHT!]


    "HOLOGRAPHIC MISSILE!" the first to act was Kokoro, a blue missileing out of her tablet, its texture seemed to be glitching as it was made from holographic aura.


    And then¡­


    ~FWISH~


    She sent it toward Stark, with the pure intent to get rid of him in one blow for the ''greater good'' of their trial.


    "=)" Stark''s clone backed away as there was no need for it to stay in the radius of the explosion while it wasn''t targeted.


    And as for Stark¡­


    ''Come on¡­'' he mumbled as the missile was approaching, ''Just a bit more¡­''


    And when it was right about to explode in his face¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" he dodged the explosion at the perfect microsecond before it hit him.


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    [+10 EGO!]


    The world around Stark turned gray, and it slowed down, Akira and Kokoro''s movements now so minimal it almost looked like they froze in time, but some signs of movement were still there to confirm they could move.


    "PERCEPTION!" without wasting time, Stark activated his skill to check out his two opponents, it was something he always did of course, but finding the good timing was something essential, and thankfully enough, doing a [Perfect Dodge] gave him exactly enough time to analyze them.


    ¡­


    [Name: Kokoro]


    [Level: 58]


    [ss: Domination]


    [HP: 49250]


    [Strength: 1726]


    [Speed: 6291]


    [Stamina: 7314]


    [Defense: 2409]


    [Skills: Domination, All-Use Tablet, Holographic Weapons, Holo-Copy, Holographic Missile, Glitch Barrier, Virtual World (MYTHICAL), Practical Prediction, Time Dtion, Quick Hands, Rune Engraving, Element Simtion¡­]


    ¡­


    ''All her skills are rted to the tablet probably,'' Stark thought as his gaze turned to the tablet she was holding in her hands so tightly, her stamina was extremely high in that regard because it was needed for her to cast a lot of spells, and her speed was high as well, thus sacrificing strength (as she didn''t need it), and defense.


    But¡­ now that he knew¡­


    ''That tablet¡­'' Stark thought as he kept staring at it, ''If I somehow manage to destroy it¡­ then¡­ never mind, I don''t have much time left¡­''


    He immediately moved to Akira''s status window.


    ¡­


    [Name: Akira]


    [Level: 64]


    [ss: Domination]


    [HP: 43700]


    [Strength: 7371]


    [Speed: 5938]


    [Stamina: 3119]


    [Defense: 3345]


    [Skills: Domination, Power of the Moon, Moonlight sh, Moon Domain, Half-Moon Technique, Lunar Strike, Shadow Dash, Celestial Sanctuary, Full Moon Form (MYTHICAL), Silver Illusion, Phase Shift, Cosmic Barrier, Phantom Dance¡­]


    ¡­


    Akira''s stats were mostly oriented toward attack and speed, leaving out stamina as each of his blows would be tremendous in strength, as well as leaving out his defense as he would be too fast and end the battle quickly.


    Each of his skills, much like Leader with the snakes and Kokoro with the tablet, were rted to his power, which was the [Power of the Moon]¡­


    ~TAP TAP~


    Kokoro tapped something on her tablet for Akira, and the message [Got him] appeared.


    Of course, from their point of view, Stark was just hit by a FUCKING missile straight up, and so they thought that he would be seen dead on the ground after the smoke from the explosion dissipated.


    But that would be a mistake¡­


    ''Got them now¡­'' Stark thought as he finished reading the panels.


    He was surrounded by a smoke screen¡­ and he wanted to take advantage of it.


    "CRIMSON BALL TRANSMISSION!" he summoned the crimson ball in his hand and threw it, aiming for the spot right behind Akira and Kokoro.


    The two participants were not suspecting Stark to be alive, or at least he would be knocked down as [Holographic Missile] was a skill that needed around a minute to charge up (without being able to cast anything else), meaning Kokoro had spent precious time powering it up, which is why it was so powerful, worthy of a being a legendary skill.


    She had defeated many monsters and people using this skill, so she was absolutely confident in its ability to kill or knock down people.


    But¡­ had none of them learned yet that Stark could avoid all their attacks using [Invincible Dodge] when it was aided by [Focus]?


    Or maybe they just couldn''t understand how Stark did it? Thinking it was a rare skill that could only be used once in a while.


    Well, frankly, it didn''t matter much for the boy as the smile on his face grew wider.


    ~FWISH~


    They didn''t notice the crimson ball flying over them.


    And the moment it was in midair at the spot right behind and between Akira and Kokoro.


    ~SNAP~


    Stark snapped his fingers, teleporting behind the two enemies instantly.


    Right at that moment, the smoke disappeared, and the two noticed that Stark was nowhere to be seen.


    "Huh? Wait a damn minute-" Akira turned around, and his face turned livid as he saw Stark, a huge smile on his face, right behind them.


    "¡­" Kokoro didn''t even let out a noise, but her expression was clearly of someone that is surprised and scared.


    "Thought I would go out this easily?" Stark smiled as he punched both of them in the face at the same time.


    This time, the battle would truly begin.

 Chapter 196: Stark VS Kokoro and Akira

    ~BAM, BAM~


    Stark teleported behind Akira and Kokoro while they thought that he had died, and punched both of their faces right as they finally noticed his presence.


    "-8938!" was what Kokoro received.


    "-8123!" and this was Akira''s damage.


    As said before, when two [Domination] users shed, their aura would massively protect them, thus reducing the damage they received.


    This was one of the reasons Stark was able to withstand some attacks who normally should deal much more damage than normal.


    ~THUMP, THUMP~


    Akira and Kokoro were sent flying backward, both still holding on to their weapons as letting their katana/tablet go out of their hands was instant-death.


    And after traveling some distance, they both stopped, getting up almost instantly and staring at Stark, who was looking at them from their previous position.


    "Fucking hell¡­" Akira sighed as he spanned his katana in his hands, ready to cut him in half.


    "¡­" Kokoro didn''t say anything, although some blood was dripping from her head as her cheek was visibly bruised.


    And right as they were about to attempt to attack Stark¡­


    "AURA SMASH, CRIMSON SPEARS!" before they could even attack, they sensed a powerful aura behind them, and once they turned¡­


    They saw three crimson fists, as well as three spears heading their way, only three meters away from reaching them.


    "Can''t forget about the other me now, can we?" Stark smiled, and the clone did as well.


    The two of them were visibly furious, Kokoro seemed to be of the gentle type, and anyone could almost imagine her talking in an emotionless voice when the messages of the tablet appeared.


    But¡­ this time, her expression was full of anger.


    "GLITCH BARRIER," a blue and glitchy aura came out of the tablet in her hands, surrounding herpletely like some sort of oval shield.


    "COSMIC BARRIER," Akira did the same, and as for him, his barrier LITERALLY descended from the sky in a silver glow, its color was purplish/dark, reminiscent of the night sky as some stars could be seen in it.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOOM~


    The barriers tanked all the attacks, allowing both of them to receive 0 damage.


    "ALRIGHT, LETS-A-GO!" Akira roared as he finally activated one of his skills after being interrupted twice, "POWER OF THE MOON!"


    Suddenly, the aura around Akira whitened and¡­ a silver moon, the size of his head, appeared and began to spin around him.


    A silver trail of aura was escaping the ''moon'' and going into his katana, infusing it with power.


    And as for Kokoro¡­


    She finally decided to use not one, but two of her basic skills.


    "ALL-USE TABLET, HOLOGRAPHIC WEAPONS," the words appeared with a red tint on her tablet, which now had even more glitches showing up.


    The tablet was now glowing with energy, and as soon as she activated her other ability... five immense blue holograms emerged from it, simr to when she first saw Stark''s clone. A sword, shield, hammer, bow, and spear materialized, all towering above her and connected to the tablet by a thin stream of blue aura, proving their origin from the device in Kokoro''s grasp.


    Both of them were now ready, and it also meant that Stark was in a really bad position.


    Even if his clone TECHNICALLY counted as another person, it was just another Stark but slightly weaker, meaning that he wouldn''t be able to keep up with other people as strong as he was.


    Kokoro and Akira were now back to back, the girl looking at the smiling clone, and the man in the suit at the original Stark.


    "MOONLIGHT SLASH," Akira shouted, brandishing his katana with a pretty much unnoticeable flick of his wrist. The silver aura trail he had been building up earlier was now fully unleashed, and his katana seemed to glow with the power of the moon.


    ~SLASH~


    And although he wasn''t even CLOSE to Stark, at least ten meters apart, he still sliced in his direction, and what resulted from that attack was¡­ a crescent moon trail cutting through the air, emanating a sharp, vitalizing silver luster.


    "Aura Smash," Stark sent a crimson fist toward the aftereffect of the sh, which was still rushing at him, and they both collided, dissipating into thin air.


    "¡­!" Akira was surprised, his attack would normally be almost unstoppable against most monsters no matter how much they tried to stop it, "Oh yeah¡­ domination¡­" he mumbled as he remembered that Stark also had domination aura, meaning he could counter his attack with one of his.


    Stark already knew that, but Akira took a few seconds to realize it.


    To be honest, Stark was in such disadvantage in this fight that it was already scary enough he didn''t just run for his life and hoped Sora would find the key to open the door: Stark attacked from close range using his fists, and who else attacked from close range? Well¡­ Akira of course, he had a katana in hand after all!


    And so¡­ he dashed toward Stark.


    "Half-Moon Technique," using this skill meant that Akira was entirely changing his strategy: going from long range to short range using the power of his half moon.


    The moon that was spinning around him responded ordingly and went from a full moon to a half moon as well.


    ~FWISH, SLASH~


    In a fraction of a second, the white-haired man was already right in front of Stark, his de aimed at the boy''s neck.


    Stark easily avoided the attack by backing away though, yet Akira followed him.


    ~SLASH, SLASH, SLASH~


    Using the moon powerhouse that was spinning around him, Akira kept shing at Stark''s decision, who was forced to keep avoiding the attacks to not get cut.


    And after a few seconds¡­


    "Crimson Spears¡­" Stark summoned one single spear above his head, then sent it not a Akira¡­ but¡­ the moon around him.


    And while he was too focused on attacking Stark, he avoided the spear, thinking it was aimed to him.


    But¡­


    ~BAM~


    "-74271!"


    The powerhouse could actually be hit.


    [Moon HP: 925729/1000000]


    ''Bingo¡­'' Stark thought as avoided another attack and kicked Akira out of his range.


    "-1381!" the kick didn''t do much, but it served as a way to temporarily allow himself to think before another assault.


    All of Akira''s power probably came from this moon, but it had so much HP, and it was so small that it would be impossible to destroy it, which is quite understandable as eliminating someone''s powers easily would be bad.


    In exchange for incredible powers, Akira was forced to put himself at risk by letting his powerhouse constantly spin around him, in the view of the enemies, although most of them never even thought of destroying that though¡­


    But Stark was different: this was a 2v1.5, and so killing Akira''s power core would be an almost instant victory in his book.


    Stark nced at his clone afterward, and he saw that it was holding on against Kokoro, who was sending her hologram weapons toward it in a frenzy, with not a single second of rest.


    Kokoro vs Fake Stark, and Akira vs Original Stark, who would win this battle? No one really knew¡­


    But one thing was certain: only one team would remain by the end.

 Chapter 197: In Complete Disadvantage Yet Still Fighting

    ~SLASH~


    "STOP RUNNING AWAY," Akira was forcefully following Stark wherever he went.


    ''Fucking hell¡­'' Stark was also atpletely disadvantage since¡­ well¡­ you can''t really stop a silver katana in full power with your bare hands, now can you?


    Stark''s clone almost seemed to struggle, and although the smile on its face never disappeared, it couldn''t get a single hit on Kokoro who easily managed to avoid his punches or used her [Glitch Barrier] to tank his projectiles.


    "PRACTICAL PREDICTION," it also seemed like she could predict the clone''s next actions as her eyes switched color, some sort of technological zoom appearing in them when she used that skill.


    They didn''t want to use [Double Assault], [Dodge Control] or [Heaven''s Wrath] for the simple reason there was no saying what their opponents could pull, and wasting such precious skills which they could only use once in this battle was terrible.


    ~FLAP~


    [Judicator''s Wings] pped in the opposite direction when Akira juked Stark by making him go to the right then shing in that same ce, saving him.


    "LUNAR STRIKE!" Akira jumped in the air, cing his katana downward as he aimed at Stark, the moon behind him growing in size in exchange for an increase in power as he swung down.


    "Crimson Spears," unbothered, Stark summoned three spears and sent them all at the moon, making it easier to aim at it since it grew in size.


    ~BAM, BAM, BAM~


    "-77183! -74829! -76491!" all three hit.


    But¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Akira was now falling back, his katana glowing so intensely it was impossible to see the de without being blinded.


    And so he swung it at Stark.


    ~SLASH¡­ BOOOOOOOM~


    [Lunar Strike] concentrated the power of the moon into a giant attack, and right after that attack, an explosion would ur.


    And so it did: right as Akira''s sword''s edge touched the ground between him and Stark, a massive explosion urred, sending both of them flying.


    "-1271!" this attack actually harmed Akira himself, but since it was his own, it didn''t do much damage.


    "Got him, Kokoro, just get rid of that thing and we''re good!" Akira shouted while looking back at the girl, who was still actively fighting the clone, somehow unable to hit it as it avoided everything.


    They were in a stalemate: none of them able to hit one another, even though Kokoro should have theplete advantage against one clone that was weaker than the original and was one shot.


    Meanwhile¡­


    ''Fucking hell¡­'' Stark ced his arms in front of his face to shield himself from the silver smoke of the explosion.


    [The Purgatory Shadow took the hit in your ce!]


    [Invincible Dodge] wouldn''t work as the explosion was too close and big for him to roll away, but his ring saved him as otherwise he would have had to use [Dodge Control] or a revive.


    A massive shadow form came out of the ring the moment the katana hit the ground to shield him, thus he received the knock back but no damage.


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE¡­" Stark was getting tired, so he focused his aura around his fist, and it was so much more powerful than before, strands of golden and holy aura visible as it was powering up the fist.


    Akira didn''t think Stark could survive this as he didn''t dodge, so he just waited for Kokoro to finish her fight.


    But¡­ after ten seconds¡­


    ~FWISH¡­ BOOOOOM~


    He sent the crimson fist, now 1.5 bigger than Akira in terms of size, flying toward him as he didn''t expect anything.


    It came out of the smoke like a lightning bolt, leaving a powerful trail of crimson aura that seemed to be able to destroy everything in its way .


    "¡­!" for the second time since this battle started, Akira was taken aback by another attack.


    Didn''t he learn that overconfidence was bad? And that when battling against Stark, there would ALWAYS be surprises?


    ~FWISH~


    Akira turned his head right as the crimson fist was only a meter away from reaching him, his eyes widening as he saw the giant attack in front of his face.


    But¡­ he wouldn''t fall for it twice.


    "SHADOW STEP," he vanished into thin air, leaving a dark smoke behind, then reappearing a few meters away, sweating a bit.


    [Shadow Step] was a very hard skill to use, and even he didn''t control it well enough, which is why it took so much energy for him to cast it.


    "Nice try, but that fist won''t attack me or anyone!" Akira proudly shouted as he got ready to go on another attack spree.


    But¡­ Stark just smiled as he kept observing the punch go straight, not even paying attention to Akira.


    "Target Maniption¡­" Stark calmly mumbled as he pulled his right arm forward, his palm facing Kokoro, a thin crimson aura now appearing not only around him, but also Kokoro''s figure as he had set her as the target of the maniption.


    ''Focus¡­'' he mumbled to himself over and over as he closed his eyes and breath in and out.


    Kokoro was busy fighting off the clone, who was like a parasite, not dying yet not doing any damage either, slowly but surely taking her stamina away while his just never seemed to deplete.


    And so once the clone noticed what Stark wanted to do, it just smiled and focused as well.


    "AURA SMASH, CRIMSON SPEARS," it summoned everything in its arsenal, then sent it all at Kokoro at the same time.


    "GLITCH BARRIER!" she ced it in front of her, thus receiving no damage.


    But at this very moment¡­ the crimson fist that Stark sent was behind her.


    "¡­?" she turned around just like Akira, to see that the attack was heading straight at her, her expression full of horror.


    ~FLY~


    She surrounded herself with the aura of her tablet to begin floating and avoiding the attack.


    But¡­ it was toote.


    "GET BACK DOWN, DUMBASS," Stark pointed downward with the hand that had been facing Kokoro, and suddenly, her entire body was taken over by his aura, resulting in her going down instead of up to dodge the attack.


    And so what had to happen happened.


    ~BOOOOOOOM~


    The explosion and attack was so powerful even Sora probably heard it from the other side of the sublevel.


    "-38372!" the damage was phenomenal as well, taking most of Kokoro''s life as she was sent flying backward, the knock back of the attack almost knocking her out cold.


    "SHIT!" Akira knew he couldn''t allow hispanion (even though it was only temporary) to die like this since it would basically be a 1v2, and he really didn''t want to use up his items yet, even though he had five.


    Kokoro could dieter for all he cared, but now he needed to her to hold off the other enemy.


    "Ouch¡­" for the first time, Kokoro spoke, her mind feeling hazy as the explosion hit her straight on, her eyes almost closing.


    "DOMI-CHAIN RESTRAIN!" in addition to that, Stark''s clone took advantage of that to send the crimson chain toward the girl, attaching it around her while she was still in midair, then mming her to the ground with it.


    "-1239!" low damage, but now Kokoro''s arms and legs were bound by the chain, meaning she couldn''t do much anymore.


    And so just like that¡­ the situation became really bad for Kokoro and Akira, who truly thought they would easily win against Stark.

 Chapter 198: Quick Save and Celestial Sanctuary

    "DOMI-CHAIN RESTRAIN!" the chain flew and wrapped themselves around Kokoro, who was mmed to the ground, unable to do anything: her tablet was also wrapped up around by the chain, meaning that the hologram weapons she had been summoning disappeared into the tablet as well.


    "HELP¡­!" and for the first time, she actually spoke, her voice sounded terrified.


    "SHIT!" Akira knew this was a bad, really bad.


    He truly wanted to rush at Kokoro and sh the chain, but there was no way for him to do that as Stark positioned himself right in front of Kokoro, and his clone also crouched down in front of the body, its eyes analyzing each of his movements.


    "YOU THINK YOU''RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO THAT?" the white-haired man roared as he ced his de in front of his face, closing his eyes.


    And after less than a second¡­ he opened them back.


    "SILVER ILLUSION!" beside him appeared two exact replicas of himself,pletely made out of the silver smoke and aura, a trail of the same color leaving their eyes as they positioned themselves to attack.


    "You know I can still see you, right?" Stark never underestimated his opponents, but he just pointed it out for the sake of it, plus he was confident these clones couldn''t deal real damage.


    But¡­ Akira snapped his fingers, and suddenly, the clones'' figures became human, resembling Akira, with no way to discern one from the other.


    And then¡­


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    They all dashed at Stark, while making sure to do all sorts of crazy movements in hopes of hiding the real one.


    But¡­ Stark could easily follow them.


    And so¡­ all three jumped at Stark.


    His eyes were on the original, so he simply punched in his direction, he was confident that this was Akira, since no matter what you tried, he had [Focus] and could also sense him, so there was no chance in hell he missed him.


    And yet¡­


    ~SMASH~


    His fist fazed right through the Akira he punched, making it turn into a pile of smoke.


    "What?" and when he turned around, he saw that the original used the momentum to rush at Stark''s clone, "FUCK!"


    Stark began to follow closely after Akira, who never stopped.


    "CELESTIAL SANCTUARY¡­ OTHERS!" Akira was a masterful user of this technique, and it enveloped Stark and his clone in a bubble of pure white light, making them unable to move or see.


    [Do not fret, he cannot harm you inside of the ''Celestial Sanctuary'' either]


    ''FUCK, FUCK!!'' Stark tried his hardest to move, but he couldn''t, a simple message in his view: [You are in stuck in the ''Celestial Sanctuary'', you will be liberated in 23 seconds].


    [Celestial Sanctuary] could be used by Akira to iste himself from everything for 30 seconds, granting him an imprable barrier¡­ but now that he powered it up to the max level he could, it could be cast on others, stopping them all.


    And so¡­


    ~SLASH~


    He reached Kokoro and shed the chain that was slowly taking up her aura and force, resulting in Kokoro instantly waking up and getting up.


    "¡­" she was sweating all over, "Thank¡­ you¡­" she mumbled to Akira, and he just nodded.


    Meanwhile¡­ inside the [Celestial Sanctuary].


    "RAAAAAAFGHHHHHHH," Stark was shouting with all his strength, he was so mad now that the aura around him became twice as powerful, and he was so determined that he actually managed to move one of his hands, punching the barrier repeatedly to escape.


    His clone was the same, although it was still smiling.


    And so after a while¡­


    [You are in stuck in the ''Celestial Sanctuary'', you will be liberated in 3 seconds]


    [¡­2 seconds]


    [¡­1¡­]


    [You have been freed from the ''Celestial Sanctuary''!]


    "DODGE CONTROL," it wasn''t Stark that used this, but his clone as soon as it was freed from the bubble.


    And the reason was simple¡­


    "LUNAR STRIKE!"


    "QUICK HANDS!"


    As soon as the bubble that has trapped it disappeared, Akira used the power of his moon to jump in the air, ready to cause another explosion as soon as the clone would be liberated, thus instantly killing it.


    And on the other hand¡­


    ~ZAP, FWISH~


    Two giant blue and glitchy hands came out of the tablet, each as big as Kokoro, who was roughly 1.68cm in size.


    She used her powers and ced those hands on each side of the bubble, nning to squash the clone like a mosquito the moment it escaped, then Akira dealing the final blow with the explosion.


    And so as soon as the bubble burst¡­


    ~SLAM, BOOM~


    The giant blue hands closed in on the clone, then Akira immediately swung his katana downward, causing it to explode on hitting the ground.


    "-1238!" he yet again suffered some damage, but it was worth it to kill one of the opponents.


    "Nice¡­ now let''s just get rid of the other one," Akira smiled, "I''ll use an item for this very asion¡­"


    He pulled out his collection of rewards from his suit, cing them in is hands to check them out.


    Akira had acquired two rewards from killing Bang (the tanned guy from the start) and Yuri, two rewards for being the first to reach the floors, and one reward that he stole from Yuri, who had killed Lolia.


    He had used [Instant Use Key], so that meant he was left with four rewards in hand.


    And they were as follows:


    One [Invincibility Token], one [Aura Blocker], one [Monster Scent] and finally, one [Key Location Map].


    The reason he hadn''t used any of these, especially the [Aura Blocker], is because he feared that if he used it on one of them, the other would just run away while holding the other Stark in hand, thus wasting itpletely, and the reason was the same with the [Invincibility Token]: they could run away as they were possibly faster than he was.


    But now that he got rid of the clone¡­ Stark was defenseless, all alone with no way to escape¡­


    And so¡­


    "AURA BLOCKER," he used the item, a wide smile on his face, "GAME OVER, KID!"


    [Aura Blocker: Target a participant and be able to block their powers for thirty seconds, one time use]


    A trail of crimson aura hit Stark straight on as he had no way to dodge it, and suddenly¡­ his very own aura disappeared.


    "¡­" Stark knew what this meant, the [Aura Blocker] sessfully had made it impossible for him to use any of his skills or even run now: he was just an ordinary human.


    And yet¡­ he didn''t seem scared at all?


    "It was a nice fight, Chosen," Akira acknowledge the strength of the boy, spinning his katana as he approached Stark.


    [Aura blocked for 27 more seconds]


    And right at that moment¡­


    ~FWISH, DASH~


    Both Akira and Kokoro, using a lot of their own powers, suddenly dashed toward Stark, closing in the distance on him in less than a second.


    "DIE!" they both spoke, and the fact Kokoro was this mad surprised not only Akira and Stark, but herself too.


    And so¡­ both of them swung down using their own attacks, ready to kill Stark.


    His expression remained neutral through all of this though, and he didn''t look scared one bit¡­


    Wait, no¡­ his expression wasn''t neutral¡­


    Instead¡­


    Stark could be seen smiling: he was this confident he couldn''t be hurt by them, and so that only angered them more.


    This time, they would make sure to end his life so that they could escape this trial.

 Chapter 199: Aura Blocker and Kill

    "PHASE SHIFT¡­ MOONLIGHT SLASH!" Akira used [Phase Shift], which changed the shape of the surrounding moon, making it go from a half-moon to a full moon again, and also making it more powerful in the process.


    Also, he began to hold his katana with his two hands instead of only using one.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Phase Shift]


    [Rank: Legendary]


    [Description: Just as phases of the moon go by, your attitude and techniques must shift as well, this skill allows the user to change hisbat method between two current styles (more will appear after level up)]


    ¡­


    The second style was like this: more powerful attacks, but reducing speed slightly as he was now holding his weapon with two hands.


    It was something he used when he was confident he would be able to kill his enemy in one blow, or wanted to make sure the damage would be enough.


    And in that case, he truly wanted to cause the maximum amount of damage to Stark for annoying him so much.


    "STOP SMILING, ASSHOLE," he swung down at Stark using his new technique, as well as [Moonlight sh].


    And as for Kokoro¡­


    "Rune Engraving¡­ Quick Hands!" she engraved some sort of weird rune on the back of her tablet, it was the drawing of lightning bolt, then regrouped the giant glitchy hands from [Quick Hands], which were still active, and got ready to squash Stark in a smash-like attack.


    ~ZAP, ZAP~


    The giant hands had an electric aura around them, and would zap anyone who even went as much as grazed them, this was the power of the runes.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Rune Engraving]


    [Rank: Legendary]


    [Description: Engrave one of the three avable runes at the back of your tablet: lightning, fire, water, and your attacks will be enhanced by the corresponding element rted to that rune, you will unlock more runes as you level this skill up!]


    ¡­


    And so¡­ both attacks were nowing at Stark, who couldn''t avoid or use any skill since his aura had been blocked by [Aura Blocker], transforming him into somewhat of a normal human being.


    "I shall ept this¡­" he mumbled as he looked down, a wide smile on his face, opening only one of his eyes, his pupils staring intently at the two as their attacks were mere centimeters away from hitting him.


    ~BOOM, ZAP, SLASH~


    The room around them began to shake as the electricity from Kokoro''s rune engraver mixed with Akira''s powerful lunar sh hit the ground.


    "Finally¡­" Akira fell on one knee, breathing in and out repeatedly: he had used too much power for this simple guy, and although he could keep going for long, he still wanted to rest.


    "¡­" Kokoro didn''t say anything, she was thankful for Akira for saving her, but that was all, nothing more, nothing less, and so all she wanted was to reach the warden and get out of this ce.


    "This should be enough, the aura blocker should be deactivated by now," Akira looked at the object in his hand, it was a device with a small screen and a red button under it, some sort of antenna at the top you use to point at the target.


    And so once he opened the item panel¡­


    [12 seconds left for ''Aura Blocker'']


    "Huh? What the fuck¡­?" he loudly spoke, at least loud enough for Kokoro to hear as she approached him.


    "¡­?" she titled her head.


    "No¡­ but if someone is dead¡­ then the ''Aura Blocker'' should be deactivated as there is no aura to begin with¡­" he was holding his chin with his hand, mumbling something to himself.


    [6 seconds left for ''Aura Blocker'']


    ~TAP, TAP~


    "What does that mean," Kokoro tapped some words on her tablet, and the blue screen disyed what she wrote.


    "It means¡­" Akira became to sweat profusely, "It means¡­" he repeated, holding his forehead and gritting his teeth as he looked up, "It means he is alive¡­"


    Kokoro''s eyes widened, and she began to look around.


    If he was alive, then where could he be?


    They killed his clone, then immediately aimed for him as he was under the usage of [Aura Blocker], so how could this kid survive¡­?


    Kokoro turned around, looking behind them, and thus, she got her answer: the clone had never died to begin with.


    As stated before, it used [Dodge Control] the moment the bubble of [Celestial Sanctuary] popped, meaning that even though both Akira and Kokoro teamed up on it, it would still be able to dodge everything as someone using [Dodge Control] could NEVER be hit.


    Right after quite literally teleporting away because of the explosion, Stark''s clone immediately noticed that the two used a reward item to block Stark''s aura and dashed in his direction.


    To be honest, wasn''t it weird that even though Stark''s aura was stopped, the clone was still there?


    Wasn''t he made out of Stark''s aura after all? So how¡­ was it possible¡­?


    Maybe¡­ heh, it didn''t matter.


    All that it knew was that it could still move, and that it would have to do everything to protect the original.


    "FOCUS¡­ EYES VISION," it slowed down time, and that was something Stark noticed too since he himself was now affected by it, meaning that for three seconds, he saw the figures of Akira and Kokoro at 0.25 speed in front of him.


    "CRIMSON BALL TRANSMISSION!" it summoned the ball in hand and ced it in the spot it was in.


    [Target point set!]


    It focused everything it had in its legs, then¡­ it dashed toward Stark at incredible speed.


    ~FWISH¡­FWISH¡­ FWIIISHHH~


    In a fraction of a second it was alright beside Stark while Akira and Kokoro were now mere centimeters away from killing the weakened Stark.


    And so¡­


    ~SNAP~


    ~BOOM~


    Stark''s clone held onto him from behind so quickly it was invisible even for the other [Domination] users.


    Then¡­ it snapped its fingers while holding him, both of them INSTANTLY teleporting to the target point of [Crimson Ball Transmission].


    And so just like that, Stark was able to avoid the explosion and powerful attacks that shook the very hallway they were in.


    [Aura Blocker has been deactivated, 30 seconds have passed!]


    Stark was able to get his aura back the moment the other two figured out what was happening.


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    Akira and Kokoro were speechless as they saw the figures of both Stark and his clone looking back at them, the smiles on their faces still there, haunting them forever.


    ~TAP, TAP~


    The first to act was Kokoro as she tapped on her tablet.


    "M-Maybe we should just try to find the key and fight the warden together¡­" she began, "I mean, I did see that you had the [Key Location Map], so it''s definitely possible¡­"


    She was tired of fighting and attacking just for Stark to avoid everything and somehow living through it all.


    But¡­ Akira wasn''t of the same opinion, he truly wanted to kill Stark, and the more time the boy spent avoiding his attacks and mocking him, the more he truly wanted to see him in pain.


    "You want to give up?" he turned his head toward Kokoro, his expression darkening, "Well¡­" he raised his de, "I guess you are useless now."


    ~SLASH~


    Kokoro already had low HP from Stark''s previous attacks, and so that sh from Akira¡­


    "-12426!"


    [Kokoro HP: 0/49250]


    It killed her.


    [A participant has been in by another yer!]

 Chapter 200: Virtual World

    ~SLASH~


    [A participant has been in by another yer!]


    Kokoro''s body was swiftly cut in half as Akira swung his de at her so fast she couldn''t react.


    "You are useless now," were thest words she heard as her head felt dizzy and the world around her turned upside down.


    The reason he did that? Well, it was because Kokoro proposed that they stop their assault on Stark to try and find the key to the next floor.


    Why would he need to do that when he was stronger than Stark? Why would he need to put himself so low and stop his attacks because it wasn''t worth it?


    "YOU AREN''T STRONGER THAN ME, KID," he shouted at the boy and his clone, his pride hurt he wasn''t able to hit or kill Stark no matter what.


    But¡­ what Akira didn''t expect¡­ was¡­


    "I¡­ Shall¡­ Avenge¡­ Myself¡­" Kokoro mumbled as the upper half of the body fell to the ground, separated from her lower half.


    There was no way for her to survive this, her HP had already reached 0, but in her final moments before death¡­ her tablet began to glow brightly with that same bluish aura, visible glitches appearing in it.


    And suddenly¡­


    ~FWISHHHHH~


    The entire hallway was taken over by the glitchy aura, the walls, floor, EVERYTHING, now reced by that very same aura, making the floor look as though they were in some sort of simtion.


    "VIRTUAL WORLD!" through her sheer determination, Kokoro was able to activate her mythical skill.


    And so¡­ her body suddenly began to fade out of existence.


    "¡­?" Akira and Stark looked around, it was extremely weird.


    "Time to end this," and only a few secondster, a hologram of Kokoro appeared, it was an exact copy of her, except it had no colors, it was just a blue and transparent hologram.


    ~SLASH~


    Akira immediately tried to sh her in half, but his katana fazed right through her, meaning they couldn''t damage her.


    "You are in my world¡­ and you both shall suffer now¡­" she put her hands together and closed her eyes, an ufortable aura swirling around her, and she was strangely beautiful in that moment, the sight of her in this pose extremely peaceful.


    But¡­


    [Virtual World] was everything but peaceful.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Virtual World]


    [Rank: Mythical]


    [Description: In a world of glitches and technology, this skill will allow the user topletely change her surroundings to her likings, cing all her enemies in a simtion where he wasplete control, this skillsts 30 seconds]


    [Additional info: if the user dies, then if they have enough determination, they can cast this skill to avenge themselves]


    ¡­


    "Akira, Chosen," she said, her voice distant and muffled, as if she were speaking through a glitchy radio, "You both¡­" she raised her holographic hand, and suddenly, hundreds upon hundreds of giant blue hands came out of the walls of the virtual world, surrounding the three of thempletely (yes, the clone counts as one).


    And¡­


    "Goodbye," she closed her hand.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    ~SLAM~


    Dozens of hands rushed at each of the participants, each enhanced by [Rune Engraving] as fire, water, or lightning aura surrounded them.


    ~BOOM, SLASH, SLASH, FWISH~


    "PHANTOM DANCE," Akira positioned himself, holding the handle of his katana with two hands, cing it upward.


    And then¡­ he started to swing it at each of the hands.


    Surprisingly, he was able to cut through those attacks, meaning that as long as he managed to keep like this, he would surely manage to pass the 30 seconds¡­


    [Phantom Dance] allowed Akira to swing his de to the rhythm of the attacks, abandoning everything else to focus on dodging and countering instead of his usual attitude and skills, which were all on the attacker side.


    Like he was dancing, his movements were smooth and following a clear pattern, each swing leaving some white trial of aura that looked beautiful.


    And as for Stark¡­ he was struggling more than he thought.


    [Focus] allowed him to see all the of attacks, whichever angle they came from, allowing him to dodge them by a hair''s length every time, but it was still fairly difficult as there were so many of them.


    His clone was on the same situation, although it was still confidently smiling.


    All three of them felt one thing: if any of these things hit, then they would be dead.


    [23 seconds of ''Virtual World'' remaining]


    "Holographic Missile¡­" Kokoro closed one of her holographic eyes, then raised both her arms, summoning not one, not two, but THREE missiles, sending one at each of the people stuck in her virtual world.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," not difficult for Stark and the [Superior Clone] to dodge them using their dodge attack, then following through with abo of 10 [Invincible Dodges] thanks to the new perk.


    But as for Akira¡­


    "COSMIC BARRIER," he was forced to ce his barrier in front of him as shing a missile wouldn''t do anything.


    And so¡­


    ~BOOOM~


    Even though he was protected, the fact the attacks were enhanced by the [Virtual World], as well as the fact he took the explosion in the face¡­


    "-3472!" his barrier shattered and he was sent flying backward, forced to continue shing in the direction of the hands who didn''t stoping.


    [19 seconds of ''Virtual World'' remaining]


    Kokoro''s face remained neutral through all of this, she could clearly see that they were all struggling, yet she didn''t stop, why would she after all, they were her murderers.


    But somehow, around 70 percent of her power was specifically targeted at Akira, maybe since he was the one who dealt the finishing blow¡­


    [13 seconds of ''Virtual World'' remaining]


    By this point, the three got the hang of it, and now smoothly managed to avoid all the holographic handsing their way, even though their speed and numbers were in fact increasing.


    [9 seconds of ''Virtual World'' remaining]


    And at that very moment¡­ when all were confident they would be able to get out of this ce safely¡­ Kokoro began to float in the air, her eyes closed, her mouth shut, and her hands still together, as well as her legs crossed, almost as if she was meditating.


    And so¡­ she used her final resort.


    "I didn''t want to do this¡­" she spoke loudly, "But all of you are monsters, undeserving of living or leaving this ce, I shall take you with me to spare the world of your presence¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "=)"


    And¡­


    "ELEMENT SIMULATION!" she used her strongest [Legendary] skill.


    Her hands, feet, torso, her entire body basically, began to glow with four different colored auras: red for fire, green for earth, blue for water and white for wind.


    It looked like she was powering them up as some sort of energy sphere was forming in the middle of her chest, a trail of aura leaving each of her body parts and powering up that ball at the center, regrouping all the elements.


    [7 seconds of ''Virtual World'' remaining]


    And while she was doing that, ALL attacks had stopped, meaning that Akira and Stark could Kokoro and whatever she was doing.


    Yet in that moment¡­ both of them could sense that this wasn''t good, not one bit.


    [Element Simtion] was a beam-like attack that could be used from long-range, where Kokoro using her tablet would simte the four elements andunch it at her enemies.


    And now¡­ that attack wasing at them, with only five seconds left before ''Virtual World'' ended.

 Chapter 201: Kokoro and the Clones death

    "ELEMENT SIMULATION," Kokoro''s body was surrounding by the four elements: fire, water, earth and wind as she began to float in the air in a meditation pose.


    Some sort of energy ball was growing more and more as she was pouring the aura of the four elements inside of it.


    [4 seconds of ''Virtual World'' remaining¡­]


    The ball of energy was growing more and more, and in less than a second it was already three times Kokoro''s size, meaning that it was extremely powerful.


    "Tsk¡­ lucky idiots, if I had just a bit more time, this entire hallway would have been destroyed¡­" Kokoro sighed as she wasn''t able to power her attack anymore since only three seconds remained before she would disappear forever.


    ~FWISH~


    She separated the giant energy ball into two different ones that were slightly smaller, yet just as powerful, and then¡­ she sent them at Akira and Stark.


    She didn''t even bother to send an attack at the clone, option only for the real threats: the actual participants.


    "And with this¡­" Kokoro looked down, a sad expression on her face and tears forming on her holographic face, "I guess it''s over for me¡­" she fell to the floor, sitting down and just looking at the energy balls head toward them, "You''ll be joining me¡­"


    ''Well¡­ time to use [Dodge Control] I guess¡­'' Stark got ready as soon as the energy ball headed his way.


    ''¡­'' Akira didn''t think of anything, he closed his eyes as soon as he saw the first giant energy ball, and the moon around him began to grow more and more, slowly seeping into his body as it gradually disappeared inside of it, ''FULL MOON FORM!''


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    Both energy balls headed toward Stark and Akira, thetter already having activated his skill, getting ready to cut the ball in half using his mythical skill.


    But¡­ at that moment¡­


    Kokoro opened her tearful eyes one more time, then pointed her arms toward Stark and Akira.


    "TIME DILATION!"


    ¡­


    [Skill: Time Dtion]


    [Type: Epic]


    [Description: Completely slows down the skill of the users you select (limit of two skills per user), thus allowing you to ce an attack as they believe they would be able to dodge it/counter with their skills]


    [Note: it pretty much deactivate the skills]


    ¡­


    And so¡­


    "DODGE CONTROL!" Stark got ready to easily avoid the ball.


    But¡­


    [''Dodge Control'' is affected by ''Time Dtion'', thus the speed is too slow to be cast!]


    This was the second time such a thing happened to Stark, the first being against the cyclops who locked its skill using its eye to lock [Dodge Control] while it was using its final attack.


    And now¡­


    "I''m fucked¡­" Stark saw the ball of energy,bining all element as well as Kokoro''s entire power, heading toward him, only centimeters away from his face


    [''Invincible Dodge'' is affected by ''Time Dtion'', thus the speed is too slow to avoid the attack, try something else!]


    In addition to that, Kokoro had upgraded that skill to level 10, thus allowing it to lock two skills instead of only one¡­ and so he decided to block [Invincible Dodge], taking Starkpletely aback as there was no way for him to avoid now.


    ~FWISH~


    ''Ah¡­'' he smiled as he saw the energy ball, ''I guess¡­ heh¡­ doesn''t matter¡­''


    He turned his head slightly toward his clone, just to see what it was doing in his final movements as it had been his greatestpanion yet.


    And¡­


    ''Oh¡­'' he saw it right next to him, jumping in his direction.


    It didn''t have that =) on its face anymore, instead its expression waspletely serious, and it was following only one order: "Protect the original Stark, at all costs".


    Clones don''t have feelings, and the [Superior Clone] may seem more ''human'' and sadistic, as well as able to think for itself, it was still following its ultimate rule: Stark needs to live.


    And so¡­ it pushed the original out of the way.


    ~SLAM~


    It bumped into him with incredible force, sending him flying to the right and falling to the ground.


    But of course¡­ when it did that¡­ the energy ball hit it.


    ~BOOM, FWISH, ZAP, SPLASH~


    The explosion was deafening, a mixture of fire, wind, water, and earth elements colliding with incredible force against the clone, who received all of it and began to tremble, a powerful aura swirling around it as its body convulsed repeatedly.


    It didn''t have the smile on its face when it saved to Stark, but now that the original was save, then it went back to smiling, the pain was nothing to it.


    And so just like that¡­


    "-56732!" it received damage, and it would have more than enough to kill Stark if it actually hit.


    ''¡­'' Stark sighed, ''There was no need¡­ I can revive myself¡­'' he shook his head, he couldn''t understand why his clone did that.


    But somehow¡­ Stark did feel somewhat sad, almost as if he had lost a truepanion.


    He could summon it back after 1h30 since it was the time needed for all three clones to be restored, but¡­ he didn''t know why it was still¡­ well¡­ doesn''t matter, he had survived.


    [The "Superior Clone" has been killed!]


    And as for Akira¡­


    "¡­" he had already activated his [Full Moon Form], so Kokoro couldn''t slow it down, meaning she decided to slow down [Moonlight sh] and [Half-Moon Technique] instead.


    And yet¡­


    "Pathetic¡­" Akira raised his katana and cut the energy ball so easily it was actually quite scary, the ball exploding behind him and creating a cool effect.


    "-17362!" he did receive some damage but the elements, but he didn''t even look bothered.


    "I¡­ No¡­ None of them thing¡­" Kokoro''s eyes widened as she saw that both Stark and Akira avoided her ultimate attack, "T-This¡­ wasn''t¡­ how this was supposed¡­ to¡­ g-go¡­"


    And so just like that, her holograph body faded, as well as her tablet, and after a few seconds, [Virtual World] deactivated, meaning that the simtion-like surroundings disappeared, reced by the normal golden hallway of the sublevel.


    "At least that''s done with¡­" Akira spoke, his figure was hidden by a wall of smoke created by the explosion of the energy ball, making Stark unable to see how his new form looked like.


    But he wasn''t interested to be honest, since he was too focused on something else¡­


    [EGO Meter: 75/100]


    The EGO meter was somehow growing each time he avoided an attack or hit one himself¡­ it was definitely interesting.


    In the end, he just closed this panel and focused on his final opponent.


    He didn''t understand how shit could be this crazy in such a short amount of time, but now that it happened there was no going back.


    Only three participants alive: Akira, Stark and Sora.


    Just how many would survive by the end¡­ no one knows¡­ but one thing was certain: at least one person between Stark and Akira will die by the end of their battle, and thetter was in his mythical form, and he had 4 more rewards that he could use.


    Basically¡­ Stark was inplete disadvantage as he had also lost his clone.


    Just how would he get out of this situation¡­?

 Chapter 202: The Final 1v1

    [1V1]


    "¡­"


    There was nothing between Stark and Akira now: Kokoro was dead, the [Superior Clone] was killed by the energy ball as well.


    Now¡­ it was just the two of them.


    A TRUE 1v1, between the two strongest of the trial (or maybe Sora was stronger, nobody knows).


    "Fucking hell¡­" Stark could hear Akira from beyond the smoke screen created by the explosion of the energy ball, but it didn''t seem to disappear as the energy of the elements was still present even after Kokoro died.


    [Stark Equipment (Rewards of trial): Monster Scent, Revive Token, Key Location Map, Killing Spree]


    [Akira Equipment: Invincibility Token, Monster Scent, Key Location Map and the final reward he got from killing Kokoro was¡­ the Healing Spring]


    Each had three rewards they could use in battle, but would wasting them all before even meeting the [Warden] be beneficial¡­?


    In the end, it didn''t matter.


    And after around a minute¡­ the smoke dissipated.


    "Full Moon Form¡­" Akira had activated this perk right as he was the first giant energy ball, thus allowing him to transform into his ultimate form, much like Leader with [Ultimate Fusion] and [Symphony of Snakes].


    And so¡­ Stark was finally allowed to see Akira''s new form: the [Full Moon] form¡­


    It was as if Akira''s body had been infused with ethereal light, his white hair now shimmering with an otherworldly aura, his eyes glowed a piercing violet, and his attire had transformed as well.


    The once-casual business suit now reced by what could only be seen as a [Moon] armor: a sleek, polished white exterior adorned with intricate lunar symbols and patterns, shimmering silver ents that glinted in the light.


    The armor was protecting everything except for his head, and it looked frankly beautiful, the lunar power emitting from it.


    A small moon was spinning around Akira''s waist, much slower yet faster, almost impossible to hit now.


    [Full Moon HP: 100000/100000]


    But in exchange its HP were reduced massively.


    And as for his weapon¡­ he was holding not one, but TWO katanas, each resembling the others as both of them were shivering with light, golden stars glowing in them.


    Over all¡­ it looked like a powerful form, and it was a masterpiece of lunar power.


    "Sigh¡­" Akira frankly didn''t like using this form as it actually was really difficult to use, and ufortable for him as he wasn''t used to wearing the heavy armor and using two katanas, but he himself couldn''t deny he was much more powerful with it.


    [Akira HP: 10853/43700]


    The umtion of all the small damage, as well as the 17000 he got from the energy ball, resulted in Akira being atst quarter of life.


    His stamina was also depleted, swinging his katana too much and using too many skills, while Stark just avoided everything and was still just as confident and ready to fight as before, meant that he was tired.


    To be honest, his chances of victory were low now, even in his new form.


    Stark had lost his clone, and he couldn''t avoid everything forever, so if only¡­ he had a way¡­


    "¡­!" he turned his eyes toward the panel that announced his new reward¡­ and there he saw it.


    [Item: Healing Spring]


    [Healing Spring: A special spring that will instantly heal all your injuries and recover your stamina, one time use.]


    He summoned it in his hand, as it said in the name, it was just a green spring with some strange motifs on it.


    [Elongate the spring and ce it around your neck, in such a way that it circles itpletely]


    He did as the instructions said¡­ and when the tail of the spring touched its head¡­ it began to flow in a green aura, some + particles escaping from it.


    The spring floated around his neck, and with a deep breath, it instantly activated.


    An intense healing sensation surged through his body, repairing his injuries, and replenishing his stamina.


    [Your HP has been filled, and all your stats have been reset! Take good care of this new opportunity to win]


    And so right afterward, the [Healing Spring] disappeared, evaporating into the air as it did its job.


    [Akira HP: 43700/43700]


    "Feels better," his handsome face smiled at Stark, who could only smile back as he knew that this was bad.


    Stark was a powerhouse, more than the others that''s for sure, but he wasn''t restless like his clone either: his stamina could deplet.


    [+10 EGO!]


    [EGO Meter: 85/100]


    Strangely enough, the more his EGO grew, the angrier Stark was getting, and the more the aura in his eyes was growing, the vortex of darkness inside of them increasing in power.


    Was this the¡­ EGO?


    "Time to end this," Akira put one of his katanas against the other and sliced, creating sparkles as both of the des were extremely sharp, "By the power of the moon¡­ thou shalt die!"


    "Why is he speaking like that?" Stark raised his eyebrows as he saw Akira dash at him, closing the distance between them in a fraction of a second, both his katana positioned to sh the enemy.


    "MOONLIGHT SLASH," his des left a trail of aura as both closed in on Stark.


    ''He can try to dodge, but then I''ll continue to sh endlessly,'' Akira thought, a wide smile on his face.


    And this was true: in his new form, it would be hard to deal damage to him, and keeping up with his new speed would be hard for even Stark to keep up.


    His options were to waste [Heaven''s Wrath], [Dodge Control] or [Double Assault], but doing so would mean putting himself at risk if he used his reward or somehow managed to counter them.


    ''EYE VISION!'' he used up his new perk from [Focus], and the world slowed down, Akira''s des only a few centimeters away from where he was, ''Think¡­''


    He opened up his skill panel and observed everything as fast as he could.


    Akira was too strong in this new form¡­


    ''THINK¡­''


    [+2 EGO]


    ''FUCKING THINK¡­''


    [+3 EGO]


    And that''s when he saw it: thetest skill he got, and possibly his salvation.


    "Here goes nothing¡­" he deactivated [Eye Vision] and immediately used [Invincible Dodge] once to avoid the des, which sliced the spot he was in only a microsecond ago.


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    For the second time, the world turned gray, but now Stark was confident in what he was going to do.


    And so he did it.


    "WIELDING CROSS!"


    [Description: Activating this skill allows the wielder to summon a giant crimson cross above them, which emits a powerful aura that is very ufortable to undead beings and demons, you can swing the cross three times.]


    A massive scarlet cross, with strands of gold and holy energy surrounding it, materialized directly above Stark.


    The cross was at least five times his size and emitted an aura that could make the undead extremely ufortable.


    Of course, Akira wasn''t an undead or demon, so he didn''t feel anything, and so he just dashed toward Stark again, wanting to take him off guard after he finally used his ''dodge'' skill.


    "It''s over!" Akira yelled confidently as he closed in on the boy for the second time, certain that he would hit his target.


    However, Stark had a surprise in store for him¡­


    "Goodbye," With a smile, he mimicked the motion of swinging a baseball bat and the giant cross above him followed suit, as if guided by invisible hands.


    "¡­!" Akira couldn''t avoid the attack as the cross was already right in front of his face.


    And so¡­


    ~SLAM, BOOM~

 Chapter 203: The Sublevel 1 Elites

    No¡­ he couldn''t deny it anymore¡­


    Stark WAS a fantastic opponent, probably in his top 3 ever, an honor he didn''t give easily.


    It wasn''t simply because of Kokoro''s energy balls that he did that, but also since he knew victory wouldn''t be possibly without giving it his all.


    And now¡­ both of them had to fight with everything they had, their destiny determined by the fight that is currently happening.


    Akira lunged at Stark, but right afterward, a giant crimson cross appeared above him.


    ''Doesn''t matter, that thing is probably buffing him¡­'' Akira didn''t stop, and his excitement grow more than ever before when he saw the de on the verge of hitting Stark.


    And yet¡­ the cross reached it before he could attack.


    ''Huh?'' he saw the crimson cross made out of right in front of him, one of the edges of straight line hitting him and sending him flying.


    ~SLAM, BOOM~


    He hit a wall, then fell, his face showing some signs of visible pain.


    "-4381!" and it actually did decent damage.


    ''Oh¡­?'' Stark didn''t expect this much, wasn''t this cross made out from [Exorcist]? So wasn''t it supposed to be mainly used against the undead and demons? And yet¡­ it still did good damage, huh.


    Maybe because [Domination] was mixxed in with it?


    "Fucking hell¡­" Akira instantly got up, rubbing his forehead, he was protected by his armor, but his head wasn''t, "QUIT TRYING SO HARD¡­"


    ~FWISH~


    "MOONSLIGHT SLASH!" he yet again dashed toward Stark, this time faster and stronger.


    And yet¡­


    ~FWISH~


    The cross still ended up in front of him.


    "NOT THIS TIME!" he tried to sh it using his two katanas.


    But¡­ it was useless as it fazed right through them.


    "-4928!"


    "STOP DOING THAT¡­" Akira gritted his teeth, and as he looked up¡­ he saw the cross above him again.


    ~SLAM~


    "SHADOW STEP," forced to use his skill, he instantly teleported away, leaving a dark trail of smoke behind as the cross hit the ground he was in before and vanish.


    [3 swings done, wait five minutes for another hit]


    Stark could definitely understand why each hit was five minutes of cooldown: each was extremely powerful.


    "The cross is gone," Akira was still cautious as he observed around him, Stark through all his battles, and even against Soyer, always found a way to y ''dirty'' to win, and yet again he had proved himself by pulling out skill after skill to avoid or counter him, and this was probably why Leader had died: tricked by the boy he thought was weak.


    Akira refused to fall for that, and so he perfectly considered Stark as a great opponent, if not the greatest he ever faced.


    But now that all his tricks were out of the way¡­


    "LUNAR STRIKE¡­" he powered up his des like before, but as there were two, the power of the attack and explosion would be much, muchhhhh bigger.


    And so¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Right as Akira was about to jump in the air to finish this¡­


    A panel appeared before him, Stark, and Sora, who was far inside the sublevel.


    [Boooorinnngggg¡­ this fight is taking ages, so¡­ lets spice this up, shall we?]


    [Releasing the ''Death'' monsters¡­]


    Akira stopped everything he was doing as he stared at the panels, the few words written on it bringing a confused look to his face.


    What the hell were the ''Death'' monsters? Were they the monsters of this sublevel? No one knew.


    But just as they got ready to resume their fight.


    "Kriiiii¡­" the sound of a sword sliding against the ground of the [Golden Pce].


    Frankly, none of them had spent the time to observe the surroundings of this sublevel, but it was quite simplistic: just pure luxury everywhere, chandeliers hanging on the high ceiling, white marble walls and ground, adorned with golden paths that made it look really nice.


    Paintings everywhere, each depicting a human with a strange power swirling around them, maybe were they other [Domination] users?


    "Groaw¡­" they also heard weird beast-like noisesing from beyond the corner of the hallway.


    Akira and Stark were stuck in a hallway with their only exits being the path to the left and to the right, meaning that they were closed off if an ambush happened.


    And just as expected¡­ it did.


    Because after only twenty more seconds¡­ the ''death'' monsters appeared.


    There were dozens upon dozens of them, blocking all exit paths from the hallway, and they all looked different from one another, dozens of types.


    The most notable ones were a knight that carrying a sword, making it slide on the ground, creating sparkles.


    [Crucible Knight (ELITE)]


    Another was a orange beast with mes on its back, also carrying a fire sword and a golden ne between its neck, it looked like a lion with fire mane, yet the skin of its body was grey and it was standing on its two feet.


    [Misbegotten Lion (ELITE)]


    And the third was a giant ck shadow that seemed to be formed from the darkness itself, floating above the ground and emitting a chilling aura, its presence making the air feel colder, it didn''t seem to have a body except for its crimson eyes staring at them.


    [Nightmare Shadow (ELITE)]


    Way too many elites were present, and the difficulty jump from thest sublevel to this one was out of this world.


    One thing was absolutely certain: none them, neither Stark or Akira, would be able to defeat all these things while they were cornered.


    Was this the true reason no onepletes a [Death] difficulty trial?


    The levels before that had been a cake walk, and although many people died, it still seemed doable.


    And now¡­ the trial shattered that hope, giving them impossible enemies to defeat, all the while being together in a group.


    It was unfair¡­pletely unfair¡­


    And yet¡­ neither Akira nor Stark did back down, both kept staring at one another.


    The monsters were a threat, that is for sure, but in the face of it all¡­ nothing was stronger than them in this hallway.


    And to add to that fact¡­ both pulled out the item that would save them from this situation: the [Monster Scent] they both owned.


    It was a spray with a green liquid inside of it.


    [Monster Scent: Upon usage, all monsters will ignore you as they recognize you as their own, even if you kill many of them, thissts ten minutes, one time use]


    [Spray it on yourself¡­]


    And so they did as told, both spraying all the green liquid all over their bodies, making their scent seem friendly to all the monsters, and thus making ALL of them stop their assaults, unable to understand where the humans that were just there go.


    [You are protected from ''monsters'' by "Monster Scent" for 10 minutes, use them wisely!]


    So basically¡­ they had ten minutes to end this fight and get out of this situation, and hopefully find the key while they were at it.


    This was not a lot of time, but it could still be doable.


    "I hope you are ready, Chosen!" Akira shouted as he positioned himself, holding his two des.


    "That''s my line," Stark smiled as he also ced his two crimson fists in front of his face.


    [EGO Meter: 95/100]

 Chapter 204: Monster Scent and Invincible Token

    [You are affected by ''Monster Scent'', thus all monsters will consider you as their own for 10 minutes]


    This was the case for both Akira and Stark, and now, both of them were surrounded by ELITE and STRONG monsters, making it impossible for them to escape if they don''t end this fight quickly.


    All monsters were staring at them, they considered them as monsters too, but it didn''t mean they wouldn''t enjoy some good ol'' monster beef, right?


    And so all monsters began to make noises, almost sounding like cheers.


    ''Never would have I thought the day woulde where I would fight a human while monsters spectate it¡­'' Stark let out an exhaustedugh, this situation was truly bing weirder by the second.


    "I believe we should end this quick, I didn''t expect for thest sublevel to be so hard," Akira branded his katanas, crouching down slightly and crossing his des in front of his face.


    "¡­" Stark just smiled.


    And so¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Akira dashed at him again.


    "LUNAR STRIKE!" his first one had been interrupted by the announcement, but this time he was confident in his victory.


    "Crimson Ball Transmission," Meanwhile, Stark calmly summoned the ball in his hand and sent it toward the end of the hallway, right before the horde of monsters.


    Akira jumped in the hair, his two katanas facing downward as he was ready to hit the ground with all his might, their tips almost on the verge of erupting with aura.


    And so¡­


    ~SNAP~


    ~FWISH, BOOOOM~


    He hit the ground and his attack erupted, creating a massive explosive that even made the monsters back down as they didn''t want to get hit.


    "-2172!" even while wearing armor, Akira still received damage as the explosion was much stronger.


    But¡­


    "I know I didn''t hit you¡­" he sighed as he turned around, and saw Stark smiling, far from where he was, right in front of a minotaur with a golden hammer in its hands, "Didn''t expect to hit you anyway¡­"


    Akira was frankly tired of Stark, he was ying so defensively, not attacking unless he was confident he would hit.


    "Crimson Spears!" he summoned his three spears above his head, then threw them in Akira''s direction, who easily deflected them all using his de, then closed the distance between them.


    And at that very moment¡­


    "Well¡­" he sighed, "I guess it was to be expected, but now that I''ve got you trapped¡­"


    Was it because he was put against a wall? Was it because he knew nothing he did would work on Stark? Was it because he really didn''t want to lose against him¡­


    In the end¡­ surrounded by monsters, in a ce far from everything, where the two of them were fighting to the death¡­ for the first time in his life¡­ he was going to be a coward.


    Well, not really a coward since he is allowed to do that, but a ''coward'' in his own rules as he vowed to always fight against his opponent fairly, each victory bringing him intense satisfaction.


    They were in a ce not even known by anybody but them, and people outside were probably enjoying their daily lives, yet here they were¡­ in this trial, in this hell¡­


    No one would know about their existence, even if they did.


    And Akira¡­ would never allow that.


    His expression darkened as he reached into a pocket in his armor that held all his items, and he pulled out¡­ the [Invincibility Token].


    [Invincibility Token: Will grant you invincibility for the next five minutes following the usage of this token, meaning that no participant or monster can do any damage to you, one time use]


    He had earned it fair and square by killing, and he truly just wanted to use it against the warden at the start.


    But now that he was forced to do it in front of another human¡­ he would give it his all.


    "Congrattions, Chosen," Akiraughed loudly, his handsome face contorted into a wide grin, "You truly pushed me to the edge, now you shall learn your mistake¡­"


    The token was like a simple coin the size of a human palm, it was made out of gold, and there was a symbol carved on it: a scale.


    [Hold the token in your palm and close your hand, thinking about using it¡­]


    ''¡­'' Stark just kept looking at Akira.


    And so¡­ Akira did as he was told, the [Invincibility Token] vanishing into particles of gold, seeping into Akira''s body.


    And with this¡­


    [You are now ''Invincible'' for 5 minutes!]


    "This was¡­ my victory¡­ FROM THE START," he grinned as he immediately dashed toward Stark.


    "¡­" Stark perfectly knew what he had done, yet he wasn''t bothered.


    [+1 EGO]


    Something inside of him was swirling, ready toe out at any moment, and he felt that the closer the EGO meter got to 100, the harder it would be to contain it.


    "MOONLIGHT SLASH!"


    "Aura Smash!" Stark summoned his three crimson fists and sent them toward Akira, each exploding in his face.


    And yet¡­


    ~FWISH, DASH~


    He emerged from beyond the crimson smoke of the explosion, unbothered.


    "-0! -0! -0!"


    In addition to that, a warning appeared in front of Stark.


    [You cannot harm someone using the "Invincible Token", just run!]


    Stark ignored it as he swiftly backed away, bumping into the body of the minotaur that was behind him.


    And then¡­


    ~SLASH, SLASH~


    Akira shed twice in Stark''s direction.


    "Invincible Dodge!" he rolled away, but the minotaur behind wasn''t as fortunate.


    "-194821! -182710!" and so it fell down, dead.


    And instead of being angry or attacking, the rest of the monsters continued cheering.


    His [Moon des] tainted in monster blood, and his face full of malice, Akira turned around, his pupils not leaving Stark for even a second.


    He had never been so confident in his entire life.


    ''Shit¡­ I need to stop him as much as possible¡­'' Stark thought as he backed away.


    [+2 EGO]


    It was all or nothing at this point, so might as well use up all of his skills as there was no reason to stop himself anymore: it nothing worked he would run away.


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH," he drew a circle in his palm and pointed at the ceiling above Akira, who did notice the attack, but didn''t bother to even move out of the way.


    ~SWISH, BOOOOOM~


    The crimson beam erupted from above, hitting Akira straight on as he was in the radius.


    And yet¡­ after a few seconds¡­ he emerged from the other side, unharmed and unaffected by Stark''s strongest attack.


    "Is that all?" Akira smiled, even his face now darkened by his white aura, covering his bodypletely, much like Stark when it covered his face.


    "I always knew you were a coward anyway," Starkughed, "Using an item to get out of a situation where you would lose, this was totally expected¡­"


    Stark''s n was simply to run away now, the monsters wouldn''t attack, and if five minutes was all he needed, then [Double Assault] would definitely help to put some distance even in Akira''s [Full Moon Form].


    [+1 EGO]


    [EGO Meter: 99/100]


    And right at that moment¡­ another panel appeared before him.


    [The time hase, let the demon out, your EGO shall defeat this fool even in his current state, do not run¡­]

 Chapter 205: EGO, The Demon

    [The call of the void is erupting inside of you¡­]


    Stark could feel it, he could definitely sense that something was swirling inside of him, ready to get out at any moment.


    EGO didn''t exin what its power and use was, but maybe it was that?


    [EGO Meter 99/100]


    ''Well¡­ I better start running then,'' Stark sighed as he got ready to activate [Double Assault], he needed to avoid Akira for five minutes, until his [Invincibility Token] wore out, anyway.


    The man was so confident in his abilities that he was slowly walking toward Stark,ing out of [Heaven''s Wrath]''s beam like it was but a mere toy, and trying to corner Stark.


    "DOMI-CHAIN RESTRAIN," heunched the crimson chain in Akira''s direction, wanting to see if he could actually restrain him long enough to make a run for it.


    Someone invincible couldn''t receive damage, but what about status effects? He didn''t get stunned by the crimson fists after all, but maybe it was pure bad luck?


    ~FWISH, CLANG~


    Akira grimaced as the crimson chain wrapped around his armor.


    "¡­!" Stark''s eyes widened for a second there, because surprisingly¡­ the chain was actually absorbing power from Akira.


    And this meant one thing: someone couldn''t receive damage¡­ but status effects would still be received.


    After a small moment of struggle where his smile did falter a bit, Akira broke free with a powerful jerk, destroying the chain.


    [Do not run, face the wrath of the Moon]


    He didn''t know who was speaking to him, was it his own aura again? Or maybe EGO?


    In the end, it didn''t matter, as when Stark turned around and began to run away¡­


    "Oh no you don''t," Akira smiled as he activated another skill, "Cosmic Barrier¡­ REVERSE!"


    Usually, the [Cosmic Barrier] would just surround Akira himself, but once he upgraded his skill to level 10, something else could be done with it: instead of just him, he could surround an entire area with that cosmic barrier, meaning no one could enter or leave except if they broke it.


    Of course, this would use an enormous amount of [Moon] power, but in this case, Akira didn''t care much, all he needed was for Stark to be trapped with him as he couldn''t deal damage to him.


    ~BUMP~


    Stark tried to run away using his crimson aura and focusing it on his legs, but the moment the barrier activated, he was trapped like a mouse, bumping into the cosmic walls of the sphere-like barrier and falling to the ground while scratching his head.


    "What the¡­?" he looked up, and saw a wall in a purplish color, small white stars all over it, and it truly is a beautiful sight if he didn''t know what it actually meant, "Ah shit¡­"


    "Don''t run away, please," Akiraughed.


    And to finally finish the job¡­ he decided to make sure that Stark wouldn''t be able to survive this, no matter what.


    And so¡­


    "MOON DOMAIN!" he activated the very same power he had used against him, Kokoro and Sora when the [Target Wheel] was spinning to stop them from running.


    And coincidentally¡­ the radius of the domain was the exact same one as the barrier he had set, meaning that Stark was trapped, in a space where Akira could hit him from wherever he wanted.


    Their arena was massively reduced now, only 30 meters in circumference.


    ~SLASH~


    Akira didn''t even waste time, shing both his katanas at once in a random direction, yet the two shes reaching Stark as if he had been in front of them.


    "Invincible Dodge," Stark rolled forward, wanting to get close to Akira as much as possible.


    But of course, he wouldn''t let him rest.


    ~SLASH, SLASH, SLASH, SLASH~


    What followed was just a one-sided beat down.


    "Invincible Dodge¡­ Combo x10," after wasting his 10 dodges, he was forced to continue avoiding using his own speed.


    But this was harder than expected.


    ~SLASH~


    "-3837!"


    "Fuck¡­" he did crouch, but the second sh hit one of his shoulders, blood pouring out of it as the des were extremely sharp.


    "Why keep going?" Akira mocked, "You know it''s useless, just forget about everything and die!"


    ~SLASH, SLASH, SLASH~


    "¡­"


    "YOU ARE GOING LIKE ALL OF THEM!"


    ~SLASH, SLASH, SLASH~


    "ITS¡­" Akiraughed as hard as he could, enjoying torturing Stark, "OVER!"


    "MOONLIGHT SLASH¡­ ALL-TIME SLASH," he revealed another one of his card, focusing his entire energy in his de and then suddenly shing like crazy in every direction, not even aiming specifically for anything.


    His attacks were so fast that even Stark couldn''t see them with his naked eyes, Akira truly was going too fast.


    And after he finished¡­


    ~SNAP~


    Akira snapped his fingers.


    "Adios," he turned his back to Stark at the moment and began to walk away.


    He had shed inside the domain around a hundred times, and the moment he snapped his fingers¡­ all those strikes came back toward Stark, reaching him from every direction: above, below, right, left, anywhere he looked, one sh wasing from that direction.


    He was cornered, and he had used [Invincible Dodge] already.


    At that moment, the vortex inside of Stark''s eyes grew so powerful that his eyes began to actively hurt.


    And yet¡­


    [+1 EGO]


    [EGO Meter: 100/100]


    [Release the demon of hate, and the wrath of the moon shall be nothing to us]


    Stark''s body suddenly emitted a terrifying aura, as if every particle of his body was screaming for retribution. His eyes glowed a deep crimson, reflecting the same shade as the demon he had unleashed.


    Above him appeared a figure, it had horns, a crimson body, and white eyes that looked down at him, as well as a giant tail.


    Only its upper body was visible, but anyone who saw it would know that this was the real deal.


    "EYE VISION," Stark used up his skill to spare some time, the demon above him had instantly appeared.


    [EGO has been unleashed, pray to the poor souls who are going to face it]


    The demon crossed its crimson arms, sharp fangs visible.


    And so right at that moment, where Stark thought everything over.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH," before he even realized him, he was screaming.


    A scream so loud that Akira turned back and widened his eyes as he saw the demon above, a scream so loud even Sora could hear it from her position.


    A scream so loud¡­ it echoed in the entire prison.


    ~BOOM~


    An explosion urred around Stark, and all the shes Akira had sent were negated by EGO.


    And what was EGO, you might ask? Well¡­ Stark was finally able to read the panel, his body aching all over as the power residing him was too much for even him to handle.


    ¡­


    [Skill: EGO]


    [Rank: Mythical]


    [Description: A power dormant within the host, the EGO meter will keep rising every time they feel a strong emotion during battle, and once it reaches 100, the EGO demon (made out of the host''s aura andpletely listens to his orders) will be released, ready to annihte any and everything]


    [Note: this also gives a boost in stats to the host as EGO powers him up]


    [Other Note: EGO mode has a one-week cooldown]


    ¡­


    And the second thing that appeared¡­ was the perk of the [EGO] skill, after all he had indeed spent five skill points on it.


    ¡­


    [Skill: EGO]


    [New Perk: Negate Explosion]


    [Description: By using the user''s will, he can make his own body errupt and thus negate any ability surrounding him in a close radius]


    [Note: You can use this thrice in EGO mode]


    ¡­


    Unlocking that new perk had saved his life, but it didn''t matter.


    Because now¡­


    "It''s time to finally make this battle fair, even if you''re invincible," Stark took a step toward Akira, who had lost his smile, the demon above Stark actually making him sweat.


    This was EGO.

 Chapter 206: Moon Fatality

    Was this because of the new powers he felt this way? Or maybe was it just that when he saw Akira''s terrified face, he instantly realized that he wasn''t much without his [Invincibility Token] to begin with.


    "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?" Akira backed away, hitting the barrier he himself created, "You''re from the domination ss too¡­ so what is that¡­ I¡­ FUCK!" he instantly crossed his katanas and got ready for another assault, "SCREW THIS, I''M INVINCIBLE!"


    The demon above Stark was looking at Akira with squinted eyes, its expression saying "weak and pathetic".


    Even for a [Domination] user, that aura was terrifying.


    "Try me¡­" Stark slowly said as he got ready in position, and the demon above mimicked the exact movement Stark did: he was copying all his moves since the [EGO] demon was just made out of Stark''s aura, much like a clone but scarier.


    ~DASH, DASH, FWISH~


    Akira jumped in the air, his speed much faster than ever before, then he pointed his des down, ready to create an explosion that would make this entire hallway copse on itself.


    And yet¡­ the moment he was about to reach Stark''s head, the boy just looked at him with a neutral expression and shook his head.


    "Idiot¡­" Stark focused his aura into his entire body, and much like the first time he did¡­ Stark''s very own body erupted, sending out an explosion of aura around.


    ~FWISH~


    Akira hit the ground right in front of the boy, and yet¡­ no explosion happened?


    ["Lunar Strike" has been negated by EGO] was what appeared in front of Akira, who was speechless.


    "Hit him," he pointed at Akira, and the demon above raised one of its sturdy arms, mming it onto Akira''s body, who was sent flying and hit the wall of the barrier.


    "-0!"


    "WHY. WON''T. YOU. GIVE. UP. FUCKING DAMN IT!" for a man that was in his mid-twenties and wearing a suit, he sure did scream like a child.


    Maybe the frustration really got to him.


    "You know¡­" Stark spoke, finally smiling, "You should have listened to Kokoro when she asked for peace."


    "Hah? You think we would just go back to acting like nothing happened?" Akira got up and got ready to attack again, this time aiming for the demon above.


    But Stark shook his head, "No, the moment you attacked me instead of working together, both of your deaths were already written."


    "THEN STOP TALKING!" and so he dashed for the hundredth time at Stark.


    "Phase Shift!" instead of holding his katanas'' handles normally and running, he switched to the second mode and instead made his two des scratch against the ground, creating sparkles as they were extremely sharp.


    "MOONLIGHT SLASH¡­ AIR SLASHES!" just like Stark, most of his upgrades skills had at least two if not three perks, so he just used one of them.


    He shed the air in the demon''s direction, sending crescent white cuts at it from afar.


    ~SLASH, SLASH~


    The demon was hit in its arm and chest, yet it didn''t even look bothered.


    "-42261! -39598!"


    [EGO Demon HP: 18141/100000]


    ''Oh?'' even Stark was surprised.


    So that thing could truly be killed.


    It did make sense after all, and it also seemed to not have a good defense, as it suffered greatly from just these basic attacks.


    ''Need to be careful,'' Much like with Akira''s [Moon] that was spinning around him, letting his EGO demon die meant that he wouldn''t be able to use the power anymore.


    [2:28 minutes of ''Invincibility'' left], so much happened, yet only half the time had passed.


    "HAHA, SO I CAN KILL IT AND YOU, YET YOU CAN''T YOU KILL ME!" Akira regained his confidence, "I''M FUCKING INVINCIBLE RIGHT NOW!"


    ~FWISH, SLASH~


    He jumped diagonally toward the demon, arriving in front of it in less than a second, then shing in its direction.


    But¡­ the moment his de was going to hit, the demon suddenly disappeared.


    "¡­?" Akira fell to the ground and looked to his left.


    The demon was still there, right above Stark.


    Akira decided to take his chance and tried again, yet nothing, and even after four more attempts, the demon would just disappear right as he was about to hit it, and Stark would also move.


    The reason for that was simple: Stark was using [Invincible Dodge].


    When he rolled away, his demon would receive [Invincibility] frames as well, thus making itpletely disappear to enemies, and reappear right after in Stark''s new position.


    Stark crossed his arms together, and the demon did as well, looking down on Akira, who was still slightly cautious of that thing.


    "MOONLIGHT SLASH¡­ MOON FATALITY!"


    ''Is this guy using all the perks of his skill?'' he had actually used all three of them.


    [Moon Fatality] was basically the 3rd perk he got from upgrading it to level 15, and so it was his final resort.


    He began to fly in the air, his two katanas also beginning to float beside him.


    A giant moon came out of his body as well, stopping right above him, much like Stark''s EGO demon.


    He stretched his arms on both sides, both katanas on each end, spinning on themselves.


    And after a few seconds¡­


    ~FWISH~


    He grabbed both of his des, then actually put them inside of the moon that was above him, inserting the katanas inside of it.


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    They were absorbing powers, and then he immediately pulled them out.


    And for the finisher¡­ he used the very same moon giant moon as a tform tounch himself toward Stark and his clone.


    ''Alright, it''s the final showdown, no need to hold back anymore,'' Stark nodded.


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT, DODGE CONTROL!" he activated both legendary skills and got ready for what''sing.


    ~BOOOOOOM~


    Like some sort of meteor, Akira dashed with aura surrounding himpletely, andnding in the spots where Stark was, creating a massive explosion of moon energy.


    Yet¡­ Stark was nowhere to be seen.


    "¡­?" Akira was confused, he was sure that the boy would never be able to avoid this attack.


    And yet¡­ Stark was in the opposite direction of where Akira was, almost as if he had teleported.


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!" he didn''t waste time and actively began to summon his powers.


    "Oh well, seems like you got one more trick up your sleeve, but it doesn''t matter," Akira slowly began to approach Stark, "I can use [Moon Fatality] three times after all¡­" he smiled as widely as possible.


    Thebination of [EGO] and [Double Assault] made the attack unbearable even for Stark, who was forced to hold his own wrist as to not make it explode in his face.


    Surprisingly, even the demon above was mimicking the creation of the attack, actual aura being poured in its own hand as it held its wrist as well.


    Basically¡­ this [Aura Smash] would be massively enhanced by EGO, who would be the one sending the attack.


    "I don''t know why you keep going, but it''s fine to me," Akira kept approaching, confident he would finally win.


    And yet¡­ after less than five seconds¡­ Stark was already ready, his entire body burning by the intensity of the attack, and even the demon''s expression darkened.


    And so just like that¡­


    "AURA SMASH¡­ MERGE!" he punched the air in Akira''s direction, and the [EGO] demon above sent a crimson fist sorge it was five times Akira''s size in the man''s direction.


    This would be the final attack of this battle, the attack that would decide the victor.


    No more bullshit or twists from now on.


    It''s now or never.

 Chapter 207: Defeat of the Moon Warrior, Akira

    "AURA SMASH... MERGE," Stark sent the giant fist in Akira''s direction, who was slowly walking toward him, preparing to use his second [Moon Fatality] to end this battle once and for all.


    Akira had truly tried his hardest since the beginning, as he had seen many people lose fights because of their overconfidence, yet Stark somehow always managed to avoid his attacks or counter them against him.


    And yet¡­ he was actually breaking his own values by being this smug, maybe it was the [Invincible Token] that made him act so unusually?


    EGO mimicked Stark''s movements andunched a crimson fist as well: it was the main attack, as the demon was the one that would enhance it and also be the one to cast it, meaning that the [Aura Smash] that would appear before Akira would be the strongest one Stark everunched.


    ~FWISH~


    The fist, at least five times Akira''s size, rushed at him, leaving a massive trail of powerful aura behind.


    "Futile," Akiraughed, "Why keep attacking when I cannot receive damage, do you truly notprehend what it means to be INVINCIBLE?" Akira didn''t budge even in the face of that thing.


    But he couldn''t deny the fist was powerful, so he instinctively positioned his two katanas to cut it and thus prove to Stark that he truly was the ultimate participant of this trial, even in his first, he had killed everyone with absolutely no mercy in his eyes, and it wouldn''t change, even during the third or fourth trial¡­


    ~FWISH... SLASH, SLASH!~


    He even went as far as using a second [Moon Fatality] on the attack, using the entire power of the moon he absorbed in his des to cut the fist of crimson aura.


    And his katanas did in fact manage to cut through the aura of [Aura Smash].


    "DO YOU NOT REALIZE?" he repeated as his weapons were slicing the fist in three.


    "No... YOU do not realize," Stark smiled.


    And suddenly...


    ~BOOOOOMMMM~


    Even though he did in fact cut it, the fist still reached him and exploded in his face, its aura and power way too strong for even the [Full Moon Form] Akira.


    ~FWISH~


    "-0"


    Akira was sent flying yet again, bumping extremely hard against the walls of the [Cosmic Barrier] he himself had formed, then falling to the ground.


    He didn''t receive any damage at all, and not a single drop of blood appeared on any of his body parts, since he hadn''t been "physically" affected by the attack.


    "Do you not realize-" he tried to get up.


    Or at least¡­ that is what he believed.


    Since¡­


    "Huh?" Akira''s vision was drowsy, he couldn''t see well, he was tired, and in addition to that, his body still hurt somehow.


    His legs weren''t listening to him, even though he screamed for them to get up.


    "What the..." he ced his two palms against the ground and breathed in and out loudly, drops of sweat dropping on the ground under him, "Why... am I... what...?"


    No matter how much he tried, his body wouldn''t answer.


    [You have been stunned!]


    In addition to his body actually hurting from the crimson fist and his stamina depleting, he had been stunned, meaning that he was stuck there.


    "Do you not realize?" Stark repeated his exact same words, "You were never truly invincible..."


    Akira took the word "invincible" way too seriously, thinking that NOTHING would affect him.


    But what about his stamina, or if his body hurts?


    Even if he doesn''t receive damage, these things still affect him, and it was until toote he realized he had pushed himself too hard.


    But the biggest mistake he had made of all... was to forget about status effects.


    Stark noticed it thanks to [Domi-Chain], but Akira could actually get affected by things other than damage, and so that is why he fed his confidence by sending all these attacks at him: fists, spears, and even used [Heaven''s Wrath] to make him think even the strongest of attacks would do nothing.


    And when his confidence was at its peak... he would pull out [Aura Smash] and stun him.


    "WHAT THE FUCK..." Akira tried as hard as he could to move, but even his [Moon] power couldn''t be used.


    "Well... it seems like you lost," Stark arrived in front of Akira, who could only look up as he saw Stark and the EGO demon looking down on him.


    "I lost?" Akira was enraged, "NICE JOKE, I''M STILL INVINCIBLE DUMBASS, YOU CAN''T HURT ME!"


    Stark looked at Akira''s rage with the nkest of expressions, his face covered by his crimson aura and letting only his judgmental white eyes visible to the man below.


    Suddenly, the boy intertwined his two hands together and raised them right behind his head.


    The demon repeated the action: it looked like he wanted to smash Akira using EGO.


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    He powered up the attack for a few seconds as Akira kept insulting him and telling him that he would soon be free and kill him.


    And then...


    "I win..." Stark''s eyes lit up as he swung down with his joined hands in a powerful smash attack.


    And just as expected... the EGO demon repeated what he did.


    "YOU THINK I''M SCARED? YOU CAN''T HURT ME!" Akira shouted as loud as possible, trying to hide his shaky voice as much as possible: even though he was confident he wouldn''t be hurt, that thing''s attack was still terrifying.


    ~FWISH~


    The demon''s sturdy hands smashed Akira''s body while he was lying on the ground, creating a small crater because of the sheer power.


    "You... what... I... can''t lose...-" and so Akira fell unconscious, the pain in his body so strong this time that he almost believed that [Invincible Token] had deactivated, otherwise why would it be this painful?


    "-0!" yet the damage output proved otherwise: it wasn''t that the invincible token wasn''t working, but that his own body was still feeling the pain regardless, the adrenaline slowing down after being stunned.


    "You can''t receive damage, that is true," Stark smiled, "But don''t forget that I can also knock you out, IT''S MY VICTORY!"


    [Akira has been knocked out!]


    Immediately, his aura disappeared and the [Cosmic Barrier] vanished, revealing that the monsters had gotten closer to inspect it.


    And the moment they saw Akira''s body lying down...


    "GRAOOWLL!"


    "HIKHIKHIK!"


    They all cheered.


    ''What the?'' Stark was actively confused, but he just shrugged, ''Well, it doesn''t matter...''


    He had around 6 minutes of [Monster Scent] left, and more monsters had appeared as they fought, meaning that it would be difficult for him to escape even like this when monsters were everywhere.


    And so... he left Akira''s unconscious body in the middle of the monster-filled hallway.


    He truly wanted to kill him, but another two minutes waiting for the [Invincibility Token] to wear off were just too much for him.


    And to add to that...


    [The door to floor 0 has been opened, head toward the exit!]


    It seemed like Sora actually managed to kill the monsters and find the key by herself.


    ''I don''t have anything else to do here,'' he mumbled as he opened his map and began to run through the horde of monsters.


    They didn''t try to attack as they saw him as their own, but he still didn''t want to touch them or stay around for too long.


    "Goodbye, Akira," Stark looked back onest time to see the white-haired man''s body, "You were truly strong."


    And so he ran off, leaving him and the monsters behind.

 Chapter 208: Monster Torture Execution

    (5 minutes after Stark left)


    "HIKHIKHIK" a dark bird was happily pping its wings.


    "Houhpuh!" and a giant red monkey was jumping left and right while pping its two hands above its head.


    All the monsters seemed to be really happy they had witnessed such a battle, and also the winner of them.


    By now, Akira''s [Invincible Token] had already worn out, meaning he was vulnerable to monster attacks, yet thankfully enough for him [Monster Scent] was still active.


    [19 seconds left for ''Monster Scent'']


    "...Argh," and at that very moment... Akira actually woke up.


    He opened his eyes, still drowsy from all the attacks, and his head felt like it splitting in two, as well as all the aching in his body.


    [14 seconds left for ''Monster Scent'']


    He slowly sat on the ground, his surroundings blurry as he was still adjusting.


    [11 seconds left¡­]


    Suddenly, he remembered everything that happened, the memories of the fight, of him being stunned, then smashed by the giant demon''s hand came back to him.


    ''Fuck¡­'' he held his face with his hand.


    He had lost, for the first time ever, Akira had actually lost.


    But¡­ wasn''t he alive right now.


    "I lived¡­" his eyes widened, "Fucking hell I actually lived," he almost wanted to cry of joy, believing Stark would wait for him to lose his invincibility to easily kill him.


    [5 seconds¡­]


    Afterughing for a bit, he tried to get up, but miserably failed.


    "Ouch¡­ my legs¡­" he couldn''t move his legs, and they weren''t broken, it was just that his stamina and body were aching, meaning he would need to wait for a bit before being able to continue.


    [2 seconds¡­]


    "Well, he isn''t here anymore, so it''s fine," he finally decided to look around.


    [1 seconds¡­]


    "¡­!" fear immediately took over his entire being as he saw the dozens of monsters dancing and cheering all around him.


    And right at that moment¡­ a panel appeared in front of his face.


    [The effects of ''Monster Scent'' have worn off]


    Immediately¡­ all the cheering and dancing stopped.


    Finally able to detect their prey, the monsters all turned their eyes toward Akira, who had sweat dripping all over his face.


    "W-wait, w-we were friends just a while ago, y-you were cheering!" he tried to talk to the monsters, who began to approach him, their expressions darkening as they finally sensed the human.


    Some of them were confused as to how they couldn''t sense him, but others didn''t waste time and immediately pulled out their weapons or whatever they used to fight.


    "HAKHAKHAK~" the dark bird flew above Akira, its beak ready to pierce.


    "OUHPUHOU~" and the red monkey was violently hitting its own chest, making soundwaves with it that shook the hallway.


    It was truly¡­ unwinnable.


    "I''m¡­ fucked¡­" Akira looked down, no matter how much he tried to move, his body wouldn''t answer.


    And so soon enough¡­


    "HIIGIHIK~" a giant skeleton with a hammer in its hand hit Akira''s side, sending him flying toward another monster who looked like a lizard, hitting him with its tail.


    "-23726! -17371!" just like that, he was already down to his final bit of HP.


    "I¡­ fucking¡­ hate¡­ this¡­ why¡­ do¡­ I HAVE TO ENDURE THIS¡­" Akira shouted as hard as he could, begging for anything, ANY miracle to happen and save him.


    Yet¡­ in this trial¡­ nothing could save you.


    ~SLASH, SLAM, GRIM, BOOM~


    Dozens of monsters surrounded him and began to hit him with all sorts of weapons.


    "Why¡­ me¡­" he extended his arm upward toward the light of a golden chandelier above him, but quickly¡­ he fell.


    [Akira: 0/43700]


    He died at the first hit, yet the monsters continued, reducing his body to nothing but a pile of flesh, and even then they kept eating him or burning him.


    And just like that¡­ Akira waspletely erased out of existence.


    ***


    (Back to Stark)


    ''Hah~ hah~'' he was still running, following his map while avoiding the monsters that were all over the sublevel, although much less in numbers than when he was fighting Akira.


    And suddenly, the moment he turned around the corner right before the exit¡­


    [A participant has been in by another yer!]


    [You have in "Akira, the Moon Warrior lv64", gaining 3,921,449 EXP!]


    [Your level has increased to level 56, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 57, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 58, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Experience: 113711/1970000]


    It seemed like knocking down Akira and doing most of the damage/work actually registered it as though he was the one who made the kill, even though it was the monsters that did the final blow.


    Maybe it was to make it fair, since it would stop others from stealing other people''s kills?


    But then, why didn''t he receive experience or the reward for killing Kokoro? Of course, he didn''t deal the final blow, but he did lots of damage to her too, right? Yet only Akira was rewarded¡­


    All of this was weird, but Stark decided to give up thinking about it as his [Monster Scent] had also worn out, meaning that he was being chased by a horde of ELITE monsters right now.


    ''Got it!'' he saw the exit door, and it was made out of the blue tinum, already opened as Sora had already done so.


    Without wasting a single second, he dashed at it and entered the hallway that led to the spiral of stairs.


    The tinum closing right as he left the sublevel since he was thest one, and the sounds of the door banging now hearable from his position.


    That sound was terrifying, and he could hear the screams of dozens upon dozens of monsters who had let go of a prey.


    After a few moments, all the noise stopped, almost as if all the monsters had been erased the moment the humans left the sublevel.


    "¡­" Stark shrugged as he turned back and began to climb the spiral of dark stairs.


    This was the end, the true end.


    10 participants at the start, now only 2 remained, and who says he wouldn''t have to fight Sora to the death as well?


    For now¡­ he just needed to focus on the warden.


    [You have a reward waiting to be revealed!]


    [Would you like to spin the wheel?]


    [Y/N]


    Stark didn''t stop climbing as he clicked on Y.


    The crimson wheel with the tail appeared in front of him.


    [Pull me!]


    He did as it asked him, and it began spinning extremely fast.


    But surprisingly¡­ as the wheel gradually stopped¡­


    [Talent: Chosen One, activated!]


    "¡­" Stark was actually feeling quite exhausted from his fight with Akira, blood pouring out from a side of his stomach and his right shoulder as he had been hit Akira''s des there.


    He wouldn''t be able to keep going for long if things kept going like this.


    And so¡­ by a twist of luck and fate¡­ no¡­ it was definitely the world itself that granted him this luck.


    He received¡­


    [Item: Healing Spring!]


    [Healing Spring: A special spring that will instantly heal all your injuries and recover your stamina, one time use.]


    The perfect item he needed in this situation.


    [Chosen One] had actually been nice to him this time.


    He did notice something though: every time [Chosen One] fucked him over one way or another, in this example it would be selecting him as the target by twisting reality itself even though it was Sora that was selected, then there would ALWAYS be a reward for his efforts, as [Chosen One] would activate yet again to bring something positive.


    A bad for a good? Was this what this skill was all about?


    In the end it didn''t matter, and so Stark finished climbing up the stairs to floor 0, the final level of the Lucullus Prison.

 Chapter 209: Reaching Floor 0

    Sora, as expected, had been the one to open the tinum door of the first sublevel, thus allowing Stark to ess the spiral stairs.


    She hadn''t opened the door to floor 0 though as she was waiting for Stark, yes, she was confident Stark would win, no matter if it''s a 2v1, or they had overpowered skills/rewards.


    [A participant has been in by another yer]


    [A participant has been in by another yer]


    It seemed like only one among the three remained.


    Who knows? Maybe Stark actually died and the one of the remaining persons betrayed the other?


    "..."


    ~STEP, STEP, STEP~


    Suddenly, she heard footsteps from below.


    And after a few minutes...


    ~STEP... STEP... STEP!~


    She usually had a neutral expression to everything around her, and even her friends and family considered her to be emotionless by standards since she NEVER showed any kind of expressions on her beautiful face.


    And yet... she actually let out a small smile, barely visiblepared to her normal face, but it was still there.


    "Hey," she greeted him, her voice still emotionless though.


    "Yo," while walking toward her, Stark put the [Healing Spring] around his neck and activated it, giving him back his full health and stamina.


    "..." She got up as she has been sitting against the dark walls of the hallway leading to yet another tinum door.


    "I guess that''s floor 0..." Stark mumbled.


    "I was just waiting for someone as I didn''t want to fight the warden alone," she shrugged calmly.


    "Makes sense," Stark nodded, "But you''re awfully chatty all of a sudden, what happened?" she had not said even a word in front of the others, yet here she was speaking like it was amon urrence.


    "Didn''t want to waste my saliva on pointless matters, but now that everybody is gone and it''s just the two of us, we might as well try our best," she headed toward the door to finally open it, "I hope you''re ready," right as she was about to reach her arm for her palm to touch it, she turned around and looked at Stark.


    "Always ready," Stark shrugged, "We might as well get this over with."


    "..." she just nodded as she put her palm against the tinum door, and after glowing for a few seconds it opened.


    ~CRANG~


    Slowly but surely, the door opened, and once it was fully opened...


    Beyond it was nothing but darkness.


    Like, actually, it was pitch-ck.


    [Sora was the first one to touch the door to level 0]


    [Unfortunately, no rewards can be given from now on]


    Seems like the final floor wouldn''t give rewards anymore, and Stark and Sora wouldn''t attack one another when the warden was there.


    Which means... that there would be no more rewards.


    [Stark Rewards: Killing Spree, Revive Token and Key Location Map]


    This was the hand he had been dealt, and he would need to make use of it.


    "Come on, stop looking at your items," Sora pointed her head at the darkness beyond the tinum door, "We need to go."


    "..." Stark just sighed and followed after her.


    They entered the dark space... and the moment Stark traversed the threshold, the tinum door closed and disappeared.


    "..."


    "..."


    Sora and Stark could still see one another somehow, and so they just continued walking.


    And after less than a minute...


    ~FWISH, CLANG~


    They heard the sound of machinery, and a massive triangr-shaped vault-like door appeared before them.


    It was so big and wide it could allow thousands of people to pass at once.


    All over it with were cogwheels, advanced screens, technological pieces of equipment and much more, each turning or flickering with energy.


    This was...


    [The entrance (or exit in your case) of the Lucullus Prison]


    The massive metal door that was emitting lots of gray smoke appeared before Stark and Sora, yet the darkness around was still present, meaning it was all they could see.


    They both approached the door, touching everything they could from the bottom, but nothing would happen: no keyhole, no way to push it with strength, basically, nothing to open it.


    [The door will only open once the ''Warden'' is killed]


    "Sure, but where the fuck is the warden," Stark sighed as he looked at Sora, who was scratching her chin while thinking.


    "..."


    "I don''t know, but keep looking for him," a voice answered from behind, sounding quite different.


    "...?"


    "Huh," Stark turned his head toward Sora again, who raised her eyebrows, "Since when did your voice sound so manly Sora...?"


    "I thought you were the one who spoke, though?" she tilted her head, still as emotionless as ever.


    And once the two of them looked at one another, they realized something: neither of them talked.


    "Surprised?" the manly voice came from behind them, and once they looked back...


    They finally saw IT.


    [Warden, The Prisoner Killer]


    It was peeking its head from beyond the darkness,pletely covered in a dark blue armor with an oval hole in the middle that let them see how it looked like: it had blue skin, sharp teeth and pitch ck eyes.


    Its body was covered in that same cool-looking and sturdy armor, and it also had two sculk horns on both sides of its head.


    Its arms'' and legs'' edges also had some sort of ''skull'' protection on them made out of human bones.


    But the most important part of it all... was the ck hole in the warden''s chest, and there seemed to be blue glowing spheres visible in the middle of its torso, right at the spot where the void was.


    There were three spheres, each around the same size, and around them were some sharp bones (ribs) that came out directly from the armor, shielding them yet still allowing Stark and Sora to see them because of the powerful light they emitted.


    That was all for the general appearance of the Warden, who looked extremely powerful.


    But before Stark could even look at its weapons.


    "Goodbye, prisoners," the warden lifted its [Sculk Hammer] and swung it sideways in the direction of Stark and Sora.


    "FLOWER BARRIER!" Sora calmly lifted one of her arms, and vines came out of the ground, three white flowers appearing instantly like shields and blocking the blow.


    And right after that... the warden disappeared into the darkness again.


    It almost felt like it was using [Soyer''s] skill, except instead of mist it was just pure darkness.


    "You should watch out," Sora spoke to Stark as she looked around, analyzing her surroundings.


    "Yeah yeah, it can be anywhere," Stark sighed as he activated his aura and got ready to finally fight the final boss of this trial.


    But unbeknownst to him...


    "Prisoner..." it was already behind him, its hammer lifted higher than its head, and its pitch ck eyes emitting a powerful aura, stronger than anything he had ever seen before.


    [FIGHT!]


    And so¡­ the warden swung down its hammer at Stark, who didn''t even realize where it was yet since it could freely navigate in the darkness without being noticed.


    Since the moment they left the safety of the hallway with the stairs and passed through the tinum door into the darkness¡­ they were already in its territory.


    Stark and Sora vs the Warden, the final boss of the trial.

 Chapter 210: Reveal of the Final Boss

    "I¡­ see¡­ you¡­ prisoner," Although the warden''s voice sounded quite manly, it was still apparent that it was broken and also extremely raspy.


    The warden lifted its hammer while appearing behind Stark, ready to smash the prisoner''s head.


    "Prisoner¡­ go back to your cell¡­"


    ~SWING~


    "¡­" Stark didn''t look back, he already knew that the warden was behind him, and his pupils were at the far edge of his edges, taking everything.


    [FIGHT!]


    ~SLAM~


    [The ''Purgatory Shadow'' took the hit in your ce]


    A shadow of himself appeared and got its head smashed in instead of his.


    But¡­ Stark wouldn''t let that slide.


    With a swift movement, he slid while turning around and jumping in the air, spinning repeatedly.


    And then¡­


    ~SLAM~


    He kicked the warden''s head with his leg, who had powered up from the spins and aura, sending the monster back by a few meters, although it didn''t fall, it just slid on the cold floor as it held its ground pretty well.


    "-48372!" the damage was decent, but not enough to actually harm the warden.


    Although¡­


    "Cough¡­" some drops of ck blood dide out of its mouth.


    And the moment Stark managed to hit the warden¡­


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    All the darkness that had surrounded them suddenly disappeared.


    [You have hit ''Warden'', thus the effects of "Warden''s Darkness" have been cancelled]


    Seems like it had been using a skill to plunge this entire ce in darkness, but hitting it only once would deactivate that skill.


    And now¡­ they could observe the surroundings of floor 0:


    It was a massive, ancient chamber filled with towering pirs, intricate carvings, and glowing runes on the walls. The ceiling was adorned with swirling patterns of light and dark, and the mysterious hum of energy permeated the air.


    The sound of machinery could be heard from anywhere, and obviously, the giant metal door that was the exit of the prison was still there.


    Floor 0 was basically a giant arena, and it waspletely closed off as there was no way to leave now, going back to a floor below this one impossible as the door had disappeared.


    "Ten of you at the start," Warden held its hammer in its own hands, making it glow with aura, "Now only two remain¡­"


    He hadn''t observed it well, but his hammer was just a giant and normal one, except for the fact it was ENTIRELY covered in sculk, which was some sort of liquid with white points that were slowly flickering repeatedly.


    And thest observation¡­ was that Warden had some sort of chain around its neck, some sort of gem that was also covered in sculk: it was the [Sculk Ne], something that gave it power and allowed it to use many of its skills.


    Sora immediately rushed right next to Stark to assist, positioning herself while summoning her flowers around her, a vine with flowers of different types surrounding herpletely.


    ''Domination is so weird¡­'' Stark thought as he looked at her.


    He had been given fists as powers, but inparison to others¡­ it was prettyme.


    Officer got guns, Leader got summons, Akira got the moon, Yuri got stars, Kokoro even go a fucking tablet that can summon holograms, and now Sora has the power of the [Flowers]?!


    This meant that [Domination]''s weapons could be pretty much anything, but oh well, it didn''t matter for now.


    ~THUMP, THUMP~


    Warden mmed its two legs on the ground like a sumo fighter, its entire body glowing with ''sculk'' aura.


    "Perception!" and Stark decided to check that thing''s window before continuing the battle.


    ¡­


    [Name: Warden, The Prisoner Killer]


    [Level: 125]


    [HP: 591628/640000]


    [Strength: 8372]


    [Stamina: 3291]


    [Speed: 5094]


    [Defense: 7268]


    [Skills: Warden''s Darkness, Sculk Infusion, Hammer m, Sculk Surge, Ultrasound Aura, Prisoner Chain, Horns Detection, Sculk Handcuffs, Flickering Movements, The Dark Spheres, Warden Smash, Armor Sculkification, The End of the Line, The Lucullus Prison¡­]


    ¡­


    Other than the fact it had 14 skills, its stats were also extremely high, its strength almost reaching the five digits, and its defense also being really high.


    Its speed was extremely decent, although slower than Stark and Sora, while its stamina low, meaning that it would prioritize powerful attacks rather than keeping the fight going.


    And as for the HP¡­ 640000 was a lot.


    "He has-" Stark immediately tried to talk to exin the warden''s skills, stats and HP to Sora.


    But¡­


    "No need, the flowers have already informed me," it seemed like she could also check it out thanks to a skill called [Flower Analysis].


    "Huh, then doesn''t that mean you also checked me out?" Stark tilted his head, one of the flowers from [Flower Analysis] was indeed pointed at him, emitting some sort of signal.


    "I won''t deny that, you can check out my status as well, we need to know one another better to fight after all," Sora shrugged.


    And so Stark just did what he felt like doing.


    ¡­


    [Name: Sora]


    [Level: 62]


    [ss: Domination]


    [HP: 83000]


    [Strength: 2728]


    [Stamina: 7201]


    [Speed: 6472]


    [Defense: 5983]


    [Skills: Domination, Flower Analysis, Radiance, Elements of Nature, Vine Surge, Pollen Bombs, The ming Rose, Regenerative Drop, Nature Distortion, Flower Barrier, The White Jade (MYTHICAL), Evergreen Resilience, Petrification¡­]


    ¡­


    [Domination] as well as 12 other skills since she was level 60, it made sense, and as expected all her skills were rted to her flower power.


    Low strength, but all other stats were pretty high for someone at her level.


    But the thing that caught his attention the most¡­ was the fact that her HP were extremely high, 83000 was around thrice as much as Stark, and even twice as much as Akira.


    After observing the status windows of this many users, Stark realized one thing: everyone''s stats were different because of their style ofbat, for example he had low HP, yet somehow Sora and the others had higher HP than him.


    It truly made him feel¡­ that every [Domination] user was unique in their own way, yet all forced to participate in these deadly trials.


    But before any of them could finish¡­


    "Prisoners need¡­ to go back to their cells¡­" the warden suddenly took a step forward, its hammer still in hand, and the blue spheres in the middle of its torso glowing.


    "Make us," Stark smiled as he positioned his hands in front of his face, "The moment you get closer I''ll just rip you apart!"


    "We¡­ will¡­ SEE!"


    ~FWISH~


    In less than a fraction of a second, the warden dashed at Stark and Sora, swinging its hammer at them.


    "HAMMER SLAM!"


    The sound of the impact echoed through the chamber as the warden''s hammer connected with the ground. Stark and Sora used the moment to dodge the attack, the force of the m causing the floor to shatter and sending up a cloud of debris.


    But while they were avoiding¡­ the warden revealed that he was actually doing abo attack.


    And so¡­


    It pointed the arm that wasn''t holding the hammer toward Stark, and suddenly, sculk appeared all over it, created freshly thanks to the [Sculk Ne].


    "SCULK SURGE," and it sent aser-like attack of sculk toward Stark.


    "Ohe on, why me," he sighed, although he kept smiling, mimicking the [Superior Clone]''s confident attitude.


    This time, the fight would truly begin, would they be able to beat the strongest the enemy they ever faced, or would they sumb to the [Death] difficulty trial like all the others¡­


    And if they did in fact kill the warden, then just how many would survive by the end?

 Chapter 211: Only But a Facade of the TRUE Boss

    "SCULK SURGE," the Warden bellowed, its voice echoing throughout the chamber as itunched a barrage of sculk beams at Stark, its sturdy arm taken over by the liquid as it repeatedly kept sending those small bursts at him.


    ~FWISH~


    Of course, Stark easily avoided them by jumping to the sides, crouching or taking very smooth steps toward Warden.


    "Foolish prisoner," on one hand, it had its ''Sculk Cannon'' pointed at Stark, and on the other one it was carrying its hammer, extremely heavy, yet making it seem light it was nothing but dead weight.


    "Flower Barrier," on the other hand, Sora just summoned her barrier as three giant white flowers, which looked like daisies, stopped all the sculk bursts whenever Warden decided to shoot her.


    "Would love a little help," Stark rolled his eyes as he made a run for it and dashed at the warden when it was ''recharging'' its sculk.


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," he summoned three spears and immediately sent them toward the warden''s torso, wanting to see if he could break the ''rib armor'' that was protecting the three spheres.


    But¡­


    "Armor Sculkification," Warden calmly pointed its sculk arm toward its armor and shot, its torso nowpletely covered in the dark blue liquid.


    And so when the spears reached it¡­


    ~SPLASH~


    The spears didn''t bounce off or anything of the sort, they were just absorbed into the sculk, as if they were nothing but rocks.


    Stark frowned, quickly reassessing his strategy.


    "HAMMER SLAM," Warden instantly grabbed its hammer again as it swung down at Stark who was pretty close.


    "¡­!" Stark was ready to avoid and counter-attack.


    But¡­


    "VINE SURGE," vines came out of the ground under Warden and surrounded its arm, stopping its attack right as the hammer was about to hit Stark (well not really since he was going to avoid).


    "Oh?" Warden lifted his eyebrows, "Your little friend seems to have finally decided to join the party¡­"


    Surprisingly, Warden could hold decent conversations with humans, much like the ''Godless Demon'' apostles such as Sierra and Judicator.


    Was it because he was extremely strong? Because he was the warden? Or because he was the final boss of the trial?


    The Mirror Master back at the first trial could also speak after all¡­


    "VINE SURGE¡­ MAX RESTRAIN," Sora closed her hand into a fist as it glowed a deep green color, and more vines came out of the ground, now not only restraining Warden''s arm, but also his legs and torso.


    "YOU THINK THIS IS ENOUGH TO HARM ME?" yet, Warden flexed his muscles, and the vines slowly began to break.


    Sora wasn''t bothered though as her eyes glowed a deep fire and then¡­ "Radiance."


    ~FIRE, FWISH~


    All the vines around Warden suddenly burst into mes, the intense heat emanating from them making the air around him feel like a furnace.


    Sora when casting spells was always calm andposed, every one of her actions calcted to allow herself to win.


    And it seemed to work¡­


    "-4218! -4382! -3903!" it took a few seconds for Warden to remove all the vines as he aggressively moved around, his pitch-ck eyes burning and leaving a trail behind, and his sharp mouth contorted into one of a beast in rage.


    And by the end of that struggle¡­


    "-49028!" she dealt extremely good damage to the Warden.


    "Foolish¡­" but he didn''t even look that bothered after receiving around 100000 points of its health.


    "AURA SMASH!" Stark immediately summoned the three crimson fists and sent them at Warden while he was busy trying to attack Sora.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    All three hit him and made him falter slightly, having a hard time holding his own hammer.


    "-14827! -15282! -15029!" his armor protected him from most of the damage, but there was no denying it was still there.


    And in addition to that¡­


    [Warden has been stunned]


    He could actually get stunned by the attacks, unlike most of the other monsters and bosses.


    Frankly¡­ Warden looked like a joke currently.


    He was not using his skills, he was slow, dumb, and couldn''t do anything but take the damage the humans gave him.


    "Elements of Natures; Pollen Bombs," Sora calmly closed her eyes and put her hands together once [Flower Analysis] informed her that Warden was stunned.


    [Elements of Natures] allowed her to make five different flowerse out of the ground: a sunflower, a tulip, an iris, a poppy and a lily.


    Each of the flowers bloomedpletely in mere instants and were extremely big, the size of an average human.


    ~FWISH~


    They were all pointed at Warden, who couldn''t move his body.


    And¡­ some sort of energy balls were beginning to form in the middle of the flowers, powered up by their petals.


    The energy balls grew more and more, until eventually reaching half the size of that flower.


    And right afterward¡­


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    All of these balls, linked to their respective flowers in colors, were shot at the warden.


    Safe to say, all of them hit.


    ~BOOOOOOM~


    "-32819! 37271! -34383! -38992! -36605!"


    Blinded by the explosions, the warden was finally able to move, its body suffering from all these attacks.


    But right as it was ready to rush at Sora¡­


    "Pollen Bombs," a giant flower came out of the ground and positioned itself in front of Sora hands, which were joined.


    ~SHAKE~


    The flower shook, and three small white balls fell from it before it disappeared back into the ground.


    "DIE, PRISONER," it really seemed to be enraged.


    "Phew~" but Sora just blew on her hand to make the three small pollen balls slowly float toward the warden.


    And once they touched him¡­ they revealed themselves to be everything but small.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    They exploded, creating a massive explosion that yet again stopped the warden in his run.


    "-53729! -51033! -49887!"


    [Warden HP: 162743/640000]


    This is not normal.


    None of this was normal.


    ''This doesn''t make sense¡­'' Stark could have continued thebo with Sora, but he didn''t, the vortex in his eyes intensifying as he looked at the pitiful warden, who kneeled down after the explosions, unable to keep holding its hammer, "NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE¡­"


    Sora was emotionless, so she didn''t feel anything when attacking the warden, only thinking that she was just dominating him.


    Not once in her mind did she think that it was weird that THE boss of THE second trial would be this weak.


    Yes, he could proudly say it: that thing was super weak, no matter how much you thought about it.


    It was already down in four attacks? IMPOSSIBLE!


    Sora was strong, probably just as strong as Stark, there was no denying it, and he also needed her if he wanted to kill it.


    But¡­ this warden wasn''t normal.


    Stark felt like¡­ everything it showed until now was but a facade: its attacks, expressions, actions, everything was just to make them lower their guard.


    After all¡­ he was the final boss of the trial¡­


    Stark had a bad feeling, that same feeling he always had when something was amiss.


    That same feeling you get¡­ when you know that death ising.


    Warden was currently on the ground, his hammer down and his head looking at the ground, ck liquid oozing from the opening of his helmet.


    "The ming Rose," Sora got ready to end this battle once and for all as she charged up her [Legendary] skill, unaware of what wasing as she couldn''t sense emotions.


    But right at that moment¡­ the warden''s eyes, which werepletely dark until now, suddenly grew yellow pupils.


    The TRUE ''Warden'' would now appear.


    The TRUE boss of this trial.


    "Well, well, I had enough fun with you all," it lifted its arm with an emotionless voice, leaving out all its rage as if it never existed.


    And suddenly¡­ a metal chain enveloped in sculk came out from the ceiling behind Sora, rushing toward her neck.

 Chapter 212: The First Death

    "Well, well, I had enough fun with you all," the warden spoke in apletely different voice, and Stark''s eyes widened.


    He knew it, he fucking knew it: no chance that thing was using its full power, or even trying in that regard.


    It lifted its right arm, its yellow pupils glowing as it looked at Sora, who was not bothered.


    "Prisoner Chain," Warden used one of his [Legendary] skills, and a powerful-looking metal chain that was enveloped in sculk came out of the ceiling and rushing toward Sora''s neck.


    "Once I get rid of you, the other prisoner will tremble in fear and surrender," Warden slowly got up, as if his injuries were nothing more than an act, as if all that rage was just a show, "But truly," he smiled, "Did you really believe that I was even trying? Did you really think you could defeat the warden of this prison with such useless attacks?"


    Sora hadn''t noticed the chain yet, too focused on Warden, although she couldn''t deny she was surprised to see him this carefree after all her attacks.


    "FUCK¡­ TIME VISION," time slowed down around Stark to the extreme, the chain that was now only a few meters away from closing around Sora''s neck slowing down as well, "THINK¡­ THINK¡­"


    Stark''s brain was working at 120% at this very moment, the vortex in his eyes growing darker, and his crimson aura taking over not only his face but also his body.


    He had a choice to make, one that would determine his entire fate: sacrifice Sora and hope that he would be strong enough to take the warden (unlikely) or¡­ he could save her and possibly sacrifice his [Revive Token].


    Sora was needed, there was denying it, her flower powers were the real deal and could deal more damage than he could.


    But¡­ would she really be worth a [Revive Token]?


    In his mind, all Stark was thinking was for the best way to win, he didn''t even care if she died or not as long as she was useful¡­


    And by the end of his reasoning¡­


    [3 seconds have passed, deactivating ''Time Vision'']


    ~FWISH, DASH~


    Stark used all his energy to dash toward Sora, he ran the fastest he had ever done yet, closing the distance in less than a fraction of a second.


    The chain was right behind her, on the verge of closing in on her and essentially kill her.


    But¡­


    ~PUSH~


    Stark mmed onto Sora, pushing her out of the chain''s way.


    And instead¡­


    ~CLANG~


    The metal chain mmed into Stark, embedding itself into his neck with a sickening crunch and closing in on him as its edge was like some-sort of cor that couldn''t be removed.


    "A hero now? Humans sure as dumb aren''t they¡­" the warden sighed, "Oh well, that heroic act is going to be yourst¡­"


    "WARDEN SMASH," he infused his hammer with even more sculk, making it glow extremely strongly, and held it with his two hands to increase the power and damage, approaching Stark, who couldn''t move anymore as the sculk was slowly taking over his body, the liquid submerging his head and soon enough his chest.


    It was a horrible way to go when you think about it: you couldn''t see and couldn''t do anything.


    And when you expect it the least¡­


    ~SMASH~


    The warden would use his hammer to smash your head, killing you instantly.


    Sora watched in horror as her partner was killed right in front of her eyes: for the first time in as long as she could remember, her expression was something other than that neutral one she had.


    Stark had saved her, and although such acts wouldn''t normally sway her, the way he had gone after sacrificing himself was horrifying.


    "One down, one more to go," the warden calmly turned toward Sora, "Oh yeah, before I forget¡­"


    "SCULK INFUSION," the sculk around his body fused and bulged, taking over his entire armor like some sort of veil.


    And after a few seconds¡­


    "+400000," he had been mostly healed, "That''s better¡­" and so he continued walking toward Sora, who was ready to cause chaos.


    "THE FLAMING ROSE," this was also the first time Sora was angrily using a skill, and she didn''t know how her friends or family would react if she saw her actually showing some kind of emotion for the first time.


    But for now¡­ she just needed to kill that thing.


    ~FWISH, SPARK~


    A vine came out of the ground and opened up into some sort of disy, inside of it being a red flower with fire around it.


    ~NOM~


    Sora ate that flower in one gulp, and the aura around her became much more powerful.


    "Oh?" the warden tilted his head, "Is this one of those tricks? You do realize they won''t work?" he was truly mocking all of them.


    "¡­" Sora didn''t answer, instead she focused on her hands, and they began to be surrounded by fire as well.


    ¡­


    [Skill: The ming Rose]


    [Type: Legendary]


    [Description: Eat the flower, and you will temporarily unlock the power to send fireballs using your hands, those fireballs have a chance to cause the ''BURN'' effect!]


    ¡­


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    Small balls of fire, the size of her palms, appeared inside her hands, and she began to repeatedly send them toward the warden like some sort of rifle, not stopping for even a second.


    And yet¡­


    "Futile," the balls hit the warden''s armor, yet he didn''t even seem affected: all the balls were disappearing as soon as they hit the armor or sculk, "Did you really believe any of your previous attacks would have worked under normal circumstances?"


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    Yet Sora didn''t stop, she kept sending dozens upon dozens of fireballs, who all did NOTHING to the boss except tickle him.


    "Prisoners never learn, do they," he shook his head lightly, mocking her even more, "Yourpanion died, and here you are¡­ PATHETIC¡­!"


    "SCULK SURGE," he pointed his left arm at her, the one that was taken over by the sculk, and he sent a burst of the dark blue liquid at her.


    ~STEP~


    Sora instinctively stepped to the right with phenomenal speed.


    But what was awaiting her in this spot¡­ was Warden''s foot.


    ~KICK, SLAM~


    Completely different than before, he actually predicted her movements using [Horns Detection], his two horns repeatedly glowing on and off to check out his opponent''s next moves.


    And so¡­


    "Argh¡­" Sora was sent flying backward as the armored foot hit her in the stomach.


    "-27162!" and even more terrifying, the damage he did was actually high.


    "Come on," the warden sighed, "Show me something interesting, or else you''ll just join him while doing nothing¡­"


    The warden considered them as nothing but bugs, pretty normal with just how strong it was.


    And what it REALLY wanted was to show the ''prisoners'' that they were nothing but trash that could be taken out at any time, which is why he actually allowed them to hit him at the start and think he was weak.


    Now¡­ their despair would be amplified.


    Or that is what he thought¡­ because behind him¡­ something great was happening.


    "¡­"


    [Revive Token used since host is dead!]


    The token that resembled a gold coin, the symbol of two angel wings on it, appeared above Stark, then vanished out of thin air, the golden particles heading toward his body.


    And once all of them were gone¡­


    [Stark has been revived!]


    Stark opened his eyes, remembering everything that happened.

 Chapter 213: Soras Final Struggle

    [Revive Token used since host is dead!]


    [Stark has been revived!]


    Stark instantly opened his eyes, his body hurting all over.


    "Fucking hell¡­" he slowly got up, sitting on the ground as he observed ahead and held his head as it felt like it was splitting in two.


    Even though he was revived, inparison to the one of the [Chosen One] talent which didn''t hurt one bit, getting revived by the [Revive Token] was actually quite painful.


    Memories of everything that happened so far went through his head: the warden''s act, his sudden transformation and calm demeanor, then the fact Stark saved Sora by taking in the chain instead of her since he needed her to defeat the boss.


    "¡­" the more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and the darker the vortex in his eyes became.


    He yed all those moments in slow motion in his head, over and over and over¡­ until he was tired of seeing them.


    His entire body was surrounded by crimson and holy aura now, an aura so powerful even the warden would fear it.


    "¡­=)," and¡­ Stark smiled, "Alright¡­"


    He tried to stand up, but his legs actually gave out before he could, meaning that being revived is actually much more of a hassle than he thought since his body still needed to adapt after LITERALLY dying.


    And so¡­ all Stark did was watch the fight between Sora and Warden, his piercing eyes on them.


    "¡­?"


    "¡­"


    The two felt a shivering sensation on their backs, but were too busy fighting to actually look back: what would there even be there, Stark had died after all, so what was the point.


    "Prisoner Chain," Warden lifted his right arm again while blocking yet another [Elements of Nature] attack using his harem, truly showcasing that he could have done that since the beginning by simply tanking the energy balls created from the flowers Sora summoned.


    For the second time, a chain came out of the metal ceiling and rushed toward Sora''s neck.


    [Behind you¡­], but the white flower that whispering in her ears already informed her now that she was fully aware of her surroundings.


    "EVERGREEN RESILIENCE," Sora focused on her skill, and the ground underneath her began to radiate with a vibrant green aura.


    Her surroundings in a ten meters radius suddenly grew green grass on the ground, meaning that Warden was actively walking on it.


    ~SNAP~


    One of the des of grass moving slowly to the rhythm of the wind suddenly grew, bing extremely sharp as it deflected the chain.


    And then¡­ without notice¡­


    ~SLASH, SLASH, SLASH~


    A dozen more of these des grew and rushed at Warden to pierce him.


    "Oh¡­?" he was actually surprised, the reason¡­ well¡­ it was because it was actually impossible for him to avoid this attack.


    ~SLASH, SLASH~


    The des of grass all pierced his body, and one of them managed to actually slightly crack his armor, it was a [Legendary] skill after all.


    "-4727! -3839! -4221!"


    .


    .


    "-42819!" by the end, she actually managed to deal good damage, although that wasn''t enough to even make the warden budge.


    "Alright, time to end this," the big boss sighed as he used one of his hands to grab the [Sculk Ne] around his neck.


    And then¡­


    "ULTRASOUND AURA," the room suddenly reverberated with a deafening sound, and a powerful wave of energy erupted from Warden''s body.


    Blue rings came out of the ne and rushed toward Sora, who couldn''t avoid them because of the noise.


    "Akh¡­" her head hurt like hell when the rings hit her, and she had a hard time using her own aura while holding her head¡­


    In the midst of the chaos, Sora felt her body being pushed back by an unseen force, struggling to stand against the overwhelming power.


    And while she was busy trying to regain control¡­


    "Hammer m," Warden closed in the distance in a mere instant and swung his hammer sideways at her, reaching her sides before she could even realize it.


    ''¡­!'' while holding on as to not faint because of the sound waves of [Ultrasound Aura], Sora only managed to see the hammer once it was mere centimeters away from hitting her.


    And then¡­


    ~SLASH~


    [Evergreen Resilience] was still active around her, and with herst willpower, she summoned a dozen des of grass to minimize the impact of the hammer attack.


    ~BOOM~


    The [Hammer m] obviously destroyed the des of grass, but they were actually sessful in blocking it slightly, since when it actually reached Sora¡­


    ~SLAM~


    "-51362!" without that, she would have definitely died.


    [Sora HP: 4476/84000]


    Still, the impact was so strong she was sent dozens of meters away, mming into one of the walls of floor 0.


    "¡­" blood was pouring out from her nose, mouth, head: her entire body was in bad shape.


    ~SWISH~


    And as to plunge her into even more despair, the warden closed in the distance and arrived right in front of her as she got up and ced her body against the bloodied wall, her head staring at the ceiling above and her eyes drowsy from the blood tears.


    "He¡­ gave¡­ me¡­ a chance¡­" Sora didn''t know how could this end like this.


    She was always confident in her abilities, even more so Akira, and there was absolutely no doubt that she was way stronger than he was.


    And yet¡­ in front of this boss¡­ they all seemed like bugs.


    Was this why the "mastermind" of the domination trials wanted them to kill each other? Was this why one of the perks specifically asked for only "three" to remain alive?


    Maybe it was because¡­ even if three or five people fought the warden, they would have still lost.


    This trial was from the [Death] difficulty, she knew very well that it was the hardest one and that no one had everpleted a trial from this category, her previous being a [Godless-Level] trial.


    But¡­ she didn''t know just how bad the difference in difficulty would be


    Maybe those first levels were actually to deceive them into thinking it would be easier than they thought or that they were actually strong¡­


    And yet¡­ before THAT thing¡­ they were nothing.


    "Are these your final words?" the warden shook his head, the sculk on his body taking over his armor, arms, and hammer as he lifted it up, ready to smash Sora.


    "He¡­ gave¡­ me¡­ onest chance¡­ to show my powers¡­ and to win¡­" she repeated as she used her final strength to use one more skill.


    "Regenerative Drop¡­" her head tilted to the side, and she was losing consciousness more and more.


    A flower came out from beside Sora and grew into a magnificent purplevender, its tip standing right above Sora''s head and actually facing her head from above.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Regenerative Drop]


    [Rank: Legendary]


    [Description: Summons avender that will, after thirty seconds, create a single purple drop that will regenerate 50000HP and heal all status effects, plus replenishes stamina]


    [w: if someone stops thevender from growing, then the skill won''t work]


    ¡­


    This was her final chance, herst hope, and if it doesn''t work, if the warden somehow manages to still defeat her afterward¡­ then it would truly be over, and she would join Stark and all the others.

 Chapter 214: The Killing Spree

    "Is this all?" the warden''s yellow pupils also had a vortex of aura in them, although slightly less powerful than Stark''s.


    "Please¡­" she looked above, and almost, ALMOST, showed an emotion for the first time in her life as she saw the purple drop of thevender flower on the verge of dropping on her head, hoping with all her heart and soul that it would work.


    Even when the warden attacked and mocked her, even when she was against a wall and on the verge of dying, she still had that emotionless look on her face, as she didn''t care about anything else other than surviving and going back to the real world.


    In that regard, she wasn''t different from all the others, yet here she was, one of the few people who were able to advance this far, possibly since she didn''t seek to fight anyone.


    And yet¡­ that simple hope was enough to change her ways.


    No matter how much they tried, her parents could never get her to change or smile at them, making them think she was an anomaly, and now¡­ the [Domination] trial was on the verge of doing it simply by pushing her to her limits.


    Limits she never knew she could reach, as she had always dominated her opponents quite easily, the power of her flowers making her look like some sort of prodigy, although she made sure to hide their true essence as [Domination] should stay unknown to the world.


    "Please¡­" she was praying that she could actually manage to defeat the warden on her second try once the purple drop hit her head and regenerates her, although she knew there was no luck: it was all skill.


    Yet¡­ this second chance would never happen.


    "Do you think of me as stupid, prisoner?" the warden shouted for the first time, his expression twisting in anger at the thought of a mere prisoner could underestimate him.


    And then¡­


    ~GRAB, SQUASH~


    He used his powerful sculk-filled hand to reach for thevender and tear it apart before stepping on it.


    [Regenerative Drop has been cancelled!]


    And just like that, all of Sora''s hopes were shattered, she wasn''t able to finish up her spell as it was cancelled right before activating, meaning that it was useless.


    A monster wouldn''t be dumb enough to actually let you heal in front of them after all, right?


    Well¡­ at least the warden wasn''t as he kept trampling on the floor in front of Sora''s desperate eyes.


    For the first time in her life, Sora TRULY wanted to cry.


    And yet¡­ her ''condition'' was a curse, since no tears actually came out, nothing could relieve her from what was about to happen.


    All she could do was watch, the warden destroying every single one of her attacks.


    "Well, seems like it''s over, goodbye prisoner, join your littlepanion," he lifted his hammer again, the sculk and aura around his body bing much more powerful as he knew that his job would be soon finished.


    But right as he was about to swing and kill her¡­


    "PAY ATTENTION, FALSE HERO," he heard something from behind, and then¡­


    ~BOOOOOOOOOOOM~


    He was suddenly hit by an attack so powerful it shook the entire trial, and sent him flying far from Sora, crashing onto the giant metal door of the Lucullus Prison.


    "-393814!"


    "What the¡­" Warden received so much damage it was actually scary even for him.


    And when he looked to his right¡­ his left arm had been destroyed COMPLETELY: it was cut off from the rest of his body from the impact, and his armor was shattered from everywhere.


    "How¡­" he wondered as he got up, his face now full of rage as his existence was actually threatened by another entity.


    And when he lifted his vortex eyes¡­ he saw¡­ Stark.


    The boy was staring at his very soul, his aura so powerful that Warden knew it was no joke.


    "You¡­ are¡­ supposed¡­ TO BE DEAD," he shouted while getting up, grabbing his hammer with his remaining arm.


    "Death is nothing to me," Stark smiled, "Double-check someone the next time you wanna kill them," he shrugged, "Too bad there won''t be a next time for you!"


    "But how¡­ HOW¡­" Warden was so mad he was on the verge of going berserk.


    "¡­" Stark didn''t answer, "You''re just a false hero."


    ***


    Stark had been watching the fight between Sora and Warden, and although he gained hope once seeing Sora damage him, that hope quickly disappeared as he saw the boss absolutely destroy her and send her flying using his skills and hammer.


    "Get up¡­" he still couldn''t move, and nobody knew about him, but seeing that his teammate was going to die, Stark pushed his own body and limits as well, "GET UP¡­"


    "GETUPGETUPGETUPGETUPGETUP!!!" he kept trying, and the closer Warden got to Sora, who was lying against the wall, her bloodied body unable to move, the more Stark could sense that his limits were growing.


    And so right as Warden reached the white-haired girl¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Stark managed to stand up.


    But now what? What could he possibly do?


    Sora had already summoned her [Regenerative Drop], and he was too far to reach her before [Horns Detection] would alert Warden who would kill her than attack him.


    What could he do in this situation to win¡­


    "Think¡­" this trial actually pushed Stark''s brain power more than anything else before, and strangely, the more the thought, the stronger the vortex in his eyes and his aura became, "¡­ Oh!"


    He figured out something.


    "Spatial Inventory," he summoned the inventory void and grabbed something from it: it was a gun-shaped object that resembled just a normal pistol, although it had weird devil symbols all over it, and the words ''Killing Spree'' written on the side.


    That''s right: he grabbed [Killing Spree], the ultimate reward.


    [Killing Spree: This reward charges up a destructive power that increases after each monster/enemy defeated, the more monsters killed, and the strongest they are, the more this attack''s power increases, also note that the amount of monsters killed counts since the beginning of the trial!]


    He had defeated over 250 monsters as well as Leader and Akira, meaning that the power of the gun should be enough.


    And so¡­ right as Warden grabbed Sora''svender and stomped on it, Stark pointed the gun at the boss, ready to end it all.


    "Here goes nothing¡­" and without a single second of hesitation, he pressed the trigger.


    Yet instead of firing instantly like a normal gun¡­ [Killing Spree] was different.


    [Charging up power!], a panel appeared before Stark.


    [268 monsters killed, 2 enemies killed]


    [Amazing, host, you are a true KILLER!]


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    A crimson ball of energy formed in front of the hole bullets were supposed to be fired from.


    [You have in ''Sublevel 4 Elite Guard'', power increasing!]


    .


    .


    [You have in ''Chains Cyclops'', power increasing!]


    .


    .


    [You have in ''Undead Elite Zombie'', power increasing!]


    .


    .


    And that crimson ball¡­ began to grow more and more as each panel that showed the monsters he killed appeared.


    ~FWISH¡­ FWISHHH¡­ FWISHHHHHH~


    [You have in ''Leader, The Sect Leader'', power increasing!]


    ~FWISH~


    And in the end¡­


    [You have in ''Akira, the Moon Warrior,'' power increasing!]


    [Power has been maxed out! Please fire!]


    The gun that Stark had been holdingpletely evaporated, not able to withstand the power of the crimson energy ball, meaning that it was just there, its energy pulsing through Stark''s body as it floated in the air, ready to be sent at the enemy.


    "How do I¡­" yet before he could even finish his sentence.


    [Punch it!]


    "Alright¡­" Stark breathed in and out as he focused, the crimson ball of energy before the sole thing that could help them kill that warden monster.


    As focused his entire aura in his right hand, he remembered everything that happened in this trial: the fourth sublevel and the elite guard, the fight with Leader in the second sublevel, the awakening of his new ss and the moment he killed all those undead with it, the fight with Kokoro and Akira in the first sublevel because he was selected as the target.


    Now¡­ all those experience and memories, all those fights and struggles¡­ he put them all in this punch, his right hand filled with an aura so red it could be a demon''s to shame.


    And then¡­


    ~SWING~


    He punched the crimson ball so hard that it felt as if time stood still.


    The energy ball exploded in a burst of crimson light upon impact with his fist and was sent toward Warden at the speed of light.


    And it hit him, saving Sora right as he was about to smash her body.


    ~BOOOOM~


    Which brings us back to the moment before.


    "You''re just a false hero," he smiled at the warden, who was clearly damaged from the [Killing Spree] ball.


    And so just like that, the fight became a little more fair.


    -----------------


    One chapter today because I''m currently reviewing the previous chapters to enhance them and also increasing stockpile, in exchange this chapter is a little longer than the others.

 Chapter 215: Back to Business and Sculk Arm

    [You have used ''Killing Spree'' on ''Warden, the Prisoner Killer''!]


    "¡­" Warden was sent flying toward the giant metal door of the Lucullus Prison, the crimson ball of energy sent by [Killing Spree] hitting his left shoulder, and essentially evaporating his left arm in the process, "You¡­ prisoner¡­" The yellow vortex in the warden''s eyes grew darker as he got up, holding his hammer tight in his right hand.


    "You''re just a false hero," Stark took a few steps forward and arrived in front of Sora, checking her out.


    "¡­" she was still breathing, and her eyes were opened, just enough to be able to see what was happening, yet unable to move her body.


    "Useless¡­" Stark mumbled, he knew she wouldn''t be able to help, even though he had been sure she was the strongest one of the batch, "Just sit back and watch me send that asshole to hell¡­" Stark continued walking toward warden.


    "SCULK INFUSION," but Warden cast his skill, and suddenly¡­


    ~FWISH~ His left arm reappeared, well¡­ not really¡­ but it was just entirely made out of sculk.


    Basically¡­ he artificially created another arm as he couldn''t retrieve thest.


    "+100000," he couldn''t heal himself anymore, and this was the maximum his skill could do at this point.


    Meaning¡­ that both parties were in their final form.


    A true 1 on 1.


    Warden swung his hammer a few times to adjust to the feeling of his new arm,pletely made out of sculk, then he stared at Stark.


    "Do you believe that you have the right to fight back?" he tilted his head, cracks visible all over his armor, which protected him from dying of the [Killing Spree] energy ball.


    "What are you talking about?" yet Stark wasn''t bothered, his crimson aura taking over his entire body, his figure being reced by that aura, except for his mouth and eyes which were white.


    "Mere prisoners trying to escape and cause chaos in this world, I am the warden, I am JUSTICE," Warden grabbed his hammer with both his hands and smashed the ground with it, making the entirety of floor 0 tremble, and making cracks appear on the ground.


    He was extremely close to reaching his second phase, or "Berserk" mode.


    "ULTRASOUND AURA," Warden held his ne with the "sculk arm" he created, unleashing a deafening wave of sound that echoed through the room.


    Stark had seen that he used that to stun Sora before, and he wouldn''t fall for that trick.


    The blue rings of sound rushed in his direction, but he just swiftly avoided them by starting to run around the warden.


    "You seem to be smarter than the other one," Warden smiled, "That''s good, shattering all your hopes will be much more fun."


    "Heh~ and you call use the evil ones," Stark smiled back, although his was so demonic that even Warden''s eyes widened slightly.


    "SCULK SURGE¡­ CANNON!" Warden pointed his "sculk arm" toward Stark, but instead of immediately shooting¡­ it started to morph.


    The cannon-like structure on Warden''s arm grewrger andrger, as if gathering energy from the very air around them.


    And by the end of that transformation¡­ his arm was like a giant cannon that could send giant balls of sculk toward his enemies.


    ~BOOM~


    He immediately fired at Stark, who avoided the lightning-fast bullet by a hair''s length.


    "Is this¡­ your justice?" Stark said as he avoided two more cannonballs.


    "Shut up, prisoner."


    "SCULK CHARGE¡­ ULTIMATE CANNONBALL!" as if sucking in the air, Warden charged up his attack, the sculk all over his armor and body slowly disappearing and going inside the cannon.


    And after a few seconds¡­ ~BOOM~ He fired the ball, and it was so fast Stark would have no chance to avoid it, especially since Warden had [Horns Detection].


    And yet¡­ ~SNAP~ Stark snapped his fingers, and he immediately teleported behind Warden.


    The reason was simple: while he was running around Warden, he had activated [Crimson Ball Transmission] and sent a ball right behind the beast.


    "Watch out, false hero, your justice is wavering," Stark immediately aimed to m his fist onto Warden''s back.


    But¡­


    "Flickering Movements," Stark''s vision became dark for a split second, almost as if the lights in his eyes had been turned off, and when his vision came back¡­ Warden was¡­


    "My justice will never lose," he was behind Stark.


    "Sculk Handcuffs," before Stark could even react, sculk formed around Stark''s arms and handcuffs appeared on them, joining them both together.


    ''Can''t move¡­'' he couldn''t move his arms anymore, the sculk blocking his movements.


    "HAMMER SLAM," he swung his hammer sideways and hit Stark straight on as he couldn''t move.


    "-23713!"


    [Stark HP: 9787/33500]


    Thankfully enough, the [Sculk Handcuffs] disappeared the moment he was hit.


    But on the other hand¡­ Stark was now only one attack away from dying, blood pouring out from his head, and his arm hurting like hell as he infused it with aura and blocked the attack with it to minimize the damage received.


    "You''re the only left," Warden pointed his [Sculk Hammer] at Stark, who got up from his kneeling position to continue fighting.


    Stark lifted his gaze, and that''s when he noticed something: the rib-like bones that were protecting the three [Dark Spheres] in the middle of the warden''s torso were on the verge of breaking as well.


    If these things were the warden''s weakness, then he would need to use them to defeat him, otherwise he had no chance, especially now that Sora was useless and could only watch the fight as it happened.


    Stark needed a n¡­


    And so¡­ he began acting.


    "Hahahahahahah!"


    "¡­?" Warden was confused, after all¡­ why was Stark suddenlyughing like a maniac, "Gone crazy?"


    "I already figured out everything, WARDEN!" he smiled, "You think you''re so righteous, protecting the people from us criminals, huh?"


    "That is right, I am the good of this world," Warden actually agreed, he was full of himself and loved to be called a hero.


    "And yet, here you are, violent, despicable, nothing but a mere tool used by those above for this pointless game!"


    Stark continued, the smile on his face growing more sinister.


    [Keep pushing¡­]


    Warden''s expression changed at that moment, his neutral look from before faltering.


    "You are nothing at all, Warden, and when I end up killing you and getting out of this ce, I''ll make sure to cause the higher amount of chaos possible."


    "You¡­ little¡­" Warden was beginning to be angry.


    Warden, as stated by his role and name, was the guardian of this prison, the one that stopped all evil from escaping, which is why he was fueled by justice and good, refusing to submit to the evil of this world and loving to be called a hero.


    Anything that went against these beliefs would need to be wiped out.


    And yet¡­


    "You are just a monster, Warden," Stark went for the finishing blow.


    [Push him to his limits¡­ make him make a mistake¡­]


    "Stop¡­ talking¡­" he smashed his hammer against the ground again, debris falling from the ceiling and his body being taken over by sculk and aura.


    "YOUR CORRUPT JUSTICE IS WRONG, AND YOU ARE NOTHING," Stark shouted as hard as he could, the atmosphere around both opponents so powerful that Sora couldn''t understand how any of this was happening, "NOTHING BUT A FALSE HERO!"


    And the moment Stark pronounced thosest words¡­


    "WARDEN''S DARKNESS," Warden used up his [Legendary] skill again, the same one he activated when Stark and Sora first entered this floor.


    "I''LL SHOW YOU THAT I AM THE TRUE HERO, PRISONER," Warden hid in the darkness of the floor as everything turned dark around Stark.


    "Come at me, false hero," Stark sneered as he wiped blood pouring out from his nose.

 Chapter 216: Berserk Form

    "WARDEN''S DARKNESS," Warden spread his arms, and the entirety of floor 0 was plunged in darkness, in which Stark couldn''t see anything but the body of Sora, who was still lying, looking at them fight.


    She truly couldn''t understand where Stark was going, after all, isn''t angering a powerful monster against everything they ever taught in schools or books?


    And yet¡­ it seemed like it was exactly what Stark was aiming for.


    "SCULK SURGE," Warden transformed both his arms into cannons, and from the safety of the darkness began to shoot repeatedly while making sure to move as to not give out his position to Stark.


    "Do you see why my justice will triumph?" he spoke, his voice echoing through the entirety of the floor.


    But Stark just shrugged as he avoided four more cannonballs, "Nah, I still don''t see it, how about you actually hit me?"


    "You just had to ask," he heard Warden''s voice from behind, his hammer lifted as to strike and finally kill Stark.


    But¡­


    "Now that''s better," Stark turned around so fast it almost felt like he knew Warden was there since the beginning, and released everything he had in his arms toward the monster.


    And what did he have?


    Well¡­ [Crystal Stun Potions], obviously!


    "¡­?" Warden didn''t expect that, where would he even get those potions from after all, he had nothing on him, and he couldn''t hide them anywhere.


    ~SPLASH, FWISH~


    He had grabbed four potions from [Spatial Inventory] and threw them all at the final boss, resulting in all of them hitting him and releasing the mist around him.


    "You think this is enough?" he still tried to swing his hammer.


    But¡­


    [You have been stunned by the crystal mist!]


    "I think it is, false hero," Stark threw a jab at him as he had essentially outsmarted the boss.


    There was no chance for Stark to hit the boss straight on with his speed and strength, as well as his multitude of skills, which put him intoplete advantage.


    So what could Stark do¡­?


    Well¡­ how about FORCING him to get closer to him?


    Using [Warden''s Darkness], his own skill against him, Stark would force the boss to get closer to him, and when he expected it the least¡­ he would surprise him with the potions.


    And it worked¡­


    "PRISONER," all Warden could do was watch, the vortex in his eyes growing more and more.


    But¡­


    "My time, false hero," Stark smiled as he began to summon his skills, "CRIMSON SPEARS, AURA SMASH!"


    He summoned three spears and three fists, sending them all at the middle of Warden''s torso, specifically at the spot where the rib bones protecting the spheres were.


    And after these attacks¡­


    "-12162! -13449! -14393! -13396! -15098! -12445!"


    ~CRACK, SNAP~


    The [Protection] of his weakness was now holding by a thin thread, visibly shaking as if ready to crumble at any point.


    And so¡­


    "The winners are the good, and the losers are the evil ones," Stark charged up his right hand with an aura so dark it was blending by the darkness of [Warden''s Darkness], "I''m sure you also know that."


    And¡­


    ~SWING, BOOOOM~


    He swung at the protection, shattering it in the process and his fist reaching the three dark spheres, punching them with his entire strength, an explosion urring as the spheres were destroyed, and the atmosphere of the floor trembled.


    [Warden''s Darkness] was obviously deactivated since the warden had been hit by the attack, meaning that the surroundings of the floor returned to its original ones.


    "GAGHZSHHA!" for the first time since this battle started, for the first time even after being hit by [Killing Spree] and getting up like it was nothing¡­ Warden felt true pain.


    ~FWISH~


    He was sent flying backward, the power of the punch so great it dealt immense damage to himself.


    "-123828!" Warden crashed against the metal door of the Lucullus Prison again, creating a small crater in the door, although it didn''t budge more than that.


    "Hah~ Hah~" as to not allow himself to show any more weakness, Warden immediately got up, although it was visible that he was trembling slightly, still affected by the impact of the punch.


    [Warden HP: 21339/640000]


    Warden was clenching his [Dark Spheres] with his sculk arm, he was one shot away from dying as well, and the attack from Stark was so unexpectedly powerful that it actually created cracks in his spheres, which were basically his "CORES".


    "Stark¡­" Sora''s eyes widened.


    She had recovered a bit, able to move her arms, yet her legs were too damaged to keep going.


    "MOVE¡­ PLEASE¡­" she was begging her own body, something she had never done before.


    Since her birth and the moment she got this cursed ss, she had been undefeatable, from monsters and people alike, able to dominate them all easily thanks to her flowers.


    This trial¡­ was the first time she actually felt hopeless in the face of two beings much more powerful than her, and yes, she now considered Stark stronger than she was after he actually managed to damage the boss even all the participantsbined wouldn''t be able to take down.


    "Is that all?" Stark tilted his head while smiling at the warden, who had indeed tried to get up, but went back to kneeling down, holding his cores and breathing heavily, "Is that your justice?"


    "You¡­" but Warden looked up, ACTUALLY, TRULY, mad for the first time since this battle started.


    No human before had pushed him this far, no human before had made him feel so little.


    And¡­ no human before had ever forced him to use "THEM".


    "My justice¡­ is¡­ UNBEATABLE," Warden''s body began to glow and be surrounded by sculk.


    And then¡­


    "THE END OF THE LINE; THE DARK SPHERES!" he used his two [Mythical] skills, and yes, he has two.


    The reason he hadn''t used those skills before is because they are skills that require [Conditions] to be used.


    Such skills are rare, but they do exist everywhere.


    For example, [EGO] is a [Condition] skill, since Stark needs to make the [EGO Meter] reach 100 before being able to cast it.


    Another example is [Superior Clone] since it requires three clones and 30 seconds for them to morph into it, the condition was pretty harsh, yet the result was a clone almost as powerful as the original Stark.


    But there is one simple thing that is special with such skills¡­ and it is¡­ that the harder the condition is to be fulfilled, then the stronger the skill is.


    And¡­ Warden had two of those, now both activated and ready to be used, so just how strong would he get, just how much more terrifying would he be?


    Warden''s body was glowing with a deep blue aura, glowing so intensely it was impossible to see his figure anymore.


    Almost¡­ as if he was morphing?


    And he was.


    He was on the verge of using his ultimate form, the form he had never bothered to use against any of his other enemies.


    ~FWISH~


    He threw his own hammer away, crashing it against the metal door and creating yet another crater because of the impact.


    "¡­" Stark was actually cautious now, he didn''t like it one bit, and although he tried to approach that thing to stop his transformation, his own [Focus] screamed for him not to get close.


    And after a few seconds¡­ a panel appeared in front of Stark.


    [Warden has entered his "Berserk" form]


    [Watch out!]


    ***************


    I might asionally start uploading one chapter a day (but in exchange it''s going to be pretty long 1500¨C2000 words instead of two 1200-1300 words ones) as fixing mistakes and adding stockpile is taking more time than expected, sorry, also since I have to write another story.

 Chapter 217: The Two Condition Mythical Skills.

    "Justice¡­ justice¡­ justice¡­" Warden could be heard mumbling those words again, it does seem like it had gone crazy from Stark''s talk and his attack which damaged him, "JUSTICE!"


    A spiral of aura and sculk formed around him, making it practically impossible to distinguish his true form as he was powering up, not wanting to hold himself back anymore as the prisoners were now an actual threat, well it was mostly Stark though.


    The aura was so intense that it seemed as if the very fabric of reality was being warped around him.


    Suddenly, Warden let out a loud, ear-piercing scream that echoed throughout the entire prison, and they both had to put their hands on their ears if they didn''t want to go deaf by the noise.


    As he screamed, the sculk and aura surrounding him began to swirl and coalesce, forming a massive, ominous structure that resembled¡­ a colossal [SCULK HAMMER]!


    "Is this¡­ his ultimate form?" Stark couldn''t help but wonder, feeling a chill run down his spine.


    And after that spiral of aura and sculk disappeared, as well as his body stopped glowing¡­ Stark was finally able to check out the warden''s [Berserk] form.


    Warden, now in his Berserk form, was towering above Stark, his body covered in thick, undting sculk that mixed with his aura to create a formidable appearance. His eyes, now filled with pure wrath, seemed to hold an almost otherworldly darkness.


    His cracked armor was nowpletely repaired and looked more majestic than before, his fists also were surrounded with aura, much like Stark when he did it with his own.


    But there were two major details in its appearance now: first of all, the helmet with a hole in it hadpletely disappeared, meaning that Stark could now see the face of the warden: it had blue skin, pointed teeth, pointy ears as well as dark blue straight lines on its face that were glowing.


    And the second detail¡­ was the warden''s cores.


    They were no longer visible in his torso, instead they were now floating around him like they were the warden''s very essence.


    ~THUMP~


    The giant hammer, at least ten times the warden''s size and fifteen times Stark''s, dropped in the monster''s hands, who grabbed it as if it was a mere stick.


    The hammer had no physical appearance, it was LITERALLY made out of sculk, its edges not straight but always moving.


    "Justice¡­" Warden stared at Stark in the eyes, and just this was almost enough to paralyze him, that aura was not normal.


    Not wasting time, Stark decided to check out the two [Mythical] skills of the warden as to prepare him for whatever monstrosity wasing his way.


    ~THUMP~


    He needed to be quick since Warden was slowly approaching, leaving a trail of sculk as his legs were also surrounded with it.


    ¡­


    [Skill: The Dark Spheres]


    [Rank: Mythical]


    [Description: Use your three cores and make them spin around you, granting you an increase in aura and sculk, you are also now able to summon the COLOSSAL SCULK HAMMER to aid you in battle, let those criminals taste your justice.]


    [Note: the sculk is now under yourplete control, able to swallow your opponents whole, and each of the spheres can be used to block one of the opponent''s skills.]


    [Condition: The protection of your cores (aka the rib bones) needs to be destroyed to be able to use it]


    ¡­


    [Skill: The End of the Line]


    [Rank: Mythical]


    [Description: All your stats are increased by a lot, and you enter your ''berserk'' form, making you intimidating to most opponents who won''t even be able to avoid your attacks anymore]


    [Condition: your HP needs to be under 50000]


    ¡­


    One of the skills (Dark Spheres) used his skills to improve his aura and sculk, while the other (The End of the Line) is used to upgrade his stats.


    This was¡­ a horrifyingbo, and Stark had somehow managed to let the warden fulfill both of these conditions at the same time.


    "¡­" Stark looked at Sora''s direction for a quick instant, seeing that her emotionless face was looking at him, although drops of sweats betrayed her actual feelings.


    And when he looked back at where the warden was¡­


    The monster had disappeared.


    Like literally, the warden wasn''t in the spot it was in less than a second ago.


    [Above]


    [Focus] warned him, and when he looked up¡­ he saw Warden in the air, his colossal sculk hammer in hand, his eyes burning with the fury of the cosmos.


    His aura was stronger than ever, and his body seemed to shimmer and shift, as if he were made of the very fabric of reality itself.


    The three glowing cores that floated around him now seemed to dance, twirling and spinning in perfect harmony with each other.


    "GOODBYE, CRIMINAL," he spanned in the air before striking down with his hammer, grabbing the sculk handle with both hands as he aimed down toward Stark.


    "¡­!" Stark''s eyes widened, even he knew that thing was no joke.


    And when he saw the perfect opportunity to avoid the attack¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," he rolled away.


    But¡­ for the first time ever¡­


    For the first time since he acquired [Invincible Dodge]¡­ he actually failed to dodge, missing the window of opportunity by a split second.


    The reason was simple: two of the dark spheres spinning around Warden suddenly rushed toward his legs, and he used them as tforms to jump again as Stark avoided.


    "FUCK IT," Stark got ready, "DODGE CONTROL!"


    But¡­


    [One of the ''Dark Spheres'' has stopped the use of your skill!]


    He used two spheres to juke Stark into using [Invincible Dodge] and waited 3 seconds in the air so he couldn''tbo dodge him, then used his final sphere (which couldn''t be used since a sphere can only do one thing at a time) to stop him from using [Dodge Control].


    That Warden¡­ was way too smart.


    "Justice is the winner in the end, it seems," Warden actually smiled, his face full of malice as he began to go down.


    And then¡­ as he spanned one more time¡­ the colossal hammer mmed down onto Stark''s position, the force of the blow sending shockwaves throughout the prison and shaking the very foundations of the structure.


    "-93827!"


    "GAH¡­" Stark''s eyes went nk as he received the damage, his HP reaching 0, "¡­"


    But instead of falling like he usually does¡­ Stark held on for a few more seconds, his pure determination stopping him from dying, even though he knew it was inevitable.


    [Stark HP: 0/33500]


    Stark noticed that there was sculk all over his body, taking over his legs and entire torso, leaving only his head visible: that sculk was taking control of him even though he was about to die.


    "I sense that your life force is going down in opposition to before, looks like it truly is the end of the line for you, prisoner," Warden smiled as he kept looking at Stark being taken over.


    Soon enough, half his face, his hair, his mouth and his nose were taken by sculk, leaving only one of his eyes, burning with crimson aura out.


    "It is already a miracle that your determination is keeping you alive," Warden nodded slightly, acknowledging Stark''s strength, "But it''s time to fall," and as he snapped his fingers¡­


    The rest of the sculk too over Stark''s eyes, his pupils shaking as rage took over his entire being.


    Even if he was revived now, even if he somehow came back, the sculk would still deal damage and kill him as he would only have 1 HP.


    He was done for, he couldn''t live anymore.


    The trial¡­ beat him.


    And yet¡­ thest thing he did as hisst remaining eye was taken over by the dark blue liquid¡­ was look at Sora.


    She had a shocked expression on her face, holding her mouth with her right hand and visible tears appearing on it.


    "Sorry¡­" he couldn''t hear her as his ears were covered, but he could see her mouth''s movements, "I''ll be joining you all soon¡­"


    His eye was taken over by the liquid.


    And then¡­ nothing.


    He couldn''t see anything, his entire vision was covered by that thing, and all that Stark could feel was his own heart still holding on, beating slightly as if to keep him alive, trying its hardest not to lose hope.


    Losing hope is like epting defeat, and in this case, if Stark did do that, then both him and Sora would be wiped out.


    No one would remember him.


    But this was an uneptable thought to Stark: would everything he did be in vain?


    He wanted to be strong, he wanted to show the world that he was here, maybe try to get into a rtionship at some point and leave his print on this ruthless world.


    But now... as he was facing the Warden, an enemy impossible to even imagine or defeat for ssifiers that were level 100 or above...


    He felt like it could maybe be the end.


    "..."


    [No it''s not, get up.]

 Chapter 218: Last Revive

    [Do you want to be revived?]


    [Y/N]


    Stark opened his eyes again and found himself in a dark space, with nothing in view except for that crimson panel before him.


    "¡­" Stark had already been in this ce twice before.


    Every second that passes in this space is one in real time, meaning that he needed to be quick to make his decision.


    [You have 60 seconds to decide, otherwise it is game over!]


    He was put on a timer, if he passed that minute he would be dead forever.


    But¡­


    "What is the point¡­" Stark looked down.


    His body was taken over by the sculk, Warden had made sure this time that Stark wouldn''t be revived, and even if he did then he would be killed.


    So what is the point if doing this¡­ why would he revive himself just to die?


    [30 seconds remain!]


    Stark remembered everything he had went through, not only in this trial but since his appearance in this world and even in his past life.


    "¡­"


    [20 seconds remain!]


    Nobody is waiting for him beyond this trial, he had no friends or family, all of them probably thought he had already died.


    [Are you sure?], a panel appeared in front of him, and right next to it appeared a picture of a smiling Lana.


    "¡­Yes."


    [Are you sure?]


    A picture of his hotel room (the one he was currently in), as well as dozens of pictures of videos showcasing his power in battle.


    "Maybe¡­"


    [Are you sure?]


    A final picture, one where Dora had that terrified expression on her face, one that actually scared even Stark as he was used to her being emotionless.


    [10 seconds remain!]


    [Make your choice!]


    "¡­"


    ~FWISH~


    And when all his thoughts were culminating into his answer¡­


    A crimson replica of Stark appeared five meters away right in front from him.


    "You¡­" nothing like that had ever happened before as normally in this void between life and death, he had always been alone, "What?"


    And yet¡­ the only thing that [Domination] replica of Stark did was bend its arm, pointing at him.


    "Stop being a bitch, get up," this was all it said in Stark''s voice before disappearing.


    "¡­" at this point, Stark''s entire existence was taken over by his crimson aura and rage, his pupils shaking so fast they almost became invisible to the naked eye.


    And then¡­


    [3 seconds remaining]


    [Do you want to be revived?]


    [Y/N]


    Stark clicked on Y with all his strength, shattering the panel itself as his body and consciousness were transported back to reality.


    [Make use of that chance, Chosen One.]


    ***


    "Foolish," Warden peeked one more time at Stark''s figure, which was nowpletely covered by the sculk, making it look like a pile of mud, nobody aware that a human was inside at first nce, "The moment I kill you is the end now."


    He turned back toward Sora, who had her stomach against the ground, her right hand positioned against her mouth, and her left one reaching for Stark.


    For the first time in her life she cried, and for the first time in her life she actually felt sad and shocked.


    This was the power of a [Death] domination trial, it was unlike anything anyone could imagine.


    They didn''t know each other for that long, and yet the fact they fought together and were thest two alive built a strong connection, beyond anything possible in such amount of time.


    Sora couldn''t deceive herself: Stark was dead, he couldn''t have a second [Revive Token].


    And so¡­ she just looked at the warden, who was slowly approaching her, creating another [Colossal Sculk Hammer] out of nowhere, ready to smash her and engulf her in the dark blue liquid, much like herpanion.


    But right as he reached her and was ready to kill the final prisoner¡­


    ~FWISH, BOOM~


    Behind him, a vortex of crimson aura formed around the pile of sculk he had trapped Stark in, and as if it was allergic to his aura, all the liquid flew away, revealing Stark''s figure as he got up, his eyes red with crimson aura and fury.


    He had a neutral expression on his face, not saying anything as he immediately began to walk toward the warden, cracking his fingers.


    "What the¡­?" Warden looked back, his eyes widening and actual fear disyed on his face, "How is this¡­ possible?"


    But he wasn''t the only one: Sora also looked surprised, unable toprehend how in the world could Stark get out of such a situation.


    Not only was he out of [Revive Tokens], meaning that he could revive himself alone to begin with, but also that he somehow eliminated all the sculk that stopped him WHILE BEING DEAD.


    None of this made sense for neither of them.


    And all they could do was watch as Stark slowly walked toward them, his eyes so determined and his aura is smooth and powerful there was no saying how strong he had be.


    "¡­" not wanting to back away from a criminal, Warden also began to walk toward Stark while carrying his hammer, the two would soon enough meet.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    And add to that¡­


    [''Dodge Control'' has been blocked by a "Dark Sphere"]


    [''Double Assault'' has been blocked by a "Dark Sphere"]


    [''Heaven''s Wrath'' has been blocked by a "Dark Sphere"]


    Warden actually used his three spheres topletely block Stark''s three most powerful skills, scared that he would be able to take him by surprise using them.


    "Doesn''t matter," Stark shook his head as he spoke, "Was nning to end your pathetic life with my own hands anyway."


    Hearing those words, Warden looked at his [Colossal Sculk Hammer] for a few seconds, then threw it toward Stark in a quick gesture.


    The boy easily avoided it by stepping to the side, his eyes not leaving the warden for a single second as he did that.


    "Alright, I like to catch prisoners with my own hands too," Warden smiled, hiding the small amount of fear deep inside himself as he positioned his own hands, both filled with intense blue aura and sculk, ready to throw down with Stark.


    "Doesn''t matter to me," Stark positioned himself as well, "You''re going to die either way, and your first mistake was putting all that shit on top of my body and thinking it could ever stop me."


    [Warden HP: 21339/640000]


    [Stark: HP: 1/33500]


    Stark was one hit away from dying and didn''t have all his skills, while Warden had his advanced armor and all his skills to fight back against the human.


    No more second chances now, Stark couldn''t revive himself if he was hit, meaning that this was hisst attempt at beating this hellish trial.


    The second trial was much, MUCH harder than the first, this was a certainty now.


    "¡­" all Sora could do was watch, her legs damaged, she herself didn''t know she could let all these emotions flow so easily at this very moment, and she didn''t hate it.


    "COME AT ME," Warden roared, shaking the entire floor.


    "That''s my line," Stark responded, he wasn''t scared of that thing anymore, all he saw was a parasite trying to stop him from achieving victory.


    Stark nced at Sora onest time, and he quickly nodded at her while smiling, it was reassuring, giving her the impression that Stark could actually win.


    And so¡­


    [FIGHT!]


    Winner takes all, loser goes to the shadow realm.

 Chapter 219: The Final Assault of the Warden

    Not wasting a single second, Warden threw a direct jab, one filled with aura and power, toward Stark.


    [Warden: 10382 speed]


    His speed stat had actually reached over 10000 from thebination of both [Dark Spheres] and [The End of the Line], meaning that he was confident he would be MUCH faster than any of the humans present in this prison, which is how he had been able to take Stark aback the first time and kill him.


    And yet¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Stark moved his head to the side, the punch striking only a few centimeters from where he was, yet his pupils never leaving the warden, who was quite surprised by the sheer speed of the human.


    And in response¡­


    Stark swung back, his fist filled with crimson aura and rage, aiming for Warden''s armor as his face was too difficult to reach.


    "ARMOR SCULKIFICATION!" unable to avoid this attack since it was a direct counter of his, Warden activated his skill and filled his entire armor with sculk, pretty much stopping Stark''s fist but also¡­ engulfing the boy''s arm in sculk again.


    "You''re an idiot, aren''t you," Warden smiled as he pointed at Stark''s right arm, which was progressively getting taken over by the liquid, "You''re done for again."


    But in response, Stark just looked at his arm for a few seconds, tilting his face as if he was confused how did this changed anything.


    And then¡­


    ~BOOOOOM~


    His arm literally exploded with crimson aura, sending away all the sculk that was from it, almost like his aura was an antivirus against that bacteria.


    "???" Warden''s eyes widened.


    "I think you''re the idiot," Stark swung again, and this time the attack actually hit as Warden was sent back by a few meters, although it was just his legs sliding against the ground.


    "-13827!" his HP was reduced even more than before, scaring him more than it should.


    He had vowed to fight against criminals forever, until he died doing his job, and yet¡­ in front of this one prisoner¡­ he felt like he was nothing.


    "Aura Smash, Crimson Spears," he summoned three spears and fists and sent them at the warden, who extremely easily avoided them all, "Crimson Ball Transmission," he summoned the ball in his left hand, but instead of instantly throwing it, he kept it inside, just incase something happened.


    "SCULK SURGE!" Warden pointed his arm at Stark, then began to fire bursts of sculk at the boy, who ran around in circles around the boss.


    "Didn''t we say we would only be using our fists?" Stark tilted his head as he slid on the ground.


    "You threw projectiles at me, so I consider the deal to be over," truthfully, even if Stark hadn''t done that, he would have started using his other skills anyway: deep down he knew he wouldn''t win against Stark in a one on one with their fists, even though his were enhanced.


    "Oh well," Stark shrugged.


    And then¡­


    ~FWISH, DASH~


    He closed in the distance between the two of them in mere instants, the speed so fast even Sora had a hard time following those two as they exchanged blows and avoided each other.


    This kept going for a few minutes, none of them to damage one another as the sculk armor absorbed all the damage Stark would deal, while the sculk Warden sent would be neutralized by Stark''s aura.


    And after a while¡­


    "WIELDING CROSS," Stark grimaced as he summoned the giant glowing crimson cross right above him.


    "¡­!" Warden took a few step backs.


    But before he could do anything¡­


    ~FWISH, SWING~


    Stark dashed at him again and¡­ swung the giant cross at him, the holy power now also extremely intense, at least strong enough to scare Warden.


    "COME BACK TO ME, HAMMER OF JUSTICE," he pointed his right arm toward his hammer that had fallen right in front of the giant exit door of the prison, and its handle began to be surrounded by dark blue aura.


    ~FWISH~


    And as if controlled by an invisible thread, the hammer began to float and flew back to Warden''s hand, who immediately used it to deflect the first blow of the cross.


    But the holy power was still slightly more powerful than the warden''s counter attack, meaning that even though he didn''t receive any damage, he was still pushed back.


    "What the¡­"


    Not letting him a single instant to rest, Stark pushed himself toward Warden, swinging his cross to the other side as he spanned.


    Yet again, it was met with the powerful hammer of the warden, who deflected it.


    [One attack remaining!]


    His cross could only attack one more time before disappearing, and so Stark knew he needed to make it count.


    He jumped in the air, joining his two hands together and mimicking the movement of Warden smashing his [Colossal Sculk Hammer] at Stark like before.


    And so¡­ the cross did the same, rushing at Warden from above.


    "¡­!" this attack was much more powerful than the others somehow, and he knew he wouldn''t be able to deflect it without receiving damage.


    So he decided to finally end this once and for all, actually using his brain to outsmart Stark.


    He had always thought using sheer strength would be enough as he was extremely powerful, but that didn''t seem to be the case against all opponents, you actually needed to use your brain against some otherwise you would lose, don''t you, huh?


    "FLICKERING MOVEMENTS!"


    ~CLICK~


    Stark''s vision wentpletely dark, as if all the light had been purposely shut in his eyes.


    And then¡­


    ~CLICK~


    His vision came back.


    "Goodbye," and as expected, Warden was right behind him, already beginning to swing down his hammer.


    But¡­


    "Dumbass," Stark smiled as he snapped his fingers.


    ~SNAP, FWISH~


    Remember how he had used [Crimson Ball Transmission] yet kept the crimson ball in his hands?


    Well¡­ right as his vision went ck, he immediately gently threw the ball behind him without even looking back, meaning that itnded RIGHT behind Warden.


    ~SMASH~


    Warden smashed his hammer in Stark''s location, creating a massive explosion and a crater forming in that spot.


    But Stark was already behind him in the air, ready to punch him onest time and finally end this battle once and for all.


    "¡­" Warden''s horns glowed intensely, and then¡­ the monster looked back with a wide smile on his face, as if he had predicted that Stark would do that.


    "¡­?" Stark was confused, but he still went for the kill, as there was no reason not to hit when he had the opportunity to.


    And yet¡­ just as his fist was about to connect¡­


    ~FWISH, CLANG~


    A cor-like chain wrapped itself around his neck, closing in on him as he was suddenly held back.


    "Fucking¡­ IDIOT," Wardenughed maniacally as he saw Stark on the ground, "You were SOOOO focused on everything you didn''t even notice the chain slowly approach you!"


    That''s right, Warden had activated [Prisoner Chain], yet instead of making it go fast, he could also make it go slowly as to not alert his opponent.


    And so just like that¡­ Stark was stuck with a sculk-filled chain around his neck, one that would normally stop him from moving.


    Warden lifted his hammer as he arrived in front of Stark, ready to finally end all of this, having outsmarted the human.


    "So long, prisoner."


    And then¡­ he swung down.

 Chapter 220: All Cores Destroyed

    ~CLANG~


    "¡­" Stark looked down at the sculk cor that had been ced around his neck, meaning he couldn''t move as freely as before.


    The first thing he did as he saw Warden swing down his hammer at him was back away, avoiding the blow as a single attack, even if it only as much as brushed his little pinky, would be enough to deal one damage and thus kill him.


    And of course, Stark would never want to go in such an anticlimactic way.


    "Oh? You can move now¡­ you got stronger¡­" the first time he had been hit by [Prisoner Chain], the sculk and chain made it impossible for him to move as he was restrained, yet now¡­ he was able to move with a neutral expression as it if meant nothing.


    And then¡­


    ~BOOM~


    Stark''s neck literally exploded with aura as well, letting out a crimson fire that burned all the sculk, and weakening the chain as it was made of the same stuff.


    "¡­?" Warden was surprised: his chain was actually designed to be EXTREMELY durable, so durable actually that it would take around five hits from his hammer to break it.


    And yet¡­ here Stark was, weakening the chain with that same neutral expression, with his aura alone.


    Just how powerful was that crimson aura? Maybe even more powerful than even his?


    ''It''s fine, he weakened it, but I can still act!'' Warden dashed at Stark as he knew that the chain wouldn''t go down with only that.


    "Crimson Spears," but the boy summoned two spears: one was aimed at the chain that came from the ceiling, cutting it in half.


    The [Prisoner Chain] cor that had been around his neck immediately vanished as its link had been cut, thus freeing him and allowing him to retrieve his movements.


    And as for the other spear¡­


    "Crimson spear, please shape my path," Stark''s eyes glowed as he sent it toward Warden.


    "FOOLISH," but Warden just crouched down to avoid it, since it was aimed at his head, why would the prisoner even attempt such a useless attack after everything they had gone through, did he not learn that Warden was now much faster?


    But wait¡­ was it truly aimed at his head?


    Or¡­


    "=)" Stark smiled as he saw the warden crouch, because at that moment, he knew that he had won.


    ~FWISH, SNAP~


    "¡­!"


    Warden actually stopped in his rush toward Stark, his eyes widening as he clenched his chest, his body trembling as he looked up at Stark, who was still smiling.


    "What?" Stark mockingly asked as the warden had stopped.


    "Y-You¡­" Warden looked up¡­ and¡­ one of his cores had been shattered by the spear.


    The dust and dark blue remains fell in his hands, and all he could do was clench them both, anger filling his entire being.


    He didn''t receive damage from that, but it greatly decreased his powers and actually hurt him like hell, who said monsters couldn''t feel pain? Judicator, Sierra and Warden sure as hell did, but maybe it was because they could talk that Stark noticed it.


    Basically, Warden''s cores are like his hearts, so what Stark did was like stabbing a human heart and shattering it in 1000 pieces.


    "PRISONNNERRRRRRRR," he shouted, creating yet another spiral of sculk around him.


    "Fine by me," Stark kept smiling.


    After all¡­ if one of the [Dark Spheres] that had been blocked was destroyed, it meant¡­ that he got back one of his abilities!


    [''Double Assault'' has been retrieved!]


    Stark joined his hands together as he saw Warden approach him, spinning his hammer in his right hand as his eyes were filled with darkness.


    "¡­" Sora on the other hand was just a spectator of it all, "These two are¡­ what the hell are you¡­ Stark Heartsouls¡­"


    She knew of Stark''s real name since she knew about him in real life, but she would have never, even in a thousand years, guessed that this guy was such¡­ a monster.


    And he was doing all of this to save her (at least that''s what she told herself).


    "Aura Smash," Stark sent three fists toward Warden, who didn''t even bother to avoid them: the sole spiral of aura surrounding him literally evaporated the attacks, meaning no projectiles could get close to him anymore.


    It was a physical match now.


    Warden put himself in his position, he spread his legs, his sculk arm ced in front of his face, while he was spinning his hammer in the other one: he truly was ready to end it all.


    Stark, on the other hand made quick jumps from left to right, his two fists in front of his face.


    Both of them knew that this was the final assault of this battle.


    "It was interesting while itsted, prisoner."


    "Couldn''t agree more!" Stark smiled.


    And then¡­


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT!"


    "THE END OF THE LINE!"


    ~BOOM, FWISH~


    Both their legs exploded with aura as they closed in the distance between each other, Warden''s hammer swinging while Stark''s arm responded.


    But Warden didn''t realize, just HOW strong Stark was when using [Double Assault].


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    Stark was WAY, WAY, WAYYYYY too fast, even for Warden toprehend.


    ~BLOCK~


    He blocked the blow with his hammer, but before he could even respond, Stark disappeared from his view.


    [Horns Detection: Behind]


    He turned around to block another attack.


    Stark was running everywhere around the floor, leaving a trail of dark crimson aura, impossible topletely follow his movements as he attacked from different spots.


    [Horns Detection: LEFT! RIGHT! UP! DOWN! BELOW! ON YOUR LEFT!]


    Even his [Horns Detection] was struggling to keep up as it was clearly overwhelmed.


    [15 seconds of ''Double Assault'' remaining]


    In addition to that, Stark had upgraded [Double Assault] before, and the new perk increased the usage from 10 to 20 seconds, meaning he could afford to do what he was doing.


    [Horns Detection: L-Left!]


    Stark appeared on the left as instructed, and Warden swung his hammer toward it.


    But¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Before the hammer connected with his attack, Stark used his speed to slide behind Warden.


    [Horns Detection: BEHIND! BEHIND! BEHIND!]


    ~SMASH~


    He instantly smashed his hammer behind him thinking that Stark was there, but¡­


    "Idiot~" Stark jumped in the air and¡­ punched another one of the warden''s cores.


    ~SMASH, SNAP~


    It shattered as well.


    [Two cores destroyed, one remains]


    "GAhhhh¡­" Warden fell to his knees while still deflecting Stark''s attacks, his entire body was trembling, a second one of his hearts was destroyed, and if this kept going then he would surely die, "FUCK YOU PRISONER-"


    But right as he shouted¡­


    "Shhh¡­" Stark arrived in front of him, punching his hand upward, resulting in the heavy hammer to be sent flying toward the ceiling as his grip on it weakened.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark jumped in the air toward the hammer, and while he was still above, both Sora and Warden looking at him¡­


    ~CRACK¡­ BOOM~


    He split the hammer in two, separating its handle from its head, meaning that it was useless and unusable, thenunching the two parts in different directions.


    [''Dodge Control'' has been retrieved!]


    "DODGE CONTROL," he immediately used his skill as he descended back toward Warden, who through his sheer determination got up and was waiting for Stark to use his entire strength to punch him.


    But¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Thanks to [Dodge Control], he is easily avoided all the attacks.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~


    Warden went on a crazy rampage, swinging his fists everywhere and extremely fast, putting his entire energy on his attacks as he only needed to just TOUCH Stark once.


    And yet¡­ nothing would hit.


    Stark would LITERALLY teleport away from his attack at times, making it impossible for the warden to hit him.


    [7 seconds remain for ''Double Assault'']


    [12 seconds remain for ''Dodge Control'']


    The reason Stark wasn''t actually hitting Warden was because he literally couldn''t: he threw way too many attacks, and [Dodge Control] gave him less control over his own body, meaning that even with its new perk, it was still hard to throw even one punch.


    And yet¡­ after a few seconds¡­


    Stark saw THE opportunity.


    A crimson line formed, moving in different directions toward the boss.


    "IT''S THE END, WARDEN," Stark rushed while following that line, avoiding all the attacks.


    ~FWISH~


    He spanned in the air as he avoided a [Warden Smash], arriving in front of thest [Dark Sphere], and then¡­


    ~PUNCH, BOOOOOM~


    He punched it, using all his strength to take over his body for this simple action.


    [All cores have been destroyed!]


    [''Heaven''s Wrath'' has been retrieved!]


    Suddenly, the warden stopped everything he was doing, kneeling on the ground as liters of blood poured out from his mouth and nose.


    "This is¡­ insane¡­" he had a hard time breathing, and once he looked up¡­ all he saw¡­ was Stark, who was peeking at him from above, a wide and terrifying smile on his face.


    "Are you done?" he asked, his gaze piercing the warden''s soul.


    And all the monster could do¡­ was look down.


    He was finished: even though he could rebuild his cores over time, he was too weakened to fight back anymore.


    Stark¡­ won.


    The prisoners¡­ won¡­

 Chapter 221: Death of the Warden

    [Finish him]


    Warden was kneeling, all his organs screaming for him to get up, yet it was impossible as all his cores had been destroyed, which were basically his hearts and the thing that kept his ''essence'' alive.


    Even if he somehow found the strength to get up, not only would he not be able to use his hammer, let alone summon it, but he wouldn''t be able to use any of his skills or his sculk either.


    He was fucked.


    "Goodbye," Stark drew a circle in his palm, then pointed at the ceiling: he wanted to end this with a bang.


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH," the crimson glow appeared on the ceiling, slowly charging up while Warden was unaware of it above since he couldn''t even use [Horns Detection] properly either.


    Then¡­ Stark just ran away, heading toward Sora, and arriving in front of her in less than a second.


    "C''mon, you owe me a lot for this," he shrugged as he carried her body and put her on his back, giving her a piggyback ride.


    "¡­" Sora was back to her neutral and emotionless self, she had felt strong emotions during the fight as she knew her life was also on the line, and all that happened was frankly crazy, but now she was back to her normal self, "What about him," she pointed at the Warden, who was clenching his fists, his face mere centimeters away from the ground as he let out lots of blood from his mouth, "Aren''t you going to kill him?"


    "He is already done for," Stark looked back at her, and she just nodded as he pointed above, making her notice that crimson glow that was on the verge of exploding, its aura so powerful even Sora knew this was bad.


    "Huh, what about it-" she didn''t even have the time to finish her sentence that¡­


    ~BOOOOOOOM~


    The powerful ray of crimson light descended from above, piercing through the ceiling and reaching Warden, who could only look up at thest second, his expression filled with utter despair as the attack reached him.


    The st created a shockwave that echoed throughout the entire prison, and it was for one simple reason: the beam actually traversed the ENTIRE foundation of the prison, from top to bottom.


    Unfortunately, all monsters were "unsummoned" once all participants reached the next floor, but this would have made Stark get at least 10 levels otherwise.


    "AAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHH-" Warden screamed pierced their ears as they stood in front of the beam, observing its beauty, strands of golden holy aura also apparent in it for some reason, "PRIISOONNNERRRRRR-"


    And then¡­ nothing, no more sound, no more nothing, the Warden''s presence had beenpletely erased.


    The crimson of the beam hit Stark''s and Sora''s face as she peeked from his shoulder, her head cutely ced on it, although she wasn''t blushing or anything as she remained emotionless, all she wanted was just to leave and go back to the safety of her home (well more like mansion, y''know).


    "¡­" Stark looked at the beam for a whole minute, not averting his gaze even after it had disappeared, and it was as if he was lost in his own thoughts after everything that happened, his mind trying to rey the entire fight to assure that he did everything he did right.


    "Hey?" Sora shook her hand in front of his face, bringing him back to reality.


    As the beam disappeared, all that was left was a massive circr crater, and below it, you could see the four other floors as the power of the attack was so strong that it broke through the entire structure of the prison.


    Warden was nowhere to be found, not even his ashes were visible anymore, like the other enemies Stark annihted with the destructive beam.


    Warden''s legacy¡­ was truly over.


    And so that could only mean one thing¡­


    [You have in ''Warden, The Prisoner Killer lvl125'', gained 5,240,000EXP!]


    "Finally," Stark let out a sigh of relief, still gazing at the spot where the beam had struck.


    No more tricks, that thing was truly dead.


    And even cooler, the amount of EXP Stark got was exceptional.


    "Did you get experience too?" he asked Sora, wondering if such a system existed as it would be unfair for only one person to get EXP if everyone fought, although this time he did most of the work.


    "Yes," Sora nodded, "Around 1.8 million, what about you?" she asked.


    "Haha¡­" Stark scratched the back of his head, "Huh, a little above 5 million!"


    "¡­" Sora didn''t show or say anything, but deep inside even she was astonished by the amount: this was beyond ANYTHING they had gotten until now.


    She almost felt humiliated that she had gotten so little since it meant that she did much less work than Stark (which was true), and she was ashamed of herself for letting him save her not once, but twice!


    In the end, she just sighed as she acknowledged the boy''s strength: there was no denying he was her savior, and she was grateful for that.


    ~DING~


    ~DING, DING~


    Sora was surrounded by the golden glow of leveling up once, while Stark twice.


    ''Feels farm¡­'' she thought, she had never been close to anyone, but the warmth of someone as they leveled up felt veryfortable.


    [Your level has increased to level 59, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 60, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Experience: 1293711/2150000]


    ''¡­''


    He was level 60, meaning that he would be able to unlock another skill using a card.


    But before he could even do that¡­ a crimson panel appeared in front of both Sora and Stark.


    And it could only be one thing¡­


    [The ''Warden'' has been defeated!]


    [Survivors: 2]


    [CONGRATULATIONS], as this panel appeared, dozens upon dozens of confetti and fireworks lit up and exploded right before reaching the high ceiling, the face of both Stark and Sora drawn with the fireworks.


    [You have officiallypleted the second domination trial "Lucullus Prison" from the "Death" difficulty, granting both of you incredible rewards based on effort in the trial!]


    And then, another panel appeared before Stark, this one different from Sora''s as it was the rewards they would receive, each one of them getting different ones as it wouldn''t be fair for all of them to get the same rewards if one person clearly did more than the other.


    And obviously¡­


    [NovelFireP: Chosen]


    [+3 Equipment Pieces, +20000 HP]


    "Ready," Stark suddenly said while looking at Sora, who was also inspecting her panel.


    "¡­" she just nodded, making sure to hold Stark as her legs were pretty damaged from the attacks of the warden.


    "Alright!" he warmly smiled as he began to walk toward the giant metal door.


    And right as they checked all their panels¡­


    [Opening exit!]


    The sound of machinery became ten times more intense, gray smoke escaping from every part of the giant metal door as pipes were going up and down, buttons were flickering, and cogwheels were turning.


    ~CREAK~


    The middle part of the metal door began to slowly separate one side from the other, opening itself as Stark continued walking toward it.


    A bright light could be seen on the other side, impossible to see what was beyond as it waspletely white.


    And after a minute¡­


    ~SWHIP~


    The sound of machinerypletely stopped, and the metal door stopped moving as it opened more than enough for them to pass through.


    Stark stopped right before he was about to enter the light, with no way to return, looking back at floor 0.


    There was lots of damage on it from the battle of him against Warden, and all he could do was sigh as he remembered everything that had happened.


    10 were alive at the fourth sublevel a few hours ago, and now that they were at the top, only 2 were left, mostly because they all killed each other for rewards and items.


    "¡­" Stark let out a quick smile.


    "Let''s just go," Sora dared to ask, she truly hated that ce, especially this floor.


    "Fine," Stark shrugged as he passed the threshold of the metal door and entered the light.


    [2 people have sessfully escaped the ''Lucullus Prison''!]


    [Sending you back to a "safe ce"!]


    Stark''s body began to slowly evaporate, starting from his legs and going up his torso and head, and Sora as well.


    "Hey, Stark," Sora suddenly spoke, breaking the silence as they were traversing the threshold between reality and the trial.


    "Oh, you know my name, huh," Stark sighed, "What do you want?"


    "Thank you," this was all she wanted to say as she actually ALMOST let out a smile.


    "No problem," Stark patted her head, it was just a reflex at this point and he quickly realized what he did so he removed it, "If we meet each other again, which probably won''t happen, then just treat me somewhere!"


    "Deal," she nodded.


    And then¡­


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    Their bodies evaporated, then were sent back to reality.


    [Congrattions onpleting the second ''Domination'' trial!]


    [You''re on a roll, Chosen!]

 Chapter 222: Back in the Real World

    "HWAHHH~" Stark opened his eyes.


    ~SPLASH, SPLASH~


    "Huh?" every time he moved to get up, he could hear the sound of water, and that''s when he remembered, "Oh shit¡­"


    He had fought Soyer right before entering the trial, thus meaning that he had been transported to the trial from this location, and so he was back here when he woke up since his "real life" body never left that space, or at least that''s what he theorized.


    He got up from his slumber, the back of his head wet from staying in the ''soul water'' for a long time.


    "Oh," and as he looked up, he saw that Soyer''s body was still lying there, dead, "I mean¡­ I guess I did kill him heh¡­"


    But that wasn''t what interested Stark, instead, what did was¡­


    "Here!" it was the two dark blue sparkles around Soyer''s body as they were pieces of equipment dropped from defeating the boss.


    He had failed to grab them right before being transported to the trial, but luckily they were still here, and seems like nobody even came to this ce as his body would have probably been found.


    In the end, none of this really mattered: he hadpleted the trial, got his rewards, and now had five pieces of equipment to check out/sell.


    He kneeled down to grab both dark blue sparkles and ced them inside his [Spatial Inventory], not wanting to stay any longer since this ce smelled awful because of the rotting corpse of Soyer.


    But¡­ wait a damn minute¡­


    How can a corpse rot so fast¡­?


    He had only been gone for a few hours¡­ so¡­


    "¡­!"


    [You have been inside the ''Lucullus Prison'' for 3 weeks!]


    "¡­" Stark sighed, "Alright."


    He had believed that time would flow NORMALLY, much like during the first trial, but it looks like he was wrong, every trial had a different concept of time.


    "Need to get out anyway," he mumbled as he noticed that a portal had appeared in the distance on top of the ''soul water''.


    He marched toward it, then jumped with not a second of hesitation.


    Not a single thing was going through his mind at that moment except for the intense desire so sleep on the bed of his new hotel room.


    Things such as his new skill, checking out his equipment, or whatever else that would happen in the future¡­ didn''t matter, just for this moment.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark traversed the portal and immediately was sent back to the start of the rift, where dozens upon dozens of people could still be seen fighting monsters to level up.


    Yet, the moment he left the portal¡­


    An overwhelming aurapletely twisted the atmosphere, taking aback everyone, monsters and ssifiers.


    And then¡­ sensing its source, everyone turned their eyes to look at him.


    Everyone''s heart raced with caution and a bit of fear as they saw Stark walk toward them, his bodypletely covered with crimson aura, yet his eyes looking into the void, tired, yet still powerful.


    They let him pass easily as he kept going in a straight line, making sure not to annoy such a being as they felt it in their bones that this thing was extremely powerful.


    And then¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Stark jumped into the exit portal, leaving that rift behind.


    "What the fuck was that?"


    "Contact the association, was that a monster?!"


    "No, its a human, just forget about it and don''t lose focus!"


    Some just wanted to forget about that thing, although it would probably haunt their nightmares.


    "¡­" Stark kept his neutral expression as he was transported through the threshold between the rift and reality, and after a few seconds¡­


    ~FWISH~


    He emerged on the other side.


    Yet again, his arrival was met with several reactions, and some even tried to some him, but one look from his tired eyes was enough to stop them from acting or touching him.


    Stark¡­ just¡­ wanted¡­ to¡­ rest.


    Stark arrived in the massive room which regrouped all the portals to different rifts, thousands upon thousands of ssifiers there.


    "..." the number of widened eyes on him obviously increased, more and more people stopping to check out what that boy was doing, as his aura was still sickening to be around.


    But then...


    "Hey, bud," a ssifier with arge chin and. very short gray hair, almost making him look bald, could be heard behind Stark.


    Stark turned around, his movements slow and smooth, making it feel like he could ck out at any time.


    The man before Stark was alone, and he was decently muscr, although not on the extreme side like some other people, he was indeed tall though, at around 1.85cm.


    "What the fuck are you doing?" the man spoke as soon as Stark looked at him in the eyes, the vortex of aura still in them as it took the man aback the moment he saw them, but he quickly recovered as to not lose face, "You''re scaring people, why don''t you leave?"


    That guy tried so hard to act menacing, but Stark squinted his eyes in annoyance, clearly realizing what he was trying to do: he was just trying to be a hero, speaking up for the others, and receiving praise if Stark does leave.


    "Hey," Stark spoke as he looked at him, and even the tone of his voice sent shivers down the man''s spine, "Fuck off."


    And so Stark turned back, walking toward the exit again.


    But... the man couldn''t allow that: if Stark had thest word of the matter, then he would just seem like a coward who ran away and be more humiliated than all the others.


    And so...


    ~FWISH, DASH~


    He summoned his sword, which was a ymore, in his hands, and dashed at Stark.


    ''I''m level 92, there''s no chance he can beat me, his aura is probably just for intimidation!''


    He didn''t realize though... that Stark had just went through fucking hell, a hell he would have died in for sure.


    And so... right as he swung his sword down...


    ~FWISH, BAM~


    Stark, without even looking back, took one step to the side, avoiding the attack, and then... he punched the man in the stomach, not even letting him follow up with another strike.


    ~BOOM~


    The impact could be heard through the entire room, the man sent flying toward the wall as everyone avoided his body.


    He crashed against it and fell unconscious, the stares of everyone on him before looking back at Stark, astonished expressions on their faces.


    "You were also just a false hero..." Stark mumbled as he finally left the room, nobody else annoying him after that even though his aura became even more powerful, remembering Warden increasing his power.


    He arrived onto the streets, even more people watching and filming him, some even doing live streams, garnering thousands of viewers, yet all were shocked at the sight of Stark.


    He hailed for a taxi, yet even after five minutes no one stopped for him, all too scared their lives.


    "..."


    Knowing no one would stop, Stark grabbed his phone from his [Spatial Inventory].


    And... he did the unthinkable: he contacted Lana Moonless.


    [You have 136 unread messages and 28 missed phone calls]


    "..." Stark didn''t even bother reading any of it.


    Instead, he began to type on his phone.


    [Stark Heartsouls: Help, I''m at the fighting district, can youe pick me up?]


    This was all he said, it was currently 7pm, so he didn''t expect any response for awhile.


    Yet...


    ~DING~


    His message was immediately set as "read", and a response came even faster.


    [Lana Moonless: Where were you again? Anyway, don''t move I''m close so I''ll be there in 10 minutes!]

 Chapter 223: Dominations New Look

    "Oh wow," Stark was surprised she responded this quick, "Must mean she was really worried, but oh well."


    To be honest, Stark was mostly focused on fighting and getting stronger, so romantic rtionships were something who didn''t pass through his head even once.


    Whether in his past life as an ountant or this one, who would him anyway?


    And so after ten minutes of just waiting, the overwhelming crimson aura not disappearing once, and even Stark not knowing how to remove it...


    ~VROOM~


    A beautiful luxury car painted in red appeared before him.


    Some ssifiers even stopped pointing at him and filming his appearance to check out the car, as it was a beast that would probably cost a fortune.


    "What the hell happened to you?" Lana had a weirded out expression as she lowered the windows, confused how Stark could end up like this.


    "Stuff," Stark was actually surprised she was able to recognize him even though his appearance should be hidden by the aura, but oh well, a stalker always recognizes their target, don''t they?


    "Anyway, just get in, we have things to talk about," Lana patted the seat beside hers, and Stark got inside the car, a cute smile on her face as she didn''t look scared of Stark one bit inparison to all the others.


    "Thanks."


    And so just like them, both of then drove off, toward Stark''s hotel room as he instructed the blonde-haired girl.


    ***


    (20 minutester)


    The ride was just Lana talking about what she did during those three weeks, while Stark remained silent, too tired to even engage in the conversation.


    And Lana clearly noticed it as she noticed his eyes were slowly closing, although he was trying not to fall asleep.


    "Here we are," she parked herself in an empty spot.


    "Anyway, thanks," Stark was grateful, and he got out of the car.


    But...


    ~TUT, TUT~


    Lana also left, locking the car behind her.


    "What?" he titled his head.


    "I''ll just stay a bit, I did say I wanted to talk about something, right? If you read my messages you should know about it," Lana raised her eyebrows, absolutely confident Stark hadn''t read any of them.


    "Huh..." Stark scratched his head, "Yeah... juste up."


    They reached his hotel room rather quickly, and Stark was thankful he had paid for a full month stay, otherwise it would have probably been taken by someone else.


    "Nothing much," Stark opened the door and weed Lana in, he was still tired but if she wanted to say something important, then he would need to listen.


    Not wasting a single second, he jumped andid on the bed, his face staring at the ceiling, yet his body still surrounded with that crimson aura.


    "Anyway, I''ll be quick," Lana pulled out her phone and tapped a few times on it, before pointing the screen at Stark.


    And on it was written¡­


    [Rift Conqueror Academy Entrance Ceremony Cooldown: 3 days]


    "¡­!" Stark''s eyes widened, he had literallypletely forgotten about it, his thoughts only filled with the idea of finally resting after going through that trial.


    "Yeah, as you may know, the academy is in the capital, which is the most powerful part of the entirety of Ferburg as it regroups all the guilds and ssifiers that truly make a difference, meaning that we''ll need to go move there," she said casually as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.


    "¡­" Stark just stared at her as she exined.


    "My father has already rmended you and paid for the tuition fee, meaning you should have received an email containing all the information, anyway, I already got a train scheduled to move me to the capital as it will take a few hours to reach it," she smiled, "Oh and, don''t tell it to anyone, but I heard anyone who iste by even a single minute to the ceremony will be instantly expelled, truly harsh huh¡­"


    "Huh¡­" Stark''s face was slowly darkening, at least more than it already had.


    "¡­" Lana stared at him for a second, before letting out a giantugh, "Hahaahahha~ I knew you would know nothing, It''s just like you," she wiped one of her eyes with one of her fingers, "Don''t worry, I also got you a train ticket!"


    "Oh!" he almost wanted to jump and hug her, but being tried and in this form made it kind of hard, "Thanks!"


    Stark had the habit of checking his emails since he was an ountant before, so he would have surely figured it out, but the [Domination] trial had put him to sleep for three weeks, meaning he couldn''t know anything.


    "Anyway, I''ll let you rest, make sure not oversleep as I''lle pick you up tomorrow," she gently waved at Stark as she headed toward the exit, peeking her beautiful face out of the door right before closing it, "See youter, Stark."


    "Cya," she was cute, but Stark just wanted to sleep, as so as soon as she closed the door¡­


    ~FWISH, SLAM~


    He immediately fell asleep, not able to contain it the dizziness in his head anymore.


    ***


    ~FWISH~


    "¡­" Stark opened his eyes, and once he got up, "Ah shit, here we go again."


    He was yet again in the ck void again.


    And obviously, before him were [Alchemist] and¡­ huh, what?


    [Alchemist] was there in his white robe and holding his potions.


    But¡­


    [Domination], even though he was weird, looked different than usual.


    He still had that giant smile on his face, one that was evil, much like the [Superior Clone], but¡­ instead of his body beingpletely made out of crimson aura, his pupils had a golden cross in them, and strands of holy aura could be seen in his figure.


    "New look," Stark smiled.


    "You could say that," [Domination] responded.


    The reason was obvious: [Domination] had merged with [Exorcist], meaning that they became one, although it seemed like [Domination]''s personalitypletely ruled out [Exorcist], fragments of his holy aura and power being the only thing left.


    In the end, it didn''t matter, as it meant less annoying doppelg?ngers to speak to.


    "Good work," Alchemist pped his hands together.


    "I do agree," Domination nodded.


    It was the first time they actually praised Stark instead of tantly insulting him or criticizing what he was doing.


    "But¡­" Domination''s expression darkened, "It is not over."


    "Remember you''re starting your life inside that rift conqueror academy or whatever, be ready to fight things possibly even stronger than the warden," Alchemist shrugged.


    "¡­" Stark nodded.


    And then¡­


    ""Get up, then, dumbass,"" both Alchemist and Domination (Exorcist) spoke, pointing at the sky.


    And when Stark looked up, he saw a giant demon, one that looked very simr to EGO.


    "It''s time for things to get real," Domination snapped his fingers, and both of them, as well as the demon, disappeared.


    And just like that, Stark''s consciousness began to fade as well.


    He knew that what they said was true: the Rift Conqueror Academy regrouped people that were over level 125, meaning that they some would potentially be able to fight back against Warden, if not beat him.


    And¡­ he would have to join this academy, and fight his way to the top to survive as the passing rate for JUST the first year is less than 5%.


    Just how bad could this school be¡­?


    Well¡­ he was about to find out.


    That it was true hell as well.

 Chapter 224: The Unchecked Equipment: Ghoul, Soulayer, Trial

    "Hah~ Hah~" Stark opened his eyes in the real world, he was sweating all over, his pupils shaking, "Fucking hell¡­" he quickly got out of his bed and checked out the time on his phone.


    It was currently 5:10am, meaning that he had only slept around 9 hours, a recordpared to his other times, which often ended in 2-3 days sleep sessions since being in the dream world made it so that time passed... rather quickly.


    And strangely enough, his body had recoveredpletely, and best news of all: the crimson aura had disappeared, meaning he wouldn''t scare people anymore by simply going outside, WOOHOO!


    Well, not like he really cared about that since when he was in that form, he truly felt invincible, able to one shot all of them, but it would be annoying if he was like that and his identity was revealed as it would SURELY be much more troublesome...


    "Lana said she woulde today, but when," Stark decided to check out his emails as he did remember Lana telling him he had received an admission letter from the academy as everyone received one when they were epted.


    [To: ]


    [Congrattions on your admission to the ''Rift Conqueror'' academy, Stark Heartsouls, your tuition has been paid, and we have received a rmendation from the highly praised ''Archer King'', thus allowing you to ess our magnificent school.]


    ''Seems normal,'' this did seem like an average admission letter.


    But right under that¡­


    [Enjoy your current peaceful life while you can! Because the moment you set foot inside our school¡­ you will officially be a student, and your life will be a living hell until you eitherplete your first year alive or quit midway, don''t give up though!]


    ''Wow,'' this suddenly became violent and more eery, as expected from a school with a 5% chance of passing the first year.


    Stark shrugged, all he had to do was survive whatever shit they threw at him, and by the looks of it, it wouldn''t be a normal school where you just learn about things.


    Plus... didn''t Stark already survive two hells by himself? So it didn''t make much more of a difference, since whatever they did, it could NEVER, EVER, be as bad as the [Domination] trial, especially thest one with that warden.


    Then he moved on to his messages, and he had actually received a new one from Lana right after sleeping.


    [Lana Moonless: I''ll being at exactly 3PM since the train leaves at 4PM, please be ready and have your luggage with everything, we won''t being back here for a very long time since the capital has EVERYTHING needed.]


    This was good.


    But this also meant one thing: Stark was finally able to check out everything he wanted to check, since it gave him enough time to do so.


    He had 6 pieces of equipment to check: 1 from the Corrupted Ghoul, 2 from Soyer, and 3 from the trial.


    In addition to that, he also had his [Conjoined Warrior''s Cloak] and [Mirror Master''s Crystal Shard], which he had NEVER used before as they were way too annoying to do so in battle.


    Thetter could be infused into a ring, so Stark thought he should maybe look into that.


    Yet Stark hadn''t noticed one thing until now: the fact [Soulbearer''s Embrace] had not activated even ONCE during the trial to give him back some of his health.


    And the reason was simple: once Stark reached for his neck¡­ the ne wasn''t there anymore.


    At some point, probably before the trial even started, he had lost it as it could easily be detached from his neck if the battle became too intense, no wonder it was only from the [Rare] category.


    "Fucking hell," Stark sighed, but it didn''t matter much to be honest as the amount of health he regained at this point would be so small and insignificant there would be no point in even having it: he needed better equipment/items now.


    "Status window," he whispered.


    ¡­


    [Level:] 60


    [Health:] 57000/57000


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [sses:] Domination; Alchemist; Exorcist (Absorbed by Domination).


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    [Attributes:] Strength 3781; Speed 4309; Mind/Soul 4223; Stamina 3956; Defense 3512


    ¡­


    His HP had indeed gone up by 20000 in addition to the ones he got from leveling up, meaning he was more resistant, which was good.


    [Skill Points: 24 Avable]


    ''I should probably wait to upgrade my skills to silver though as to allow them to be upgrade to level 25¡­'' he thought, it would definitely be the smarter option since upgrading [Domination] and the essential skills was definitely the right choice.


    So for now¡­ he just needs to check his equipment, then try to go to the trading district to buy everything he needs when he is at the capital, the strongest ce of Ferburg, and also the biggest.


    And of course, sell the spare equipment, he still had [Sierra''s Crystal Bow] after all since he kept it in case he ended up being an archer, but looks like fate decided otherwise.


    "Spatial Inventory," Stark summoned the inventory right above his bed, then thought of all the items before pulling them out one after the other.


    Six sparkles were now on his bed, so brilliant in fact it was impossible to see what the item was, increasing the element of surprise.


    Stark reached for one of them, it was an actual eyeball the size of Stark''s palm, and immediately...


    ...


    [Item:] The Ghoul''s Corrupted Eye


    [Type:] Arrow Spell


    [ss:] Archer


    [Tier:] Legendary


    [Required Level:] 100


    [Quality:] Normal


    [Attributes:] +1200 Mind, +1000 HP


    [Special Perks:] infuse this eye into a ring or around a ne, then wear it to be able to cast the [Corruption] spell around your arrows, each time an arrow hit, the enemy will be slightly more corrupted, until eventually unable to even move.


    ...


    ''Archer...'' Stark thought, basically he couldn''t use it, and the fact it was legendary meant even more cash by selling it.


    Then he quickly moved to the other sparkles, this time reaching for the dark green ones, which were from Soyer.


    He reached for one of the items, and it was... a sword, a greatsword to be precise, the exact one Soyer had been wielding when he was fighting him in that rift right before entering the domination trial, so Stark knew that it was pretty powerful just by its looks.


    ...


    [Item:] Soyer''s Greatsword


    [Type:] Sword


    [ss:] Warrior


    [Tier:] Legendary


    [Required Level:] 110


    [Quality:] Artifact


    [Attributes:] +2000 Strength


    [Special Perks:] None, it''s just a really good sword.


    ...


    And the next item was... something he had actually never gotten until now.


    It was but a simple piece of paper, on it was the drawing of three green orbs with creepy faces on them, a text reading [Triple Soul Summon] above.


    ...


    [Item:] Skill Card


    [Skill:] Triple Soul Summon


    [ss:] Magus, Assassin, Soul Wielder


    [Rank:] Epic


    [Description:] Summon three souls that aid you in battle, enhancing three of your weapons/skills.


    ...


    It was a downgrade of the real thing as the real skill was [Mythical] and much more powerful than that, but oh well, it could get him good money anyway, so he didn''t ask questions, it was already a privilege to be able to earn money like that instead of working a 9-5 like in his previous life.


    Stark threw the two items from Soyer on the bed right next to the bow, ghoul eye and warrior cloak as they were of no use to him, then turned toward the final and most interesting items: the ones granted to him by the [Domination] trial.


    He reached for the first one, and it was... a horn, just a single horn, one that looked oddly simr to the ones Warden was wearing.


    ...


    [Item:] Warden''s Horn


    [Type:] Wearable


    [ss:] All


    [Tier:] Legendary


    [Required Level:] 50


    [Quality:] Good


    [Special Perk:] Ability for the user to use "Horns Detection", Warden''s Skill, when you put this horn on your head (it will automatically stick once you put it against it)


    ...


    Stark noticed that the required level was lower, something he could actually use, as any ss could use it as well.


    He hadn''t really paid attention, but all other pieces of equipment required a level well above 100 since the monsters he had defeated to get those were around that level.


    Yet... for the [Domination] items, the level was enough for him to use it, probably since the trial itself knew that this was the level of its winning participants.


    But even then...


    ''Useless,'' he threw the horn in the pile of items he would sell.


    Why you ask?


    Well.... because... [Horns Detection] was simply worse than [Focus], just a downgrade version of the skill, so what would be the point in keeping it.


    Moving on to the next item, and it was... a giant fucking hammer.


    ''Yeah, no,'' Stark didn''t even bother checking it out, all that he knew was that its name was [Warden''s Sculk Hammer] and that it had no special perks.


    And then¡­ he turned his eyes toward thest item.


    It was his final chance to get something that could actually help him¡­


    "Come on," Stark''s aura actually began to appear around him as he reached for it.

 Chapter 225: Sculk Necklace and Selling

    Stark reached for the final item of the lot, hoping with all his being that it would be useful in battle to him.


    He literally only had two pieces of equipment: the [Purgatory Shadow] which was way too useful and saved his life quite sometimes already, and the [Crystalheart Band] which absorbed 10 percent of damage, pretty useless to be honest as he could die from pretty much anything and the damage removed wasn''t even noticeable.


    There were probably some [Mythical] equipment pieces that remove up to 90 percent of damage received, this was a certainty, but Stark wouldn''t afford or be able to use them anyway.


    "COME ON," he swiftly grabbed the dark blue, and in his hands was¡­ a ne, "Oh."


    Immediately, Stark realized what this was.


    ¡­


    [Item:] Sculk Ne


    [Type:] Ne


    [ss:] Domination


    [Tier:] Mythical


    [Required Level:] 60


    [Quality:] Artifact


    [Special Perk:] Ability for the user to use three ''sculk attacks'', with a 12 hours cooldown between use.


    ¡­


    ''¡­!'' it was perfect: for the [Domination] ss but also within his level range, and also the special perk did seem interesting.


    He didn''t understand what it meant with ''three sculk attacks'', but he could always try it out in the [Memories Museum], couldn''t he?


    ''Ok, now I need to sell the rest and buy that stupid breakthrough stone¡­'' Stark mumbled.


    He took a quick shower (he hadn''t bathed for three weeks and the ck water was actually disgusting), then wore some clothes and went outside.


    As expected, rumors and videos of him yesterday spread across the entire city, if not country.


    Dozens of videos of him walking and knocking out that ssifier with one carefree punch spread like wildfire, people wondering who that mysterious entity (yes, entity, that thing couldn''t be human), was.


    In the end, Stark hailed for a taxi, someone actually stopping this time, and headed toward the trading district to do everything he needed to do.


    He entered the [ssifiers Trading Association] then asked for a ''appraisal room'', and was yet again led toward the luxurious rooms.


    "You again, huh?" it was the same white-haired woman with long hair in a ponytail that was smoking her cigarette, "I expect good stuff after you''ve been gone for this long!"


    "Don''t expect too much, I''m not even going to school yet," Stark smiled as he sat down on the red sofa right in front of thedy, he did remember checking her panel and that her name was "Violette Winkson".


    And even though he said that¡­


    ~SNAP~


    He snapped his fingers as he summoned his [Spatial Inventory] above the ''appraisal table'', then all items that he wanted to sell appeared: the [Conjoined Warrior''s Cloak], the [Mirror Master''s Crystal Shard], [Sierra''s Crystal Bow], the [Ghoul''s Corrupted Eye], [Soyer''s Greatsword], the [Triple Soul Summon Skill Card], [Warden''s Horn] , and [Warden''s Sculk Hammer].


    8 items to sell, 8 items that would earn him good money.


    "Oh?" Violette lifted her eyebrows, her eyes glowing as she was currently using her [Item Appraisal] skill, something that made her wanted by hundreds of guilds and associations through the entire world, "These are¡­ amazing¡­"


    Skipping the entire process of checking every item and telling their price to Stark, they finally finished their appraising session.


    And Stark gained¡­ 8.58 million rher coins!


    This was incrediblepared to the 2.63 million he got from hisst session, truly showcasing just how much better the items he was getting were than before.


    With this amount, he could already afford to rent a luxury apartment!


    But of course, this wasn''t in Stark''s projects, as he still had a lot to do.


    "Thank you," he bowed at Violette, who was staring at him intently, her gaze full of suspicions.


    "I wanna be nice to you kid, but youe out of nowhere and bring some of the greatest items from the 100-150 level range we get in months," Violette pressed her elbows on the luxurious wooden table, joining her hands, "Just what are you?" she asked again, having already demanded thest time they met.


    "I''m just me, the average ssifier," Stark smiled as he began to walk toward the door, "also I probably won''t being here for a while since I start my academy year," he gazed at her, a massive and malicious smile on his face, "Goodbye, Violette," and so he left, closing the door behind.


    "Fucking hell," Violette scratched her head, the 8 items Stark brought in front of her.


    These items were truly incredible for their current level, and yet here he was acting as if it was nothing.


    Also¡­ she noticed that he got a lot stronger than before, his eyes now so powerful even she was slightly intimidated.


    "Oh well¡­" she shrugged, "The customer is king, huh¡­" and so she began to fill the forms to send the items to the store or to check if anyone wanted them: she was sure they would be sold in under an hour if put on sale.


    Stark didn''t think much about it, but now his assets reached 13.5 million rher coins!


    ''Anyway¡­ one more thing and I''m good¡­'' oh and by the way, the [ssifiers Trading Association] is open 24/7, which is why he was able to reach it even though it is a little under 6 am.


    Stark headed toward the [Market] section and specifically stopped at the [Boost Items] part, walking through the massive hallway with hundreds of ssifiers.


    And after a few seconds, he found the sign that read "Breakthrough Stone", looking at the many disys with screens showing different stones on them.


    And so, just like that, he found the item he wanted.


    ¡­


    [Item:] Breakthrough Stone (Bronze-Level)


    [Tier:] Rare


    [Quality:] Normal


    [Perk:] Increases your skill level from 15 to 25 when you meet the conditions to do so.


    [Price:] 6.2 million rher coins


    ¡­


    "Holy shit, intion hits hard," there was no way that thing was worth half his fortune.


    And yet¡­


    [Do you want to buy it?]


    [Y/N]


    [This will automatically remove the money from your ount using your fingerprints]


    [Oh, and by the way, no refunds.]


    ''Fuck off¡­'' Stark groaned as he clicked on Y, taking the stone from the disy as another one appeared right as he did that, ''At least that''s done with.''


    He had done everything he needed to do, and it was only around 6 am, meaning that he had lots of time in his hands.


    ''Well, let''s get to my hotel room then prepare, what else, it did say that this school would be hell, huh¡­''


    40 minutester, Stark was back in his hotel room, the stone in his hands, his ount full of money, and all his useless items sold.


    He was COMPLETELY ready to begin his new chapter in life, and although he knew it would only get more difficult from now on, entering a school with powerful people, and possibly even some hidden [Domination] users, Stark knew that his sheer determination will be enough to ovee all of it.


    ''Well, anyway,'' Stark looked at the ''Breakthrough Stone'' in his hands, it was a rune with silver-colored symbols all over it, and the word ''silver'' written on some sort of magic circle in the middle, an aura emanating from it, ''Alright.''


    He put a lot of his aura inside the stone while holding it, and instantly, a panel appeared.


    [Do you want to initiate the breakthrough from bronze to silver?]


    [Y/N]

 Chapter 226: Breakthrough to Silver-Tier

    [Do you want to initiate the breakthrough from bronze to silver?]


    [Y/N]


    Stark clicked on Y.


    [Very well, please break the stone now!]


    The process was literally the same asst time: he clenched his fist with the stone inside, and it shattered inside his hand after enough pressure was put.


    The runes around the stone glowed, and they began to fly around Stark, seeping into his body after a few seconds.


    [Breakthrough passed smoothly, you have high potential!]


    [Bronze -> Silver]


    [Skill limit increased from 15 to 25!]


    ''Alright,'' after doing this, Stark grabbed the [Sculk Ne], the mythical item and only one that he could use, then put it around his neck.


    A surge of power coursed through Stark''s body as the [Sculk Ne] activated: the gem in the middle glowing intensely as the sculk liquid he hated so much formed around it.


    [You are now able to use the ne''s ability!]


    ''Nice¡­'' Stark nodded, "And now¡­"


    [Level 60 Reached: please pick a card]


    Three magenta cards appeared in front of him.


    ''Clone Frenzy,'' he summoned one of his clones, then instructed it to check out the back of the cards and point at the strongest looking one.


    But¡­


    "¡­" it just shrugged.


    "You¡­ can''t see?" Stark asked.


    "¡­" the clone shook its head.


    Which meant¡­ that it was only the [Superior Clone] that was able to do that.


    ''Interesting¡­'' Stark scratched his chin, ''Well, anyway,'' he closed his eyes and quickly grabbed one of the cards at random.


    And once he turned it¡­ he saw the drawing of a + sign glowing in crimson light.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Crimson Healing]


    [Rank: Legendary]


    [Description: You are now able to heal yourself using the power of your crimson aura, able to regain 20000HP in one go.]


    [Note: One day cooldown and you can''t heal others]


    ¡­


    "FUCKING FINALLY, HOLY SHIT!" Stark jumped in joy, he had finally gotten a healing skill.


    He had almost died so many fucking times because his HP were way too low, even for a [Domination] user, and now¡­ he could finally regain 20000 at once.


    Of course, this was weakpared to the healing of all the others, for example Sora was able to heal upward to 50000HP and all status effects, even for others, while he was only able to do it for himself and for 20000HP.


    But¡­ Stark was a fighter, and being able to heal just ONE HP was enough for him as it could potentially save his life.


    ''Alright, andst¡­'' he turned toward another panel.


    And he was frankly excited.


    [Skill Points: 24 Avable]


    Because¡­


    He would finally be able to upgrade his skills!


    ¡­


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv15; Focus lv15; Aura Smash lv10; Clone Frenzy lv15; Invincible Dodge lv10; Double Assault lv10; Crimson Spears lv1; Heaven''s Wrath lv5; Alchemist lv5; Potion Crafting lv5; Target Maniption lv1; Dodge Control lv5; Crimson Ball Transmission lv1; EGO lv5; Crimson Purification lv1; Wielding Cross lv1; Crimson Healing lv1.


    ¡­


    The amount of skills he had was starting to get out of hands, and Stark truly wondered how ANY of these people at the top remembered the skills they never used.


    Or maybe¡­ it was just that there was something he didn''t know about?


    Somehow¡­ he had a feeling that his intuition was right.


    But for now, all he needed to do was upgrade his skills.


    And for the first time, he didn''t hesitate for a single second.


    ''Come to me, new perks!''


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 25 (Silver-Tier Max)!]


    [You have upgraded ''Focus'' to level 25 (Silver-Tier Max)!]


    What else would he do but upgrade his most important skills, yes, even more important than [Heaven''s Wrath], [Double Assault] or even [Clone Frenzy].


    And of course, as he passed two thresholds for those skills, it meant he would be getting two perks for each!


    Or¡­ that''s what he thought.


    [From now on, skills reaching level 20 will require 10 skill points to get a new perk, meaning that once reaching level 20, the next perk you get will only be at level 30, 40, 50¡­]


    And so that only meant one thing: he only got one perk from each skill as they had only crossed level 20, meaning that upgrading them to level 25 did increase their power, but no new perk was given.


    ''Oh well¡­ I think I''m starting to get it¡­'' the amount of perks he would get will probably decrease the more he upgrades his skills, meaning that this was one of the reasons people wouldn''t get confused with so many perks.


    And so Stark began to read the new perks he was getting.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Domination lv25]


    [New Perk: Facial Camouge]


    [Description: You are now able to hide your face entirely using your aura, making it not entirely up to luck and emotions but now able to control itpletely if you want to hide your identity.]


    ¡­


    His perks for ''Domination'' were this: protection shield at lv5, fear inflict at lv10 (pretty damn useless since all the opponents he fought were stronger¡­), dominated status at lv15 (this one was useful, but having it activate on an opponent is still hard), and finally¡­ facial camouge at level 20.


    Upgrading [Domination] though wasn''t about perks¡­ but simply about enhancing his aura since it became stronger after each level, which is why he didn''t even bother using its perks, and why they were pretty much all ''passive''.


    [Facial Camouge] would be extremely useful in the future if he wants to hide or when he was in the academy, though.


    But in the end, Stark just moved to the next perk.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Focus lv25]


    [New Perk: Target Set]


    [Description: You can ce a target on an opponent, thus allowing you to observe their movements better and have your crimson ''eyes'' always following them, no matter what they do]


    [Note: this skill will deactivate if the opponent is out of view or runs out of the range, you can set a target whenever you want, but only one at a time]


    ¡­


    ''Fair¡­'' much like [Domination], [Focus]''s skills were mostly passive too except for ''Time Vision''.


    Nheless, these were his two most important skills, so he was kind of forced to upgrade them if he wanted to be stronger.


    [Skill Points: 4 Avable]


    ''¡­''


    Stark also knew exactly what to upgrade: he had underestimated that skill, but after it helped him many times during the trial, he knew he couldn''t afford to let it stay at its current level.


    And that skill was¡­


    [You have upgraded ''Crimson Spears'' to level 5!]


    Yes, it was [Aura Smash] but weaker and with spears instead of crimson fists, but they were still useful, being the ones that broke Warden''s first core and helped him win many battles because of the spears'' sheer speed.


    Of course, another reason he upgraded it was because it had been level 1, meaning he had the perfect amount of skill points to allow himself to get a new perk.


    And so¡­


    ¡­


    [Skill: Crimson Spears lv5]


    [New Perk: More Spears!]


    [Description: Instead of only summoning three spears, you are now able to summon 5!]


    ¡­


    Of course, he didn''t expect anything exceptional from the first upgrade of a skill since it was only [Rare] in rank, much like [Aura Smash], but it was still better than nothing.


    And so right after doing everything he needed to do, his mind appeased as there was nothing to worry about¡­


    "Memories Museum,e to me," he mumbled, and the dark door appeared before him.


    He still had around 7 hours of free time, so why wouldn''t he train and discover the power of his new perks, as well as his ne?


    He would need it forter¡­ because that academy is going to be a true hell, much more than Stark anticipated.

 Chapter 227: The Academys Station

    (6h45ter)


    Stark had trained inside the ''Memories Museum'', attempting to defeat the Warden again, as well asbine him with some other bosses, but he would somehow keep dying over and over by their hands.


    Was it the security of not putting his life in danger that made it so that he was more careless? Or was it that he just got lucky during his fights¡­?


    No¡­ luck doesn''t exist in battle, it was all about skill and power at that very moment, meaning that no matter what anyone would think, it was just that Stark had been stronger than all those bosses, although he did get some help with the guardians of the first trial.


    In the end, he managed to take down the Warden for the second time right as the time for Lana to arrive came.


    The [Sculk Ne] actually revealed itself to be quite good, dealing decent damage and able to restrain enemies if they were hit, although it was hard to control the sculk as he wasn''t used to it.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark emerged from the ck door leading to the [Memories Museum], finding himself in his hotel room again.


    Some people would definitely panic at the thought of bringing EVERYTHING they needed as luggage space was limited, but¡­ Stark was pretty calm about it, he was never really the kind of people to stress over traveling.


    Not only did he not have much to his name (pretty sad when you think about it), but he also could just use [Spatial Inventory] to store all his items, potions and ingredients, as well as his clothes and food, meaning no reason to burden himself.


    And then¡­


    ~DING~


    [Lana Moonless: I came a bit early, pleasee down.]


    [Stark Heartsouls: Alright.]


    This was it, he would have to take the train leading to the capital of Ferburg.


    And then¡­ what then¡­ Stark himself didn''t know.


    But one thing was for sure: that bad feeling he always got when things were going to go south was omnipresent, always there within him as if to warn him of not only the academy, but the entire capital as a whole.


    Wasn''t Ferburg in the top 5 of strongest countries in this world? And if that is true¡­ then the capital, the main point of power, would surely be terrifying, filled with many ssifiers that could probably beat him in less than a second.


    ~DING~


    Stark left his room, making sure to keep it clean as he wouldn''t be returning there, then arriving in front of his hotel and seeing Lana at the back of a luxurious limousine, her palm against her beautiful chin, and her blue eyes staring at him.


    They lightened up as she saw him, then she opened the door, greeting him inside.


    "Are you ready," she smiled at Stark, who remained stoic, looking ahead while the driver started up the engine.


    "I guess so," inparison to him, the limousine, which was pretty long and gave them lots of space (although Lana somehow still found herself sitting next to him) was full of luggage, at least a dozen of them, "Is this needed?" he pointed at all of it.


    "First time I ever leave the city alone, I am usually with my parents when I travel, and I won''t be seeing them for at least a year or two considering the academy and other stuff, so I just wanted to be ready," Lana smiled cutely, and Stark just kept his neutral expression as he sighed.


    "Sure," he nodded, not minding that much since it was none of his problems, because as long as he can graduate too, then he didn''t mind.


    And thus¡­ they drove to the station that would transport them to the powerhouse that is the capital.


    Thirty minutester, they arrived at the train station, and left alongside all of Lana''s luggage.


    "Be careful, mydy, I have heard rumors about the capital being extremely dangerous," the old man that served as a driver bowed as he warned Lana, he was a very faithful servant of the Moonless family, and he wouldn''t want anything to happen to the youngdy after all.


    "Thank you, but I''ll be fine," she smiled, and the driver went back inside the limousine before leaving.


    "How are you going to carry that?" Stark asked as all the luggage was on the ground, he had [Spatial Inventory] so he could probably her out by putting all of it inside.


    "Hehe~ don''t underestimate the Moonless family," but Lana grinned as she pulled out her bow and shot an arrow at each of the bags, the arrows appeared out of nowhere in her hand, probably from her arsenal as she could summon it whenever she wanted.


    And suddenly¡­


    ~FWISH~


    All of them began to fly around Lana, slowly following her.


    "I just use a [User Attraction] arrow, and they follow me around, hehe~" she seemed really proud of herself, "Our family was the one to manufacture it after all!"


    ''There are arrows even for that¡­?'' Stark sighed, it was indeed weird, but she probably had dozens upon dozens of different arrow types in case of battle, so no surprise.


    As they made their way to the train tform, Stark couldn''t shake off the feeling of unease that had been lingering within him.


    It was 15:38, meaning 22 minutes left until the train would arrive.


    And yet¡­ the first thing Stark noticed was¡­ that the station was FILLED with young people around his age.


    All of them looked extremely powerful, some even letting their auras out to intimidate others, while the rest carried their weapons/items in hand and speaking to the rest.


    There was not a single adult on sight, it was only shy and young ssifiers.


    "Hey, why are there so many people like us here?" Stark asked, wondering what the hell was happening since this definitely couldn''t be normal.


    And in response, Lana justughed and pointed at a giant, colorful sign above the train tracks.


    And it read¡­


    [Rift Conqueror Express]


    [Only students of the academy are allowed to board this train]


    The academy went so far in its research of powerful students that it allowed anyone that got epted into their school to travel to it extremely easily by having their very own trains and even airports, weing ssifiers from all over the world.


    No wonder it was one of the top 3 strongest schools in Rheria, and also considered to be the hardest to graduate from of all.


    Just looking at these people¡­ gave the whole picture Stark needed to realize just what he''s plunging himself into.


    "Sigh~" Stark was forced to stand up next to Lana as there were no seats or benches.


    But suddenly¡­


    "Oy~ if that''s not Lana Moonless, I''d never think I would see her in person," a tall gangster-looking man with rock star purple hair and a piercing in his nose appeared, followed by two other people that had the exact same aesthetic as his.


    "Piss off," she groaned as she turned and walked behind Stark, hiding behind him as if he was her knight and protector.


    ''¡­?'' Stark was confused, he was pretty sure she could just shoot one of her weird arrows at them, right?


    "Come on, we''re going to be ssmates, we don''t know when any of us will die or leave the academy, why don''t we be friends," that guy sounded like a total yboy, "Quit hiding behind that weak-looking punk."


    He approached his face to Stark''s, sticking out his tongue.


    "Oy~ look at you¡­" he tried to continue, many people all over watching as they wanted to see who was dumb enough to argue not even on their first day.


    But, before he could even finish his sentence.


    ~PUSH~


    Stark pushed him out of the way with a single hand then looked at him with a disgusted look, "There''s no way a loser like you is hitting on a random girl while the year hasn''t even started," Stark truly hated people like that, and he made sure to show it.


    "Huh?" the punk couldn''t answer, and neither could his friends.


    "I mean, look at you, I can pretty much guarantee you''re not even surviving the first few months," Stark turned around and walked away, his hands in his pockets, Lana following him closely.


    And surprisingly, the "Punk Group" didn''t follow after him, only looking at one another and shrugging, a smug look appearing on the leader''s face: everyone knew that fighting fellow students right now would be stupid, they would have more than enough time to do thatter after all.


    "¡­" Stark contained hisughter, a wide smile appearing on his face.


    "Thanks," Lana sighed, "I hate people like this, don''t you as well-¡­?" but before she could finish her sentence, her eyes widened as she looked at Stark''s face.


    "=)" he was smiling like a maniac.


    "I think¡­" he turned his head toward Lana, "I think I''ll enjoy this academy much more than expected¡­"


    There were hundreds of people just like them, and many challenges.


    But¡­ Stark felt like he would enjoy it all.


    [3:55PM]


    [The train is arriving shortly, please be ready!]

 Chapter 228: Train to the Capital

    [4PM]


    [The train is arriving, please make sure to enter, anyone not inside by 4:05PM will be left behind and expelled!]


    The train pulled into the station, looking extremely luxurious as it was dyed in red and had all sort of graffiti representing the academy on it, it also looked to be controlled by magic as there was no driver.


    The doors hissed open, inviting the eager students to board, and everyone on the tform (around 300/400 people) went inside at once.


    Stark and Lana made their way inside, the bustling crowd of ssifiers following closely behind. The interior of the Rift Conqueror Express was nothing short of luxurious, with plush seating and elegant decor.


    And yet¡­ there was no chattering.


    The atmosphere was as quiet as death itself, everyone''s expressions being grim and deste of any excitement.


    Most people would be excited to enter a powerful academy and make their way to the top.


    But¡­ with this one¡­ no one could say they were really excited as they knew their lives would be in danger no matter what they did.


    "Let''s go," even Lana''s cheerful attitude disappeared, as if the train and its aura itself had removed all her happy emotions, "There are many seats, let''s rx."


    "¡­" Stark just nodded and he sat on one of the dozens of sofa''s that were ced all around, Lana sitting beside him as her luggage was still in the air.


    All around, people from the same "groups" sat on their respective sofas.


    And just like that, people could already have a good view of who was with whom, teams had already been formed after all.


    [4 hours 23 minutes until reaching the capital!]


    [Get to know each other, it will be greatly needed, teamwork makes the dream work after all, RIGHT?!]


    And with these announcements out of the way¡­


    ~VROOM, VROOM~


    All they could hear was the sound of the train moving, only able to look out of the windows to check thendscape of the city as it quickly passed.


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    No one spoke, some were ying with their skills, others with their weapons, a few just sleeping and the rest just analyzing the other ssifiers to get a head start.


    And so¡­ just like that¡­ four hours passed.


    [20 minutes until destination!]


    [We have entered the capital, by the way!]


    They were still in Ferburg, thendscape of the different cities passing through them as they observed the different buildings, but now¡­ they were in the capital, the biggest and strongest area of them all.


    "Hey?" Lana suddenly spoke, breaking the silence, and the people close to them were so bored, and it was so quiet that they actually turned their heads toward them, hoping for anything interesting.


    "Hm?" Stark smiled.


    "I''ve just been wondering¡­" Lana seemed quite nervous, "You¡­ You''ve been smiling the whole time¡­"


    "Oh? Really =)?" Stark knew that perfectly well: he had been smiling for the entire ride, and some people even pointed at him for that.


    No one liked seeing that devilish smile of his, and dozens of people already noted him in their "be cautious around him" list.


    "Don''t worry," Stark patted Lana''s beautiful blonde hair, "I''m just getting ready for whatever''sing."


    Stark during these few hours had been part of the "analyze others" group, observing their auras as well as the things they showcased in case it would help, a vortex in his eyes appearing as he continued his observations even beyond his own car, looking at the people on the other ones using [Focus].


    And so¡­ after everything was done¡­


    The train came to a screeching halt, signaling their arrival to their destination.


    [We have arrived at the center of the capital, the academy is extremely close to here, please do check it out!]


    [2 days until the entrance ceremony!]


    As the doors slid open, the students emerged cautiously, taking in the grandeur of the city thaty before them. Skyscrapers towered overhead, casting shadows over the bustling streets filled with ssifiers.


    They called the capital "ssifier City" since only people from that line came to it, anyone else that attempted to live here would just be asking for death.


    The soon-to-be students of the academy left in their own directions, heading toward their hotels or apartments as they had prepared themselves to live here, since the academy doesn''t provide dorms or anything of the sort.


    "Oh?" many groups of ssifiers stopped as they saw the students emerge from the train and tform as it was pretty much in the middle of a busy street, only stopping people from getting crushed by a barrier which opened for the students to pass.


    "Hey, it''s them¡­"


    "Holy shit, those kids have guts¡­"


    "Most of them are going to die anyway, just move on."


    Everyone in this city knew about the reputation of the [Rift Conqueror Academy], and the students knew as well, it was just that they held onto the hope and idea that if they ever as much as just PASSED the first year, then their future would be guaranteed, and they would be the powerhouse of their families.


    Impossibly high risk, extremely high reward.


    Some of these people didn''t even value their lives other than for the sake ofpleting these two years inside that academy, while others truly just wanted to push themselves to their limits and grow stronger.


    Everyone had their own desires, but only the strongest woulde out on top.


    But¡­ what about Stark.


    "=)" what was his desire? What was his goal¡­?


    Well¡­ no one knew, and probably not even Stark himself: he just wanted to see what this academy had to offer, maybe he would pass, maybe he would get stronger, who knows¡­


    In the end¡­


    "Hey," Lana tapped Stark''s shoulder as he was dozing off, "Let''s check out the academy before anything, we can spend the next two days exploring the capital as we''ll be spending the next 2 years here!"


    "¡­" Stark looked at her, and his smiled grew, "That is¡­ if we stay alive, isn''t it?"


    "¡­" Lana''s looked nervous, avoiding Stark''s gaze as a drop of sweat appeared on her forehead, "Sure¡­ but I''m sure we can do it!"


    "Optimistic, huh¡­" Stark nodded, "Anyway, let''s check out the academy quickly, I need to go look for a hotel room or apartment if they don''t have dorms."


    "Oh! You don''t have to worry about that either¡­" Lana smiled for the first time since she boarded the train, "My dad already prepared everything¡­" she sighed while whispering, just loud enough for Stark to hear.


    "¡­?" He was confused, but quickly moved on as they followed the crowd and began to walk toward the academy.


    It only took ten minutes to reach it from their current location, and they were able to see the top of it from far because of how high the building was.


    As they approached the towering structure of the Rift Conqueror Academy, Stark''s expression remained neutral.


    But as for the others¡­


    "Wow¡­"


    "Holy shit, that''s insane¡­"


    Their reactions only showed shock and admiration.


    This was the [Rift Conqueror Academy], the hell that Stark would need to enter.


    The hell all these people oh so wanted to pass through.


    The hell where everyone would have to fight friends and foes alike, with the sole hopes of surviving.


    This was¡­ the [Rift Conqueror Academy].


    And now that they saw it¡­ all they could do was observe its beauty, awaiting the day they would have to enter it since the gates were currently locked, only allowing people to see it from afar.


    [2 days until ''Entrance Ceremony''!]

 Chapter 229: The Rift Conqueror Academy

    "¡­" Stark stared at the academy with serious eyes.


    The building loomed over them, its architecture both ancient and futuristic, with intricate runes etched into the walls that seemed to pulse with mystical energy.


    There were 9 symbols on the marbles and gold walls that people could see from the entrance: two crossed swords (warrior), a magic staff (magus), three w marks (beast tamer), a cross (exorcist), a dagger (assassin), a bow (archer), a heart (soul wielder), a potion sk (alchemist) and a demon tail (subus/incubus).


    Below all these was a holographic text that read the name of the sses rted to these symbols, but it didn''t really take a genius to figure out what they were.


    All these symbols on the walls pulsated and were in constant movement: for example, the swords of the warrior ss would sh together before going back to their original position, while the sk from alchemist would shake, the liquid inside it changing colors.


    It was truly like they were considering sses as "divine", something all ssifiers took pride in and seemed to enjoy, though.


    But Stark noticed one thing¡­


    Domination was there.


    Was it really that unknown? Probably, yes, but it didn''t make sense for even the experienced teachers and chairman to not know about it.


    They actually probably did¡­ but somehow no one talked about that ss even though it was the strongest.


    "Holy shit, what is that," a girl pointed at the very top of the building, dozens of long rodes on it with a g that showed a blue portal with a stickman figure entering it, probably the logo of the school, the biggest rode of them seemed to be ten meters in height, showcasing to the entire capital their g.


    And once Stark looked at the sky¡­


    ''¡­!'' there was legitimate dragon flying around the school building, but mainly around the rodes, zigzagging between them, "Oh, it''s fake."


    The dragon cast no shadow on the ground even though the time was sunny, meaning that it was just a super-advanced holographic disy, he couldn''t deny it was impressive though, and that dragon looked so real some people could be scared.


    In the end, they just kept looking for a good five minutes, taking in the view as this ''school'' looked more like a pce, and what so big that it could easily host over ten thousand people.


    Next to the school was a giant arena where fights could be hosted, probably used forter, and people seemed to call it the "Fate Colosseum" for some reason.


    And¡­ that was pretty much all.


    There weren''t really many ways to describe the school if you weren''t there to see it, but just know that it was big and luxurious, truly showcasing the importance of each ss as every one of them had a different terrain to train in, leaving nobody behind (except Domination).


    "This is great, I''m actually excited now," Lana held her chest as she took quick breaths, "It was really terrifying to think that you could die at any point in this school, but now I feel a bit more confident, let''s go, Stark," she smiled as she took his hand and guided him.


    But¡­ Lana wasn''t the only one.


    EVERYONE felt a bit more confidence after seeing the grandeur of the academy, actually now believing in their powers to survive.


    Everyone had their dreams, and everyone wanted to fulfill them.


    Yet¡­ it was impossible.


    All of this confidence and sudden excitement was nothing but a ploy to put your guard down.


    And there was no denying it¡­ this school was hell, much more than any of them could EVER imagine it to be.


    At the highest floor of the academy, beyond one way sapphire windows, twenty pair of eyes were staring at the student as they left.


    "Haha¡­ idiots¡­" a manly voice rang, "Do they really believe the world is sunshine and rainbows?"


    "It doesn''t matter, it only starts in two days, they will realize just how wrong they were at that time," a woman that was sitting right beside the man spoke, spinning the ss of wine in her hand.


    "Ohoh~" the chairman slowly pped his hands while adjusting his sses to get the attentions of the 19 people sitting on chair around a big circle table, "Do not worry, my dear teachers and instructors, the students are going toe soon, and at that time¡­ then their first hellish year will start, and we shall enjoy seeing which will be the strongest toe out of the lot," he smiled.


    EVERYONE in this room were graduates of [Rift Conqueror] back in their time as well, meaning that they knew exactly what true horror and hell was, and just how to adjust it for people to be strong.


    These 20 people, the powerhouses of the academy, capital, if not entire country, even though they weren''t invited to events such as the ''ssiTop'', were present.


    In their room, they were surrounded by a sturdy walls, but most importantly, a screen that shows the entrance of the academy from all angles.


    They enjoyed observing the new students, and noting the ones that looked strong as they actively enjoyed ying a gamble game of "who is gonna live, die or quit".


    Yes, these people were teachers and instructors, yet they were extremely twisted as well: who in their right mind would teach in this academy, which took the most amount of lives between all in the world, after all?


    And as to allow themselves to do this, this room waspletely isted, with not even the most stealthy and observant of ssifiers would be able to detect it.


    Basically¡­ it was their little hiding ce to check out the bugs they would y with during the first year: yes, they don''t consider ssifiers who didn''tplete the first year as people, after all they had done it themselves and suffered through all of these "trials" to be in their current position.


    Only when you reach the second year while they respect you and consider you human, but in contrast it will also be much harder.


    They were called the "Harsh Council" for a reason.


    "Well, folks, the students are leaving," the chairman smiled as he looked at everyone, their figures cloaked by the shadow of the closed room, impossible to see their appearances.


    "Seems like this year''s batch is¡­ interesting," another man remarked.


    "That is true, I analyzed them, and I can confirm with certainty that this batch of student is the strongest we have had in around twenty years," a middle-aged woman, holding a crystal ball, smirked.


    "Amazing, it does seem like this year is going to be truly fascinating, let us have fun, then!" the chairmanughed, and all others began to leave their seats.


    But right at that moment¡­


    "Wait a damn minute," the chairman spoke, a surprised look on his face as he looked at the screen around him, pointing at the entrance.


    Suddenly, all the other members of the council stopped in their tracks and looked at the screen, it still shows the outside, but extremely zoomed in.


    It was zoomed¡­ on a boy.


    "He is¡­ looking at us?" one of the members mumbled.


    And who could that boy be?


    Well... who other than Stark, duh?


    "He knows," the chairman smiled as the camera zoomed in on Stark''s eyes, who was clearly looking at the room they were currently in.


    Just who is that kid, was what they thought.

 Chapter 230: Noticing the Aura in the Tower

    There wasn''t anything left to discover, so they would need to wait 2 days when they were called to participate in the entrance ceremony.


    But¡­


    "Hey, wait," Stark stopped Lana as she was walking toward the street like all the other students after checking out the academy.


    He got a gut feeling in his heart, and his mind was screaming for him to stop as they were "observed".


    [Focus: Look up, toward the top window of the middle tower]


    He did as he was told and then¡­


    ~GULP~


    "Oh shit¡­" Stark''s eyes widened as he sensed an extremely powerful auraing from that room, it was actually so powerful he had a hard time not vomiting on the spot.


    "Hey, are you okay, what''s happening?" Lana looked worried as she peered at Stark, who was still looking at the window with a determined look.


    "Yeah, I''m fine," Stark sighed after thirty seconds, "Let''s just go, I''m kind of tired."


    Stark didn''t like this at all, and if it wasing from the academy, then it meant they were probably teachers watching them.


    Lana and Stark hailed for a taxi and the car drove them around twenty minutes away of the academy, arriving in front of a luxurious apartmentplex.


    "Thanks for the ride, sir," Lana bowed as she paid, she was actually very kind and respectful to others, yet somehow found the strength in herself to speak casually to Stark.


    "Anyway, my father has rented out an apartment in thisplex for you and me, its pretty close and luxurious enough tost for the two years as he already gave the down payment on all of it," Lana smiled as she pulled out a card, it had Stark''s name on it with the room number [502], which meant the second room of the fifth floor.


    "Oh," Stark took the card and thanked Lana, he didn''t expect something so good to be given to him out of nowhere.


    And yes, it was too good, so Stark squinted his eyes while looking at Lana, knowing something was up.


    Apparently she didn''t know anything, as she happily entered the elevator and ordered him toe.


    "It''s fine, I''ll take the stairs," he gestured, and she just shrugged then clicked on one of the buttons, "Well, we''ll be separated anyway so might as well get used to it, huh¡­"


    An apartment so close to the academy was really useful, and although he didn''t know what to expect there, it was still good.


    He climbed up the stairs quite easily, his stamina now so good that doing that didn''t even make him break a sweat.


    ''5th floor¡­'' he lifted his gaze and saw a [Floor 5] sign written in blue letters.


    Apparently, each floor only had two apartments, allowing for an immense amount of space, but that is why it was very expensive: only the rich could afford it, and Stark would sure as hell not waste his precious money on such a thing, a shabby hotel room was more than enough for him.


    But right as he stepped inside the hall, reaching his room, which was the 502¡­ the elevator door opened.


    "Oh wooooow," Lana acted shocked, "What a coincidence, my room is the 501!"


    "¡­" Stark looked at her with the most neutral of eyes, "Alright."


    He entered his room by scanning the card and then closed the door behind him.


    Of course, he already figured it out: the sole reason Arthur, the archer king, put Lana and Stark so close together wasn''t because of good will, but because he wanted thetter to protect his daughter.


    ''Fucking hell¡­ I''m not a bodyguard¡­'' Stark wasn''t found of that idea, being solo was his entire way of life, and it wouldn''t change no matter what, "Well, worse case scenario I get evicted somehow, and Lana should be able to defend herself¡­"


    As for the interior of his apartment, well¡­ it was pretty damn good.


    Luxury furniture that were already ced, a bedroom, living room, kitchen, basically everything he would need during those two years.


    He was used to living alone, so giving him a bigger space was useless, but it still felt better than going into a hotel room and entering it to directly see your bed and everything it had to offer.


    Hey on his bed and looked at the ceiling.


    Somehow, that bad feeling of his never went away, and seeing all these students and this new city added to that pressure he was feeling.


    What could be waiting for them in two days.


    "I¡­ I''ll find out eventually¡­ let''s just sleep¡­" he was so tired.


    He shouldn''t be at such an important time, not after being so close to entering the hellish academy.


    But¡­


    "Zzzzz¡­" even Stark, the most promising of [Domination] users, who was being watched closely by the [Domination Association], was tired.


    Yes, even Stark knew and felt that sometimes he was being watched by a distant pair of eyes.


    They did tell him they would ALWAYS keep an eye on him, probably already aware of the second trial and its results.


    He hadn''t heard of any type of ''Cmity-Level'' monster attacks like the first time over though, but maybe it was because they figured out all the participants and contained them all?


    Were they even capable of checking out the trial and its results as well? Such a big organization should be able to, right?


    This was probably what happened.


    ''So many things I don''t know about¡­ I wish¡­ it was this peaceful, huh¡­'' Stark closed his eyes, "Zzzz.


    And he slept, hopefully not long enough to miss the academy entrance, as it would mean instant expulsion.


    ***


    (Dream World)


    "¡­" Stark didn''t even act surprised, at this point, even a single second of rest meant that he would find himself in this ce.


    Was this a curse or a blessing? He didn''t know.


    It was calm, though.


    "Oh, hey," [Domination], who was merged with [Exorcist], visible by the strands of golden aura in its body, was currently ying chess with [Alchemist].


    "Hm~" Alchemist seemed to be concentrated on the game, moving his knight to take one of Domination''s pawn.


    "Is this what all of you do when I''m not here?" Stark questioned as he approached their table, a chair magically appearing out of nowhere.


    "Well, somewhat, we can see through your eyes since we are you, but we still are forced to stay here," Domination moved his rook.


    "¡­"


    "You know, I''ve been wondering," Alchemist looked at Stark, "How do you feel about all of this?"


    "¡­?"


    "I mean, with the ApostleDex, your goal in this world is probably toplete it by killing all the apostles, then meeting the ''Godless Demon'' and kicking its ass," Domination resumed the discussion, "Check by the way," it moved its bishop, checking the king, "But what about all the rest?"


    "The rest?" Stark was confused.


    "I mean, do you n to obtain all the sses? It makes more people to interact with, obviously, but also, what about the academy? And rtionships? Fame? Power?" Alchemist took back the discussion, and it was almost like the two were in synchro.


    "Basically¡­ you''re asking what I n to do?"


    "Yeah, I think that Lana chick is onto you, no doubt, and you''re strong enough to earn enough money to live your life like this in luxury, what is your true goal, Stark Heartsouls?"


    "I don''t know, but I don''t have a choice but to keep going anyway."


    "Why?" Alchemist asked, trying his hardest not to get checkmated.


    "Because, well, the [Domination Trial] is still present, so if I sit back and do nothing, there is a huge chance that I will still be teleported away and get fucked as I would be too weak," Stark''s argument was literally unbreakable, and even the two sses knew it: Stark couldn''t stop until all [Domination Trials] were over, or until he killed all the apostles and proved himself to the world.


    It was a never ending cycle.


    "But anyway," Stark smiled as he continued, "I actually do enjoy fighting."


    "We do too, we were just asking," Domination smiled, "Checkmate, Alchemist," it cornered the king using his queen and rook.


    "Well¡­ Then everything is settled, just have to survive the academy and not get destroyed by the other students or some impossible tasks!" Stark felt optimistic.


    "We''re gonna be fine, just wake up, or you''ll bete," both Domination and Alchemist said as they looked at Stark.


    "I did guess a long time would pass, thank you," Stark got up from his chair, and all the furniture, as well as the two ss figures, disappeared.


    What was that feeling inside of him? Why did they talk about something so deep with him after acting goofy and carefree all this time?


    "I¡­ Ah, fuck, doesn''t matter," Stark lost consciousness as he closed his eyes.


    ***


    "WAKE UP! WAKE UP STARK!"


    "¡­?" Stark''s vision was drowsy, but he could hear someone calling his name and frantically shaking him.


    "Oh! Oh my god, finally!" he also felt someone embrace him.


    "What the fuck is happening¡­" he was still confused, that dream of hissted less than five minutes, but a long time must has passed in the real world.


    And so right at that moment¡­


    "COME ON, THE ENTRANCE CEREMONY IS IN AN HOUR!"

 Chapter 231: A Way to Reach the Academy?

    "...?" Stark just wanted to keep sleeping, he didn''t know for how long he slept, but to him, it seemed as if he had taken a ten-minutes nap, "What...?"


    He was still being shaken by the figure that was yelling his name.


    And once Stark was fully aware of his surroundings... he finally understood.


    "The ceremony is in an hour, wake up dumbass," the figure was none other than Lana.


    "Yeah..." he had finally heard her, and guessed that he had slept for two whole days.


    Stark rubbed his eyes then got up.


    "I was wondering what you were doing, sometimes, not answering for days on end, yet you were just... sleeping?" Lana asked, her voice was annoyed, but there was a massive sense of relief in it too.


    "Doesn''t matter," Stark pulled out a cereal box and mill from his [Spatial Inventory] and prepared his breakfast, "The biggest question is how did you get in my room if I had the card."


    It didn''t take long for him to look at her hands and see an exact copy of his room card.


    "Alright, can you get out so I can dress?" Stark ignored that and decided that getting ready for the entrance ceremony was more important.


    Stark wore the most casual of clothes for this big event, then he left his room ten minutester.


    Lana was waiting for him outside, she was wearing a beautiful white dress with a skirt that reached her knees.


    "...Let''s go," Stark never pays attention to this sort of thing, so the two went out of their apartment andplex and hailed for an avable driver.


    Surprisingly, it was quite difficult to find one, and even after ten minutes nobody was there.


    "It''s the entrance ceremony of the most powerful school in Ferburg, so of course the capital is gonna be packed..." Lana sighed, "This is why I wanted to go early, but SOMEONE was sleeping."


    "Should have just gone ahead by yourself, I would have woken up and started running either way," Stark smiled.


    "..." Lana didn''t have an answer, so she used her ultimate technique in such situations: pouting.


    After another ten minute, a lone taxi driver appeared before the two uing students.


    But... after less than five minutes...


    They met a roadblock.


    There were hundreds of cars, and thousands of people roaming around, both ssifiers and reporters wanting to show the entrance ceremony to the real world.


    It was a true festival, and there was no chance in hell they would reach it at this pace.


    "...Alright, thanks for the drive mister," Stark opened the door and dragged Lana (after she paid) outside, carrying her on his back as he activated his aura and jumped on top of a building.


    Surprisingly, dozens of people had the same idea as him as they were all running toward the academy, all students of course.


    ~DASH~


    While holding Lana from the dress, he kept running for a good five minutes, going much faster than even the taxi.


    And so... he was finally able to see the academy.


    The entrance and surroundings were literally blocked by all the ssifiers and reporters, forcing the actual students to use their brains if they want to enter.


    Stark stopped at the edge of a building, then grabbed Lana and carried her in his two hands princess style since he knew she probably didn''t have enough defense to survive the wall from where they were.


    "Alright, get us down," Lana didn''tin either.


    And so... Stark jumped from the very tall building''s roof toward the ground, precisely right after the gate, as to allow themselves to pass.


    ~DASH, FWISH~


    The building''s roof was at least fifty meters in height, and not a single one of the other people that were running on the roofs alongside him even dared to do what he was doing.


    "What the fuck?"


    "Suicide?"


    They really thought he was insane.


    And to add to that, while he was still in midair, focusing his aura as faltering meant falling to his death, the reporters noticed his presence and turned their cameras toward him.


    ~BOOOOM~


    In a massive crash, Starknded on the other side of the gate, actually creating a small crater on the ground.


    "WHAT?"


    People were both shocked and astonished, but Stark just continued walking toward the academy''s giant red doors, which were opened.


    [12 minutes until ceremony begins]


    A massive text could be seen above it.


    [If you are outside when the door is closed, you will be expelled.]


    Students actually guessed this was their first ''task'': manage to get inside the school with all themotion, thus proving your ability to adapt.


    Some were seen flying inside, others merged in the crowd and climbed up the gates, and some crazy ones like Stark used methods that weren''t normal.


    They passed the threshold of the red door, and found themselves in a massive room, so big in fact that thousands of students were already inside, all aligned.


    "Huh... are you gonna let me down?" Lana mumbled as she could feel the gazes of the others on her: what kind of people would enter this school carrying another person?


    "Oh, my bad," Stark put her down, and he searched for an empty spot.


    On the ground of the massive room were thousands of small squares, each with a number of them: they were spots where students could stand.


    Almost felt like some sort of cult: everyone need to be in their own ces, respecting the space they had been given.


    "..."


    Lana and Stark found two squares titled [2729] and [2730] since they were right in front of one another.


    [There are 5000 squares], a panel above a stage at the end of the room could be seen on a holographic screen, [And 5358 people have been epted into this academy, I think you already know what this means.]


    This was just revealed to everyone who entered, meaning that...


    [People who arete aren''t worthy, no matter how strong they are.]


    "Oh."


    "I guess you can thank me," Lana tapped Stark''s shoulder from behind.


    "Yeah yeah," he couldn''t deny he would have woken up at thest minute, possibly meaning he would have been among the 358 that were going to be expelled for not having a square.


    [4 minutes until entrance ceremony]


    The more time passed, the harder it was to acquire a square for yourself, since there were more and more people filling up the empty spaces.


    Even Stark and Lana had a hard time, and it was by sheer luck they found some that were right next to each at one of thenes very far from the entrance.


    The sound of cheering from ssifiers and reporters was omnipresent, and Stark heard from some people nearby that this was actually broadcasted live for the entire country.


    Just what was so good about such a school?


    I mean, he could feel the aura in the air, it was pretty damn powerful, but so what?


    What could make this school so different and difficult¡­?


    Stark didn''t know, but he would for suree to find out.


    And suddenly¡­ right as all the squares were taken, and the timer reached zero¡­


    ~THUMP~


    The red door that was revealing the outside suddenly closed out of nowhere, leaving every student in pure darkness.


    [Anybody who leaves their squares from now on are expelled]


    And such a message appeared on the holographic screen above the stage.


    ***


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 Chapter 232: The Entrance Ceremony of the Academy

    [Anybody who leaves their squares from now on are expelled]


    The entirety of the room was quiet and dark now, it was impossible to hear anything from the outside world since it was soundproof, and not a single ray of light was there since no windows were connecting it to the outside.


    Meaning¡­ that all 5000 of the present students were just waiting for what was about to happen.


    And suddenly¡­


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    Many explosions happened ahead, and smokes with different colors began to spread around the stage as everyone was looking, trying to discern what the hell was happening.


    And after a while¡­


    ~CLICK~


    "Ultimate Light!"


    The lights came back inside the room, even though there was no window or any sort of lightbulb/chandelier.


    That light wasing out¡­ of nowhere, but it allowed EVERYONE to see EVERYTHING that was happening, all making sure to stay in their little squares as to not get expelled.


    And on the stage, not one, not two, not even ten, but TWENTY figures appeared.


    All these figures all had long ck robes and masks covering their faces, both with the [Rift Conqueror] academy''s insignia on them, their auras impossible to discern as they emitted a chilling presence that engulfed the entire room.


    All of them hid their faces from the students, but they could all guess that they were the teachers.


    "Wee, students!" the one in the middle removed his mask, he had small lunar sses, a dark green hair, he looked to be in his mid 60s, yet an extremely low amount of wrinkles were visible on his face, still making him look handsome, and his posture was impable, "I know all of you must be wondering what the hell is all of this!"


    The remainder of the teachers then also removed their masks, revealing their faces, although Stark didn''t pay much attention to that since he was mostly focused on the principal.


    "First of all, let me tell you all that I am also a graduate from this academy, at least I was back in my days," the chairman sighed as he reminisced of the good times, "And I can tell you all that you are going to have one hell of time, quite literally¡­"


    "Let''s not waste time, Theodore," a woman with long purple hair, the one carrying the crystal orb, asked the chairman as she moved forward.


    "Always so quick to act, Alice, but I think our dear students need to know too."


    To be honest, the tension in the room was so heavy that they couldn''t focus on anything but the chairman and Alice.


    Any piece of information that escaped their mouths could be important, as they had heard just how bad things could get for them during this year.


    "¡­" Stark on the other hand knew pretty much nothing, so he was prettyfortable, actually finding the scene before him kind of annoying.


    "Oh well," the chairmanughed as he suddenly stared in Stark''s direction, his eyes widening a bit as he recognized the boy, and saw his neutral expression even though everyone was on edge, "I think the students want to know after all, so let''s show them what awaits them¡­"


    Theodore and Alice, the two that stepped forward, backed down, and suddenly, the holographic screen turned on again, exining all the rules.


    [5000 students]


    [This first year is going to be use a ''preliminary'' phase!]


    "Huh?"


    "What?"


    [Basically, this year is going to be used mostly to weed out all the weak little bastards who think they deserve to be in our school!]


    This was harsh, and even Stark felt that, but oh well, it shouldn''t be the hardest school in Ferburg if not the entire world for no reason.


    [Whether it is dropping out, failure inpleting a task, or death, all these things will result in your expulsion, thus reducing the number of students.]


    [It has been said all around the world that the sess rate for even the first year is 5% and¡­]


    The tension was so high now that some people were shaking, trying not to get out of the square as their legs trembled.


    [It is true.]


    [Among the 5000 students of every year, only around 200-300 of them survive long enough to gain ess to the second year.]


    Of course, the second year was a whole other talk as the difficulty obviously increased, but most people''s goal at this moment was literally to justplete the first one.


    Even if youpleted just the first year, you could immediately drop out and be recognized as one of the [Prodigies] who managed to conquer this academy''s challenges.


    Thus¡­ this guaranteed your future.


    Of course, Stark wanted to fully graduate, otherwise why would he even enter this academy, he could have always gotten the 25 million rher coins from his mission and bought a house.


    No¡­ Stark wanted to get stronger, and he figured that the academy would have enough challenges and trials to increase his powers, at least just enough to not fallst in the third domination trial like he did in the second.


    The screen kept going, this time changing into a background with very good and detailed drawings.


    [This year will beposed of three semesters,sting 4 months in total, and each of these semesters is gonna be associated to a ''task''¡­]


    [Or maybe¡­]


    The holographic screen turned into a detailed drawing of the academy, separated into three parts with the numbers 1, 2 and 3.


    [You could call them "trials"?]


    "¡­" Stark''s expression darkened as he heard this.


    What a fucking joke.


    They think they can make a scary trial? They can keep dreaming, not even in a million years can they evenpare to the horror of the [Domination] trial.


    And so, somehow, even though many people in the crowd of students were nervous, Stark was just mad.


    The word ''trial'' had a big meaning to him, and probably to all [Domination] users as well.


    [Did you truly believe this is a normal school?]


    "I mean, no, duh¡­"


    [Did you think you would seat in a ssroom listening to boring lessons? None of that happens, what could we even teach you all anyway, you''re already between level 125 and level 150!]


    This was true, one of the precise requirements of joining this academy was that ALL the people need to be somewhat in the same range, meaning that people below level 125 were out, and people above level 150 were also gone too, as 25 levels was around the average amount of levels where it is possible for a person to win if they manage their skills well.


    Basically, even if it is a lv125 ssifier against a lv150 one, the former could still win.


    [The semester started since the moment you entered this room.]


    [So¡­]


    The room''s light became a crimson shade of red, and an ominous aura appeared around all the students from the stage.


    [Why don''t we exin the first trial, which willst 4 months, much like all the others?]


    They actually didn''t waste any time in starting up that entrance ceremony: students enter the room, they speak for five minutes, then they reveal the entire n for these students, specifically informing them that many will die trying.


    This school was truly shameless, not caring about anything, not even its own students.


    But maybe this was why people were so excited at the prospect of joining it?


    Maybe the thrill of risking your life made all these people enjoy it?


    In the end, it didn''t matter, and so Stark just looked up, a vortex of aura forming in his eyes as he awaited the next instructions.

 Chapter 233: The First Semester Rules and The Year President

    [First Semester: 4 months]


    [As said before, this year will be divided into 3 trials, with the sole goal of reducing the amount of people participating as each semester concludes.]


    "¡­"


    [I don''t believe any information is needed to be said as it is pretty obvious, but this will be dangerous]


    [Quitting halfway through the trial is immediate expulsion]


    [And the first trial is¡­]


    [Rift Rush!]


    "Rift rush, what?"


    "Shut up, just listen¡­"


    "I''m kind of nervous¡­"


    Talk immediately rose up as the name of the first trial appeared; yet Stark''s expression remained as neutral as ever before, not impressed by any of this.


    Nothing could be deadlier than a [Domination] trial, and that sole fact made it so that this seemed like a child''s game to him.


    "Hey, what do you think it''s about," Lana turned around and tried to speak to Stark.


    "I think you should watch out, stepping out is expulsion after all," but he just smiled back, avoiding the question as it made his blood boil.


    To be honest, anyone that had participated in one of the [Domination] trials, saw one, or even knew just a little bit of information about it would know just how bad they were.


    [As stated before, there are exactly 5000 of you in this room.]


    [We will divide these 5000 people into 50 different groups, meaning 100 students per group.]


    On the screen, a small human figure was copied and divided into 50 small squares, and each time the screen showed something, they switched ordingly as to make the entire presentation more dynamic for people and make them understand faster, they had thought of everything it seems as actually everyone could easily understand.


    [100 people - 50 groups, and so the reason it is called ''Rift Rush'' is because¡­]


    ''Because¡­?'' Stark tilted his head, why were they so keen on keeping the suspense going for no reason.


    [Because each of these 50 groups will be given a rift to conquer.]


    [And the 20 groups that fallst in conquering their rifts will be expelled.]


    The room literally exploded as these words appeared.


    This meant that 2000 people would be expelled in the first round no matter what, maybe even more as deaths were counted as failures, and there was no saying everyone would survive in their own teams, as fighting in groups of people of 50 meant, I don''t know, AT LEAST 10 people per group had a chance of dying.


    "SIR!" A guy in military clothes raised his hand, he was in the first row, meaning he was one of those that arrived first, plus he acted exactly like someone in the military.


    "Yes?" the holographic screen stopped, and the chairman responded, he was the one that would take over if someone had a question or something they needed better exnations for.


    "How will the rifts be given! And how will we decide about our teammates!"


    "Haha~" the chairmanughed, "Calm down, I like your enthusiasm, but everything will be exinedter!"


    ~TAP, TAP~


    Theodore pped his hands, and the video resumed as though it had never paused at all.


    [In addition to that, all those that fail to conquer their rifts will be expelled as well!]


    [General info: statistics gathered from decades of trials and hundreds of thousands of students from this academy have shown that the rifts given, even though they vary in difficulty, take around 2 to 3 months toplete, meaning that trying to speed run them wouldn''t work in your favor, take your time, your life is the most important after all, right?]


    [What is the point of seeding if you die in the end, only allowing the rest of the people to enjoy what you should have had.]


    "..." Stark could finally agree with something that screen said, but to be honest, the intent behind it was obvious: it was clearly telling them that sacrificing yourself is a useless and pathetic act as you won''t be seen as a hero.


    [And now many of you may wonder: then how will we know about our rifts?]


    [Well¡­]


    The video changed to the background of a casino, and right in front of the screen was a table with a box on it.


    [It will be decided by drawing, obviously!]


    [Note that some rifts are actually harder than others while some are easier, although I guarantee all are possible toplete!]


    "Basically¡­ its luck?"


    [Yes! It is luck, luck is also a factor in being a ssifier anyway, and if you aren''t able to adapt and conquer any rift you are given, we believe you do not deserve to be here.]


    [The "group leader" will have to pick their cards, and each of these cards will contain a single picture of the interior of the rift, some information (monsters, level¡­), and its name!]


    [Each of these rifts are owned the by the ''Academy'', meaning you do not have to worry about anyone beside you entering them!]


    People wanted toin, but they literally couldn''t as they could only abide by the rules and hope to get an easy one.


    [Oh, and inside the drawing box has been ced a single "DEATH RIFT" card, you will recognize it thanks to a skull with crimson eyes, it is a rift so difficult it is almost impossible toplete it with your entire group if they joined hands]


    A 3D model of the card began to spin in the screen, the information at the front hidden, obviously, but it was possible to see the skull they talked about.


    [And the reason for that, is that it contains a ''Godless Demon'' apostle as its final boss!]


    "¡­!" Stark''s eyes widened, and his ears twitched instantly as he saw and heard that, and a massive smile grew on his face, "I need that card¡­"


    Maybe he could find the person that got it and trade it with his, yes, this is definitely a good n as anybody would be willing to not risk their entire lives!


    What about his teammates, you might say? Well, who cares, they wouldn''t be affected if Starkpleted it by himself anyway!


    [It''s like a game! And I''m sure you will all love it!]


    [It''s going to be sooo much fun!]


    "Pfttt~" Stark contained hisughter, he didn''t know why, but this situation just seemed so funny.


    A game? Seriously?


    This did make some people look at him in a weird way though, thinking he had gone insane, as many of them were simply just ufortable, and even the people that weren''t couldn''t see a single reason tough.


    [But before we tackle the final section: how the groups will form¡­]


    [I want to introduce you all to your ''year president''!]


    "Huh?"


    "What?"


    "Year president? What kind of bullshit is this?"


    [The year president is the strongest person in the entire year!]


    [So I would advise not angering them if you don''t wanna have problems!]


    "Pleasee on the stage, year president!" Theodoreughed, and all the teachers and instructors pped their hands to invite the president.


    Everyone waited, and in the distance Stark saw that a figure, which had been in one of the squares of the very first row, got out of their spot to head toward the stage.


    The figure, with her long beautiful white hair, approached the stage and climbed up, stopping right next to Theodore, an emotionless look on her face as she didn''t look one bit nervous.


    And so the reveal happened.


    [Year President: Sora Gardenis!]


    A picture of Sora appeared on the holographic screen, and her beautiful face could be seen by everyone.


    [The chairman and teachers have analyzed all the students, and Sora is by far the strongest among all 5000 of you!]


    "¡­" Stark''s face was stuck in a state of shock, his mouth wide open as he couldn''t believe this.


    What were the chances?


    "AND WHO SAYS THAT?"


    "FIGHT ME AND YOU''LL SEE!"


    People were alreadyining, but Stark knew perfectly that this was the entire truth: not a single one of them could ever hope to match Sora.


    He hadn''t seen her fight much, since, y''know, the Warden was too strong, but her aura and skills were already an indicator for Stark.


    Maybe even he would struggle, who knows, even though he frankly believed he could beat her if she doesn''t overwhelm him with her nts.


    "But it''s Sora¡­"


    "Makes sense¡­"


    Yet somehow, another group emerged: those that believed Sora was the strongest.


    Inparison to what Stark believed, Sora and her family, "Gardenis", were actually extremely well known in the entire world, owning dozens of businesses, and all family members being extremely powerful ssifiers.


    Sora was not exception, and she had been called a prodigy by thousands of powerful ssifiers since her youngest age, plus everybody knew about her and her flower powers, and that you shouldn''t mess with them.


    Her ''emotionless'' condition was also known, but Stark was kind of oblivious to that since he saw her cry during the trial, meaning it couldn''t be this bad.


    "Alright, you," the chairman pointed at a boy with a muscr body and zing red hair in the second row as he was one of those thatined, "Come fight Sora, if you beat her you be year president!"


    [Anybody who beats the year president instantly bes "it", obviously.]

 Chapter 234: Fated Meeting with Sora

    Theodore pointed at the red-haired ssifier with defined muscles, inviting him on the stage as he had been the loudest among all of them toin.


    "With pleasure," the red hair didn''t waste a single second and jumped on the stage from his position.


    "Holy shit, it''s Karl¡­"


    "Karl Spikeford?"


    "Yeah!"


    [Attempting to defeat the year president is futile!]


    "Yeah, yeah, my ass," Karl, who was the person Stark had already defeated once back at the ''ssiTop'' event, positioned himself.


    If Stark remembered right, he was a [Warrior], but his power consisted in his body being able to generate sharp spikes from any and all directions, as well as using them as sharp weapons.


    He seemed to be stronger than back then when he fought Stark, maybe the beating actually forcing him to take his training more seriously?


    "COME AT ME!" Karl dashed toward Sora without wasting a single second, "SPIKE SLASH," he summoned two spikes in his hands, ready to sh Sora.


    But in the end¡­


    "Evergreen Resilience," not even giving him a single look, her face emotionless and looking at the ground, Sora activated her [Legendary] skill, and the ground underneath her began to radiate with a vibrant green aura.


    Much like against the Warden, her surroundings instantly grew grass, taking aback Karl as he was still dashing toward her.


    But¡­ it was toote for him.


    "Boring¡­" she mumbled in a low voice.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, CRIWK~


    Dozens upon dozens of vines came out of the ground and


    wrapped around Karl in a matter of seconds, not even letting hime close to her.


    "What the¨C" Karl tried to struggle against the vines, even attempting to cover his entire body in spikes using [Spike Armor] and [Spike Eruption], but they were too powerful and constricting, and they kept regenerating even when he broke them.


    "I think you get it now, right?" Theodore smiled as he saw Karl pitifully try to remove the vines from himself.


    Even though his body was renown to be extremely sturdy, and it was impossible to chain him because of the spikes that coulde from anywhere, Sora somehow managed to do that, and with a single attack too.


    This fight was not fair to begin with, and people all around the room could finally understand why Sora was the strongest, no wonder she was a prodigy.


    Even Karl, who was also someone people even in this room respected and feared because of his massive strength, was beaten this easily, after all, meaning that they never stood a chance to begin with.


    "¡­" Sora was kind enough to use the [Evergreen Resilience] vines to slowly sent Karl back at this position in the room, cing him exactly on the square, then deactivating the skill.


    He had learned his lesson, and he wouldn''t try to fight her anymore, that''s for sure, nor anyone in this room for this matter, as they didn''t want to risk humiliation or putting her on their bad side.


    And yet¡­


    "Pftt~" after the initial shock, Stark couldn''t help butugh at this entire situation, "Hhahahahahahahaha!"


    And it wasn''t a chuckle or him trying to hold it in, he was straight upughing like a maniac, unable to contain it anymore.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAH!" he pointed at the stage with Sora on it, while holding his stomach and trying his hardest to stop himself from leaving the white square, otherwise he would be expelled, "HAHAHAHAHA¡­!"


    Even Stark didn''t know why he wasughing so hard, but after this fight and the chairman describing Sora as this impossible-to-beat opponent, the sole memory of Sora on the ground after being beaten by the boss brought tears to his eyes, and they weren''t sad ones.


    Of course, the ENTIRETY of the room started staring at him, as hisugh echoed from every direction.


    "¡­?" Theodore seemed confused, but once he saw who the person that wasughing was, his eyes widened, and he let a quick smile, "Hey, you," he pointed at Stark who was still holding his stomach as it began to hurt.


    "Hahahah¡­ w-what?" Stark tried to answer between twoughs.


    "If you think this is so funny, then pleasee on stage and fight Sora, we''ll see if youugh more afterward," this wasn''t actually a proposition, but an order from the chairman, and everyone could sense it.


    "S-Sure, hahahahaha," Stark wiped some tears from his eyes as he got out of his square and began walking toward the stage, still ominouslyughing while people looking at him as though he was the biggest weirdo in the world.


    "¡­Weird," Even Sora mumbled such a word, she didn''t see the face of that person, but if they were mocking her, then she would make sure to teach them a lesson.


    She had learned something important during the [Domination] trial, and she wouldn''t let those teachings go away after being so close to death, and more than once.


    Well, she couldn''t imagine Stark''s pain though as he had literally died twice, but she wouldn''t forget him, and hopefully one day¡­


    ''Maybe¡­ we''ll meet again,'' she sighed as she looked to her left, the person that had beenughing now on the stage.


    "BOOOOO!"


    "GET THE FUCK OUT, LOSER!"


    "Stopughing!!"


    People were shouting at him as he got on the stage, and it''s at that moment he could finally stop.


    "W-W-W¡­What?" Sora''s eyes widened so much you couldn''t even imagine she was emotionless, and she took a few steps back.


    "Hello, Sora, the name''s Stark, nice meeting you for the first time," Stark approached Sora, and he bowed down, his face with a giant smile full of malice.


    "Sora? What''s happening,e on, teach him a lesson," the chairman wanted to judge Stark''s powers as he had managed to sense their auras even through their secret room.


    If Sora defeated him, then he wouldn''t be much, and if he did defeat her, then this year would be much more interesting.


    But what he didn''t expect was¡­


    "Nice to meet you," Stark repeated as he extended his left arm toward the white-haired girl, who looked at it for a few seconds, unable toprehend what the hell was happening, she quite literally had the same reaction as Stark, and although it didn''t show much on her face, her mind was in utter chaos.


    "Don''t worry¡­" this time he whispered just low enough for only him and her to listen, "I was just as shocked as you," he smiled gently, his arm still extended.


    "What are you two doing?"


    "Come on, Sora, kick his ass!"


    Both students and teachers awaited the sh between the two, but it had been around one minute, and all they did was stare at one another.


    "She won''t shake your hand, dumbass, just leave!"


    "I do agree with them, Mr. Laughter," Theodore finally intervened, "You might already know it, but Sora never touches anybody-"


    He was about to say something everyone knew: Sora was NEVER seen being close to anyone, and even her powerful family had a hard time touching her or getting her to touch them, even a hug was already a miracle if it ever happened.


    People called her the "Untouchable Rose" because of her flower powers, her emotionless condition, and her personality which didn''t allow her to touch anyone, especially guys.


    She even said it once herself in a quick interview: "I just don''t feelfortable touching people I don''t know, it''s like some sort of reaction from my body I cannot control that makes me immediately back away if someone gets too close."


    And yet¡­


    "Nice to meet you, Stark," in front of everyone''s astonished gazes, Sora returned the handshake, not a single sign of difort in her actions, "I''m sorry, chairman," she turned toward Theodore, "But this is my friend, I won''t be fighting him," she said in her emotionless voice, although there was a strange hint of happiness in it, one that was NEVER present normally.

 Chapter 235: Forming Groups for the Trial

    The room fell into an eerie silence as Sora uttered the word "friend" out of her mouth.


    Even Theodore and the teachers seemed to be quite shaken, actually, wondering what the hell was happening for THE Sora, THE ''Untouchable Rose'' to befortable enough with Stark to be able to shake his hands without her body being disgusted/backing away.


    And more than that, she called him a "friend"! Meaning that they met before.


    But then, why would Stark jokingly say "nice to meet you" before?!


    People were wondering what was happening, but no answers came as Stark began to go back to his square, his sole goal being to show Sora that he was here.


    ''Looks like she told us her real name in the trial though¡­''


    "Well, anyway," Theodore coughed and got ready to ease up the atmosphere as soon as Stark returned to his ce, the boy ignoring the angry and judgmental gaze from Lana, "As for thest thing you have all been wondering: how the teams will be made!"


    The chairman pped both his hands together, and the final part of the video began to y, although this time it was just a golden text that said:


    [You students make the groups, yoohoo!]


    [Once the bell rings, you will all be free to choose your own teammates to conquer the rift for three hours, then immediately afterward we will start the ''boxing raffle'' for each of you to get your trials!]


    "NICE!"


    "Finally some good fucking news¡­"


    "Thank you, chairman!"


    After all these bad news one after the other, getting just this much was enough to make the students happy.


    [NO ONE is allowed to leave until all teams are formed, and those teams pick their respective rifts!]


    [And if anyone remains alone by the end of the timer, then they will be randomly paired with teams that need more members or with other people that are alone!]


    "¡­" Stark didn''t mind, he would solo the rift anyway, so all he needed were half decent people that could manage to not be annoying for him to kill the ''Godless Demon'' apostle.


    [3¡­]


    [2¡­]


    [1¡­]


    [RING, RING]


    An animation of a bell appeared on the screen, and as soon as the sound came out, the entire room shook as students rushed toward the people they wanted to pair with.


    "Hey, wanna pair?" Lana said as she smiled.


    "Of course, but I''m the leader, since I want to pick the card!" Stark proposed.


    "Fine by me, as long as Iplete this trial," she sighed, but was confident that with Stark in her team, there was no way they could be stopped.


    Now¡­ they just needed 48 more people.


    But surprisingly, people actually seemed to be avoiding them.


    "¡­"


    Stark actually expected for people to rush for him to join their group after all that happened, but did it maybe cause the opposite reaction?


    Were they scared that Stark''s recklessness could lead to their dooms, or even worse: expulsion?!


    [Do you want to invite ''Lana Moonless'' into your party?]


    [Y/N]


    ''Y''


    A panel had appeared in front of everyone as soon as the bell rang, allowing them to create their very own parties without having to go report everything to the chairman as they would now able to see when someone was in a party, and how many members each group had.


    It was pretty useful for both students and teachers.


    [''Lana Moonless'' has been invited to your group!]


    [48 spots remain!]


    "Hey, Lana is here!"


    "Pstt~ don''t go, she''s already in that weirdo''s group, I wouldn''t risk it¡­"


    And thest feature was the most interesting of them all: you could look up the name of the students through the search bar or by scrolling through the ''participant list'', and it would show you if they were in a group, and which one they were in.


    This could be used to sway a person you want into joining your own group as a person could always leave another one if it benefits them more.


    Even this seemed like a strategy game, but Stark just remained still, a neutral expression on his face, not wanting to participate.


    At this point, he was just waiting for the timer to end so that he can be paired with 48 random people and get this over with.


    [Timer: 2:37:58 left!]


    "You''re¡­ not gonna try to recruit people?" Lana tilted her head.


    "Nope, I''m sure you already know I could manage to beat that rift by myself, let''s just wait," Stark smiled.


    "Alright," and Lana, knowing of his strength and capabilities, actually believed in him enough to wait too.


    Sora was a student as well, so she immediately went back to her spot as soon as her announcement as the ''year president'' ended.


    And as soon as the ''team picking'' began, she was IMMEDIATELY surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of people.


    "¡­" they were all asking her to joint their group as having Sora would basically guarantee victory.


    Of course, this was how it worked: the strongest and thus most famous people in the room were the ones with the highest demand as everyone attempted to approach them, meaning they had the choice to join whoever they wanted.


    People such as Sora, Karl Spikeford (even after being humiliated by the former), Olivier Stardust, L Hunter and many more were now surrounded as if they were celebrities at a red carpet event, each person throwing out their own tempting offers of partnership.


    [Timer: 1:56:32 left!]


    An entire hour had passed, and so many groups had already formed.


    Yet Stark and Lana remained, talking to each other calmly as if they didn''t even care about any of this, and they clearly didn''t.


    But¡­ something would change all of that.


    Because after an entire hour, Sora finally managed to push through the crowd of annoying people surrounding her, a neutral expression on her face as she approached Stark, hundreds of people still behind her though as they didn''t want to give up.


    "Want to team?" she said calmly with her normal voice, looking at Stark in the eyes.


    "¡­" Stark looked at Lana, who shrugged, then back at Sora, and he smiled, "Sure, why not, but I''m the leader," he said again.


    "I don''t mind¡­" Sora mumbled as she sent out an invitation.


    [''Sora Gardenis'' has sent an invitation to join your party!]


    [Do you want to invite her?]


    [Y/N]


    ''Y''


    The panel shed again, and another name was added to the group.


    [''Sora Gardenis'' has been invited to your group!]


    [47 spots remain!]


    And so suddenly, as soon as that happened and people checked their own panels to search Sora''s name and confirm whatever the hell was happening¡­


    [Sora Gardenis is currently in a group]


    [Group Leader: Stark Heartsouls]


    If they wanted to be with Sora, they actually needed to speak to Stark, as it is the group leader that epts invitations.


    "¡­" all these students stared at one another, and they actually regretted not joining Stark''s group when no one wanted to, now the ces were going to be limited.


    [You have received 437 party invitations!]


    [Do you want to check them out?]


    ''Holy¡­'' Stark was baffled.

 Chapter 236: The Rift Drawing

    "Hey, let us join, we''re really strong," brown-haired twins approached Stark, summoning their weapons and showing them to him, "We can be useful!"


    "Get out of here," a two meters tall man pushed them out of the way as he began to flex his muscles in front of Stark, "I can smash the heads of all these monsters easily, just ept my invite-"


    A ninja girl drop-kicked him out of the way andnded in his position, though, "I can be stealthy and take out monsters from the back!"


    Over and over, people kepting around Stark, disying their powers in front of him as a way to impress him and possibly make him want to recruit them.


    His team had Lana, a powerful archer, Sora, the strongest ssifier in the entire year ording to the chairman himself, and Stark, who was respected by Sora herself.


    Who wouldn''t want to join this almost guaranteed win group?


    [You have received 643 party invitations!]


    Sora and Lana stood beside Stark, looking at him as he was making his decision.


    "Well," he began to speak, and he immediately the surroundings became infinitely quieter, "It''s not that you guys are useless, but I pretty much can beat the rift by myself, so all I need is half decent people that won''t annoy me," Stark said the entire truth, as he truly ONLY wanted people that wouldn''t be annoying over those that would keep asking questions and press him to participate.


    "¡­"


    "Is this guy crazy? Beating a rift by himself?"


    "I mean, maybe if he teamed up with Sora, then she could carry him to victory, but otherwise this is just stupid."


    Stark''s bold deration caused murmurs to ripple through the crowd.


    But¡­


    "See, this is the reason why I''m not choosing any of you," he just shrugged, "Anyway, lets get this over with so you don''t annoy me."


    Stark opened the panel with all the [Party Invitations], making everyone anxious as they could see that he was scrolling through all their names.


    And then¡­


    Stark closed his eyes.


    "What?"


    "Just pick someone, dude."


    "That''s what I''m doing," Stark replied.


    And so to everyone''s shock, while his eyes were still closed, Stark began to randomly scroll through the party invitation, not even looking at the screen.


    After a few seconds of constant movement, he clicked on the [ept] option of a person whose name he didn''t even know.


    "YESSSS!" he heard a girl''s shout from the crowd, "THANK YOU!"


    And just like that, Stark kept repeating that same process 46 more times, every time he selected a person, he would be hearing a cheering in the crowd, followed by dozens of other angered noises from the people who weren''t selected: of course, those that were chosen were extremely happy and found justifications as to why Stark did that, while the others would just keep letting out insults.


    Of course, once someone that was insulting Stark for doing this by sheer luck was selected, they would IMMEDIATELY switch their dialogue and go on his side.


    But what can I say, that''s a human''s selfishness, isn''t it?


    And eventually¡­


    [Your party is full!]


    Stark opened his eyes again then shrugged, "Sorry, can''t recruit anyone else!"


    "FUCK YOU!"


    "I swear to god I''m going to rip your eyes out, you little shit."


    Those that were invited into the party surrounded Stark as all the others angrily shouted, ready to actively attack him for doing something as dumb as choosing the people in this important trial at random.


    Was he crazy? Or was he just reckless? Or maybe it truly was that he believed he could take the rift by himself.


    ''Well, if they attacked I would have just beat all their asses, but oh well,'' all the other students left, deciding to create groups between one another.


    All of [Stark''s Group] was now cheering as they had been selected.


    But¡­


    "Just don''te close to me during the rift, and we''ll be good," Stark positioned himself in front of everyone and spoke, "Let me do my own thing, and you''ll pass the first trial easily."


    "Alright."


    "Yessir!"


    Surprisingly, all these people listened pretty damn well, maybe luck was truly on his side!


    [Timer: 1:32:58 left!]


    And so just like that.


    [Timer: 54:11 left!]


    The remainder of the time passed, with nothing else happening besides some more drama in the room, since people actively fought for ces in the more powerful groups.


    Karl actually even hosted a mini-tournament between four people for thest spot, and the winner was selected.


    [Timer: 5:00 left!]


    [Be quick!]


    At this point, almost everyone had already gotten inside a group, except for a few people who didn''t even bothered looking for one, instead just opting for luck to do the rest of the work.


    ~DING, DING, DING~


    The bell animation appeared on the screen again.


    [Timer over, all groups have been formed, and people without a group have been randomly assigned to one!]


    [It is time to start the final part of this entrance ceremony: picking the rift!]


    The chairman and teachers had been sitting on random chairs that appeared out of nowhere and discussing private matters, while the students were quite literally fighting for a spot in the top groups.


    And so once the [Team Gathering] phase ended¡­


    ~SNAP~


    He snapped his fingers, and all the chairs they had been sitting on disappeared, none of them were taken aback though, all standing up at the perfect moment, their timing immacte.


    "Very well," Theodore snapped his fingers for the second time, and a beautifully carved table, worth millions of rher coins, appeared on the stage, and he gestured dramatically toward arge, ornate box that had appeared on top of that table.


    Stark eyed it, feeling the anticipation rising in his veins as he REALLY wanted to get that [Death Rift] card, thus giving him the rift that contained the ''Godless Demon'' apostle as its final boss.


    "Each group will draw a card from the [Drawing Box]. The card will reveal the rift you''ll face. Some will be easier than others, but make no mistake, each has its own challenges," he exined for the second time as it had been more than three hours since they read the text on that screen.


    Lana leaned in closer to Stark, whispering, "You think we''ll get a tough one? Would be perfect if we got the easiest one, hehe~"


    But unbeknownst to her, the ck-haired boy was actually aiming for the hardest one of all, although Stark knew that if he said that to his team, then they would surely try to stop him, even Sora would possibly attempt to bind him, and with her reputation, she would easily be selected as the new leader.


    Though, he couldn''t see any universe where Sora would do something about what other people said, especially since he had saved her and proven his strength already.


    "Doesn''t matter, just need to get in and out," he said nonchntly, clearly avoiding the question.


    The chairman gestured to the box, his voice booming through the lobby, "All of you should have just received a number on your panel ranging from 1 to 50, it was selected at random and it will be the order you will pick a card in!"


    ~DING~


    And just as he said, a panel appeared in front of Stark, it waspletely blue, with the number 8 written in white.


    "So I guess we''re picking pretty early, that''s good, it means we have less chances to pick the [Death Rift] card," Lana sighed, and everyone else in the group felt happy too.


    After all, the bigger the number, then the higher your chances of picking that hellish card that the holographic screen had told them would be almost impossible toplete at their level!


    Well¡­ that is as long as it wasn''t picked by another group.


    And honestly, everyone, even Karl and all the strong ssifiers didn''t want to get it.


    "Group number one''s leader, please step forward and draw."


    A nervous looking girl in group one gingerly stepped forward, and arrived in front of the table with the box floating.


    "Please ce your hand and pick a card," Theodore, "I promise there is no scary monster inside."


    She reached a trembling hand into the box and pulled out a card.


    And as soon as she did¡­


    ~DING~


    The holographic screen that was set above the stage, which everyone could see, flickered to life, disying the name of her chosen rift: [Forest of Shadows].


    In addition to that, the card she had picked was actually disyed in front of everyone too, rotating around slowly as to allow people to read the front and back, much like when the [Death Rift] card they had been shown, although this one wasn''t blurred.


    Stark didn''t read the info as he wasn''t bothered though.


    More groups passed, each getting their cards.


    And eventually¡­


    "Group number eight''s leader, pleasee forward," Theodore spoke, and Stark knew it was his time.


    "Good luck!" Lana nodded, while Sora just kept looking at him normally.


    If only Lana knew that with Stark, luck wasn''t a factor at all.

 Chapter 237: The Death Rift Card

    "Group number eight''s leader, pleasee forward."


    "Cya, team," Stark waved as all his team members watched him walk toward the stage, with the most calm of expressions.


    "Ohoh~ if it isn''t the little Stark, feeling lucky today?" Theodore smiled as he pointed at the ck floating box, "Just ce your hand inside the hole and pick a card."


    "Alright."


    Stark was about to do what he had been told in front of everyone''s gazes, wondering what could the boy that had caused two massive scenes ONLY during the entrance ceremony possibly pick.


    "Come on¡­"


    "Please¡­"


    Stark''s team was on edge as he ced himself in front of the box, seemingly ready to ce his hand inside.


    But right before he did that¡­ he suddenly turned around, specifically facing toward Lana and Sora, then he shouted.


    "Hey, team!" he waved, gathering everyone''s attention, even those that were not interested, "I just want to tell you all before I pick a card that my luck is absolutely terrible!"


    "¡­?"


    "What?"


    Of course, him saying that out loud meant everyone would hear it, and so everyone was left questioning what he meant by that.


    "What?" Lana shouted back.


    "As I said, my luck is terrible, it''s like a curse!" he shrugged as he turned back, facing the box again.


    Chatter was now filling the room, and even Theodore and the other teachers raised their eyebrows.


    "Does he imply he is going to get the [Death Rift] card?"'' Theodore mumbled in the ears of the vice-chairman, who was a man in his mid-thirties with spiky orange hair.


    "Not possible, we have set it up with a powerful spell so that the [Death Rift] card only appears after group number 25 passes, meaning that it is literally impossible for him to get it."


    This was to increase the pressure in the ceremony for the groups that passedte, as the more people passed and didn''t get the card, the more stress they would umte.


    And the teachers of this academy enjoyed seeing that! Quite sadistic, aren''t they?


    "Good, thanks Breach," Theodore responded to the vice-chairman, he absolutely loved Stark''s personality and how chaotic anything he touched or got near became, and to him, it would have been immensely funnier if Stark did in fact get the hardest rift of all.


    But, s, it was impossible¡­


    Stark reached for the interior of the box, his teammates even more pressure than he did after his words.


    ''Come on¡­'' Stark kept mumbling over and over as he closed his eyes and sensed the cards inside the box, letting the cold feeling around his fingers decide which he would pick.


    And suddenly¡­


    [Talent: Chosen One, activated]


    "¡­!" this could only mean one thing, and so Stark smiled as a card seemingly appeared in his hand out of nowhere.


    ~FWISH~


    He pulled out his hand, and inside of it was¡­ the card with the skull on it.


    [SOMEONE HAS PICKED THE DEATH RIFT CARD!]


    The holographic screen above the stage disyed some sort of rm as the room began to flicker in and out with a crimson color.


    "As I said," he shrugged as he turned toward his teammates, who were all baffled.


    "BREACH?" Theodore turned toward the vice-chairman.


    "H-How?" Breach''s eyes widened, "This is not possible, Theodore, I can promise you that the spell was sessful, this is not logical¡­"


    And so this could only mean one of two things: the spell did indeed have a problem, or¡­ Stark''s bad luck defied reality.


    "Well, I''ll take it I guess," Stark sighed, fainting sadness, but deep inside he was throwing himself a party alongside [Domination] and [Alchemist].


    He went back to his group under everyone''s watchful gaze, and when he arrived¡­


    "WHAT THE FUCK?"


    "IF YOU KNEW YOUR LUCK WAS THIS BAD, YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST ASKED SORA TO LEAD!"


    Most of them wereining, and even Lana looked ufortable at the idea of attempting such a rift.


    "Don''t worry, folks," Stark eased up the atmosphere, "I promise to conquer it by myself if needed, I don''t need anyone else!" he hit his chest twice as a sign of promise.


    "¡­" no one could say anything, was this guy insane?


    But¡­


    "I think we should trust him¡­ he is strong¡­" Sora suddenly said, and the sole fact she spoke made everyone shut up as they wanted to hear her, "Stark¡­ is very strong¡­"


    This was all she said, but if even the Sora, who they believed was their only hope, acknowledged Stark, then maybe¡­?


    "See, I told you!" Stark smiled, "You don''t even have to enter the rift to be honest, I''ll do it alone!"


    Of course, this was only said by Stark because he didn''t want to be annoyed while exploring, and also so they couldn''t steal his experience or kill the ''Godless Demon'' apostle!


    "Doesn''t matter," Lana sighed, "Just us the card, quick."


    "Righto!" Stark smiled as he joined his palms and ced the card in the middle, since it was fairly big.


    The ominous skull with its crimson eyes almost felt like it was staring directly at their souls, sending a shiver down the spines of several of them, but nheless, they still needed this info as it would be all they had.


    [Take the card for the information to appear!]


    This was written on the card, but as Stark''s hands were busy holding the semi-giant card between them, Lana was the one who gently taped it.


    And suddenly¡­


    ~FWISH~


    A crimson panel appeared in the air right above the card, making it possible for everyone to read the information.


    ¡­


    [Name:] Corpse Cemetery


    [Difficulty:] Nightmare


    [Level Range:] 125-150 (only people around this level are allowed to enter).


    [Boss:] ??? (Godless Demon Apostle)


    [Information:] A cemetery corrupted by the curse of the ''Forsaken'', the monsters there are all dead, killed by him, yet their bodies move like puppets, following his will, with no chance of ever defying him.


    [There are 4 zones in this rift.]


    [Location of the Rift:] Each of you has been granted a [Location Panel], check it out to know the location of the rift!


    ¡­


    This was all the info they got, and below this wall of text were now one, but two pictures.


    One was showing an ominous cemetery filled with mist, making it almost impossible to see anything.


    And the other¡­ depicted a towering figure, draped in tattered ck robes, its skeletal hands gripping a gnarled staff. A swirling mass of shadows hovered around it, twisting and writhing like a living thing.


    Below the second imagine was the word "Reaper" written in gold.


    This was all the information they would be getting, but the sole sight of that thing on the second picture, which they assumed was the boss, made them cautious.


    "Still think you can take it by yourself?" the tall man that had flexed his muscles to Stark before asked.


    "¡­" Stark looked at the pictures, then back at him, "Yeah, I would win."


    "Oh well, I am really excited to see that then," he groaned.


    Soon after that, all 50 groups had sessfully passed, although the ones after Stark did feel relieved as there was no chance they would be getting that hellish [Death Card].


    "Everyone got their cards and teams," Theodore gestured as he spread his arms wide, "And this means¡­ that the first trial shall begin, see you all in four months, or less depending on whether 30 groupsplete their rifts before that!"


    And so just like that, they were all dismissed, meaning that they could do whatever they wanted during these four months, under the condition that they beat the boss of their rift, obviously.


    Stark was more ready than ever before, though, no chance in hell he was letting that opportunity slide!

 Chapter 238: Stark Can Do it Alone!

    Everyone was allowed to leave the entrance ceremony''s room once all the announcements were over.


    But they were given one more order:


    "Do not say anything about what happened here today, anyone who does will be found and expelled," that is all Theodore said, and with this simple threat everyone vowed to keep quiet.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll do it!" Stark saw all the skeptical members of his group off as they all began to leave the room as the exit door had opened.


    Of course, not only were they met with the light of sun, which hit them kind of hard after staying inside for more than 5 hours, but more importantly¡­ what surprised them the most was the sheer amount of people awaiting them.


    Hundreds of reporters, cars, and even helicopters were filming their every move as soon as they left.


    There were even some cameras on the very tall buildings.


    Of course, they were humans, so they absolutely loved the attention.


    Meanwhile, Stark, Sora and Lana were the only remaining members of the team to still be inside.


    "Are you sure can do it alone?" Lana questioned, seemingly worried that Stark was going on some crazy adventure and trying to fight impossible monsters against all the odds.


    "Ohe on, Lana, have you ever seen me die doing this?" Stark smiled confidently.


    "Huh, yeah, I did?" Lana remembered the time he did against Judicator, being cut in half.


    "Same¡­" Sora mumbled, as he had died twice in front of her.


    "¡­" Stark rolled his eyes, "Have you ever seen me TRULY die, though?"


    And as none of them answered, only ncing at each other to check if what they were hearing was right¡­


    "Exactly!" Stark nodded, "Don''t worry, I''ll be fine by myself, I prefer to be alone anyway as, y''know, defending people isn''t my thing," this time he specifically looked at Sora, who actually felt a little bit of shame, her emotionless expression faltering slightly.


    They soon after left the room, but were also met with the crowd of reporters who kept taking pictures of them.


    "¡­" Stark liked attention, don''t get him wrong, but he actually found that quite annoying.


    "How are we supposed to get out?" Lana was an archer, no way to get out, and Sora could potentially injure people using her nts.


    But Stark on the other hand¡­


    "Crimson Ball Transmission," he mumbled as he summoned the crimson ball in his hand, then threw it with all his strength, sending it very far, way above the horde of reporters and ssifiers.


    [Point Set: It is safe to teleport!]


    As soon as he saw that, he smirked.


    "Hey," Stark turned toward the two girls, reaching his opened hands at them, "Hold my hand for a second."


    "W-What?" Of course, Lana was flustered, "What do you mean?!"


    "¡­" but thankfully, Sora grabbed Stark''s left hand without a single ounce of hesitation.


    "Thank you, Sora," Stark smiled at her, he liked her straightforwardness.


    "H-Hey, I can do that too!" Lana also grabbed Stark''s hand as to not be left out (she was totally not jealous, obviously).


    "Thanks," Stark nodded, ready to snap his fingers.


    But¡­


    "Oh, I''m stupid," he realized he couldn''t really snap his fingers if both his hands were holding someone, so he removed his hands from Lana''s and instead put it around her shoulder.


    "¡­" Lana didn''t say anything, although she did jolt a little.


    And so finally¡­


    ~SNAP~


    Stark quickly tightened the grip around Sora''s hand, and hugged Lana as to guarantee she wouldn''t stay here.


    ~FWISH~


    ~POOF~


    And so almost instantly, surrounded by a crimson aura, they found themselves in another street, far from the academy and all the reporters.


    Stark looked to his left and right, then sighed in relief as he noticed Lana and Sora were indeed there, although both closing their eyes as they didn''t expect this.


    They had never felt something like this in their lives, and to be honest, they didn''t want to experience it again so suddenly.


    "Done," he freed himself from their grasp, then gave them a thumbs up, "Now we can do whatever we want!"


    And so he began walking away, with the full intent of going back to his apartmentplex to prepare for the rift as soon as tomorrow arrives.


    "Well¡­ Goodbye, Sora," Lana waved at the white haired girl, then began to follow Stark.


    "You''re going in the same direction?" Sora tilted her head, but was still holding that emotionless look, though.


    "Oh, yeah, we live in the same building, actually right next to each other," Lana scratched her head in embarrassment.


    "¡­" Sora looked down at the ground, then back at Lana, "Alright," and thus she began to walk away in the opposite direction.


    She didn''t want them to see it, but her face did falter slightly when Lana said that! Why were they living right next to each other? Could it be¡­?


    ''No, doesn''t matter,'' she shook her head lightly, ''But¡­ what the hell is this feeling¡­ I don''t know¡­'' she decided to ignore it as she truly didn''t know what it was, having never felt such a thing before was confusing to her.


    Back to Stark and Lana, they (yet again) hailed for a taxi, and were transported to theirplex, thankfully enough the roads were a bit emptier than before, otherwise it would have been a hassle.


    They both used the elevator to climb to the third floor this time, and each went inside their respective apartments.


    "Are you really, REALLY sure?" Lana asked one more time as Stark opened the door.


    "¡­" but the boy just looked at her, "Yeah," he shrugged, "By the way I''ll probably be gone by the morning, so don''t wait up or anything."


    "You n to go tomorrow?!" Lana was shocked, usually people wanted to take a bit of a break, then discuss their ns with others to conquer the rift.


    Yet¡­ not only was he going alone, but without thinking of any viable n at all?


    Lana knew Stark was crazy and reckless, but this was going far beyond the limits of normal.


    "It''s fine," he patted her head, although she didn''t blush or anything this time as she kept staring at him dead in the eyes, knowing the dangers of his actions, "I guess we''ll see each other when I kill that boss, and it''s announced Ipleted it."


    "And you also n to do it all in one go? While even the chairman said it would take us two months?" Lana was baffled.


    "I mean, the rift has four zones, and it can''t be that big, I think the average time it takes is because people know they have four months, if they were given one week, many would havepleted it in under that, plus if your group is injured you have to take a one or two weeks break, which adds to the time," Stark exined, and the worst of all was that it actually made sense to Lana.


    "That''s- I- Sigh¡­" Lana sighed then smiled, "Alright, then I guess I''ll see youter, you crazy idiot," she lightly punched Stark''s chest in a friendly way, "Just don''t die on me."


    "I won''t," Stark''s aura became more powerful as he said that, and so he finally entered his apartment, "Well then¡­"


    It was time to start the trial of the first semester of this academy.

 Chapter 239: Reaching the Rifts Location

    As Stark had some time left, he decided to yet again go inside his [Memories Museum] to train.


    He had gotten very familiar with all his skills now, and even though controlling the [Sculk Ne] was veryplicated since the weird liquid never truly did it what he wanted, when he actually managed to touch a monster with the slime-like substance, then he would end upbo-ing the boss 70 percent of the time since it would be restrained by the liquid.


    Stark knew why he struggled this much once the sculk ever so much as grazed him now: even other monsters had a hard time with it, so no wonder.


    "The time¡­" Stark mumbled, it had been so long that he had been inside the [Memories Museum] to try and fight a differentbination of bosses he hadn''t checked, "WHAT?"


    It was currently 4 am, meaning that he had essentially spent all day yesterday, as well as a good chunk of the night, fighting.


    "I mean¡­" he scratched the back of his head, "I wanted to be as ready as possible, and I think I am, but cutting back on sleep won''t do it¡­ I still need some stamina after all¡­"


    After a fight against his own mind, Stark finally decided that he didn''t need that much sleep, and that he would sleep around 3 or 4 hours, weirdly enough though, he actually wasn''t THAT tired.


    "Weird¡­" was it [Domination] fueling him as to keep him awake?


    Well, it didn''t matter.


    He left the [Memories Museum], then jumped on his bed and closed his eyes, making sure to set up his rm.


    ***


    "¡­" Stark opened his eyes, fully knowing where he would be as it always happened, there wasn''t a single night of sleep where he didn''t meet them after all.


    Strangely enough, though, the scenarios [Domination] and [Alchemist] would find themselves in this dream realm were always different.


    Right now, Stark was sitting on the bench of a lively park, and although it was surrounded by darkness, trees and grass were still visible, making it much different than the usual depressing atmosphere of this world.


    "Ready?" he heard [Domination]''s voice to the left, and he saw it standing beside him, on the same bench.


    "Of course he is, he can always use my potions to destroy them anyway," [Alchemist] shrugged.


    "Oh yeah, of course, he can use the only GOOD potion you have, which is [Crystal Stun]," [Domination] shook his head.


    "Hey, if he actually took the time to buy some potions instead of praying to get some news one from monsters, then I''m sure our crafting station would already been at level 10!" [Alchemist] scoffed, and it was true, since Stark didn''t really take the time to do any of that, he just constantly bought materials for the potions he currently had, but never bothered to buy new ones.


    "Doesn''t matter, tomorrow is a big day for us!" [Domination] closed his right fist and pointed it at the sky, "New rift, new boss, new apostle to defeat!"


    "Right," Stark spoke for the first time.


    "Anyway, we don''t have anything much to say beside that you should be careful, going solo always worked until now, but I have a bad feeling about this," [Alchemist] nodded, and [Domination] agreed with that statement.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll manage," Stark also got up from the bench, while Alchemist remained sitting.


    And so, before he could even realize it, the park had disappeared.


    "Good luck," he heard Alchemist''s and Domination''s voice as they vanished as well, and then he lost consciousness too.


    ***


    ~BEEP, BEEP, BEEP~


    His rm was ringing, and Stark quickly shut it down as he opened his eyes and got up immediately, not wasting a single second.


    It was currently exactly 8 am, and Stark wanted to leave while the streets were still mostly empty.


    Quick breakfast, shower, changing clothes, and he was all set!


    "¡­" he left his apartment, carrying nothing in his hands other than his sole determination, which was burning his heart so strongly that it actually hurt a bit.


    Right as he walked through the hallway before reaching the stairs, he passed in front of Lana''s hand, stopping for three seconds to look at it.


    "¡­" but then he immediately continued walking.


    He reached the ground pretty quickly.


    "Anyway, need to find the location of the rift¡­"


    He remembered reading something about it on the [Death Rift] card, which he owned since he was the leader.


    ¡­


    [Location of the Rift:] Each of you has been granted a [Location Panel], check it out to know the location of the rift!


    ¡­


    "Right¡­ But how do I open it is the question?" he mumbled, "Well¡­ might as well try."


    "Location Panel!" he semi-shouted.


    And¡­ nothing.


    [You need to also say the name of the rift, since you have been put on the list of people who can do it.] another panel appeared to help him though, otherwise it would have been really difficult.


    "Location Panel: Corpse Cemetery!" he spoke again.


    And this time¡­


    ~DING~


    [Follow the arrow!]


    Extremely simrly to back when he received that watch from Arthur, the archer king, to conquer [Sierra''s Death Path], an arrow appeared on a panel visible to Stark, pointing to a direction.


    [26.7 kilometers away, inside the sealed cabin of the ''crosswood cemetery''.]


    "Oh," it even added some sort of note afterward as to show him (and probably his other teammates) the exact location, looks like the chairman and the teachers had thought of everything, "Well at least I''ll know now."


    Stark didn''t want to waste any more time, and so he immediately hailed for a taxi, which were basically his primary way of traveling as he didn''t have a driver''s license, or a car in that regard, maybe he could ask Lana though, she would probably give one to him¡­?


    In the end, he removed that thought from his mind as it actually kind of embarrassed him to think of Lana as his¡­ money giver?


    "Please, to the ''crosswood cemetery''" he asked the driver as soon as he got inside the car.


    "Oh?" the driver looked at him for a few seconds, but just shrugged, "You should be careful there, kid, it''s been abandoned and no one goes anymore since there have been rumors that a powerful rift has opened there."


    "Yeah, I''ve been tasked with conquering it," Stark said nonchntly, not finding any excuse like ''I''m visiting someone''.


    "¡­" the driver stared at Stark with a neutral expression, then started up the car, "Alright¡­ I hope you do a good job, then."


    "Thanks."


    It took them around 30 minutes in the car to finally reach the cemetery, which was ced in a really ''creepy'' side of the capital, since most of the buildings there were abandoned.


    "Heard it was from monster attacks," the driver informed Stark, "I would really be careful if I was you, kid."


    "Interesting¡­"


    [1.5 kilometers away, inside the sealed cabin of the ''crosswood cemetery''.]


    "Well, that''s all," the driver stopped in front of the gates of the cemetery, which was literal end of the road, there was nowhere else to go from there.


    "Alright, thanks," Stark paid and left the car, then the taxi driver went away, disappearing as soon as he turned around the corner, "And now¡­"


    "It''s time to do this¡­" he stared at the cemetery from behind the gate, and it actually sent a shiver down his spine.


    There was a really creepy atmosphere, and he could sense it in his bones that there was, in fact, a rift in this ce.


    But right as he tried reached his hand to open the gate¡­


    ~CLUNK~


    He noticed that it was locked by a powerful-looking chain.


    "Oh, great," Stark sighed, but it didn''t bother him.


    There was a sign right next to the entrance: [Do not attempt to climb up, an electricity spell has been ced on the bars.]


    He could see the cemetery through the bars, but he couldn''t ess.


    And when he reached for one of them¡­


    ~ZAP~


    "-100!"


    It was in fact protected, but thankfully enough the people that set it up didn''t make it too powerful, as it would have surely killed someone if it was.


    "Crimson Ball Transmission," Stark though wasn''t bothered, as he just summoned the crimson ball in his hand, then threw it above the gate,nding on the ground inside the cemetery.


    ~SNAP~


    He was teleported inside without a single problem.


    To be honest, even outside of battles, [Crimson Ball Transmission] was an incredible and practical skill, at least much more than the boy originally believed.


    It allowed Stark to set up a point in the real world in case he wanted to go back, but also allowed him to get past areas that wouldn''t normally possible to get past, and quite easily too.


    And then there was the teleportation in battles, which were also amazing, allowing him to take enemies aback every time.


    "Anyway," but now that Stark was inside the cemetery, he looked around, and all he could see was a small stone road leading deeper inside, tombstones scattered everywhere, and a thickyer of mist blocking the view.


    It was in the morning, but the mist made it hard to see even though the sun was up.


    [800 meters away, inside the sealed cabin of the ''crosswood cemetery''.]


    "Let''s get this over with."


    And so he began walking down the stone path, trying to find the ''cabin'' and the rift.

 Chapter 240: The Corpse Cemetery Rift

    The mist swirled around Stark''s legs as he stepped carefully along the stone path.


    Each footstep echoing against the silence of the cemetery, and the chill in the air wrapping around him like a cold embrace.


    "¡­" Stark didn''t mind though, he wasn''t afraid, and he just followed the stone path, looking around once in a while, just to see hundreds of tombstones from different people, probably ssifiers that passed away from monsters?


    It did seem like "ssifier" was one of those professions where you wouldn''t live long enough to grow old after all.


    Stark kept walking for a pretty good amount of time, he didn''t check his phone since no reason to, but it did feel like at least twenty minutes had passed.


    This cemetery was so big it was actually scary to think it was abandoned only because of a rift appearing.


    And Stark could only wonder just how bad that rift would be.


    "Well¡­ as long as I can kill one of those apostles¡­" he mumbled.


    And less than five minutester¡­ he reached the end of the stone path.


    And what was waiting for him at the end, as you might have guessed¡­ was the wooden cabin.


    Stark could FEEL the powerful aura emanating from it, and he didn''t even know how the wooden structure didn''t crumble as it was constantly shaking.


    Stark reached for the closed door, ready to open it and see what this is all about.


    But right as he was about to turn the handle¡­


    [Warning! You will teleport to a dangerous rift if you open this door!]


    [It is advised for you to go back!]


    [There isn''t just one apostle-]


    Some sort of warning came up, but Stark didn''t even bother reading all of it as he swung the door open.


    Immediately, he was greeted with a gray portal that was sucking everything outside towards it.


    And obviously, Stark was no different.


    "W-Wow?" Stark was being sucked by the portal, and even though he tried to resist slightly just to make sure everything was alright, he was still forced to enter the rift.


    And then the door closed behind him, meaning no one woulde for him.


    ***


    ~THUD~


    After the weird feeling of being transported through time and space, Starknded in the rift.


    [Wee to the "Corpse Cemetery"!]


    [Difficulty: Nightmare]


    [Number of ssifiers: 1]


    [Oh wow, you''re brave!]


    "Appreciate it," Stark shrugged.


    [You are in the first zone: "The Road to Death"!]


    [Good Luck!]


    As always, the panels that exined everything Stark needed to do appeared, then disappeared just as quickly.


    And now¡­ he was truly alone.


    First of all, the first thing Stark did was activate the perk of [Domination] he got at level 25, which was [Facial Camouge], thus hiding his face with his aura, he didn''t know why he did it, but it just felt right.


    Then Stark took a minute to observe his surroundings.


    And¡­


    "Huh?" he was extremely confused, "Wait a damn minute¡­"


    He turned around and¡­


    "Knew it," he saw a giant gate, extremely simr to the one he bypassed to enter the cemetery in the real world, and beyond it was nothing but darkness, meaning no way to leave.


    Right now, Stark was in an exact replica of the "crosswood cemetery" he had traversed to reach the cabin.


    The dark green grass was omnipresent everywhere, the tombstones were ced in the exact same spots, and the stone path led ahead, although it was a bit more difficult to look far because the mist in the rift was much thicker.


    Stark scanned the area, a sense of unease creeping in as the white mist curled around his legs, seemingly attached to the ground.


    "Alright, Stark, focus," he muttered to himself, pushing forward along the stone path.


    He could hear whispers in his ears as he advanced, but they didn''t bother him that much.


    Surprisingly, even after ten minutes, Stark met absolutely no monsters, so he just kept going, hoping to reach the second zone quickly.


    "¡­" but deep inside, he knew this couldn''t be it.


    THIS was the rift of the apostle? This was the [Death Rift] card the chairman talked about?


    Of course, there was the possibility that this rift was somewhat like the [Domination] trial: making it seem FAIRLY easy, until you reach the first sublevel and realize the monsters are tougher than all others levelbined, and then you reach the boss and realize that It''s actually almost impossible to defeat it.


    In this case it would be like: very easy first, second, and third zone, but then the fourth is a total nightmare, and the apostlees to finish the work.


    Yet¡­ right as Stark was thinking about that possibility¡­


    ~CREAK, CREAK~


    He hurt noise behind him, and once he turned¡­ he noticed that all the tombstones that were ced on the sides of the path close to where he was were all shaking like crazy.


    Those behind, in front of him, on the side, all of them were shaking.


    And then¡­


    ~CRACK~


    With a simple sound, all the tombstones tore apart.


    "¡­" Stark knew what this meant, and so he positioned himself.


    And what came out of them¡­ was one single type of monster.


    [It''s the only type in the first zone, but their sheer number is what makes it scary!]


    Stark clenched his fists, the chill of the air sharpening his focus.


    The monsters crawled from the cracked tombstones, skeletal figures d in tattered rags, their hollow eyes glowing with a sinister light.


    "Perception!" they were pretty slow, so he had the time.


    ¡­


    [Name: Hollow Skeleton]


    [Level: 125]


    [HP: 60000]


    [Strength: 5127]


    [Stamina: 9999]


    [Speed: 783]


    [Defense: 431]


    [Skills: Bone Shatter, Skeletal Barrage, Grave Bind, Wraith''s Embrace, Curse of Decay, Haunting Whispers, Puppet.]


    ¡­


    Other than the fact their stamina was abnormally high, probably since they cannot get tired, all their other stats except strength were very, very low, and their HP too, it would probably take only one strike from Stark to kill one.


    But this was the problem: hundreds of them wereing out of each tombstone, slowly advancing toward the boy.


    Some had des, others scythes, while the majority remained empty-handed, probably since if they ever even got close to Stark and grabbed him, then he would be fucked.


    And their number also meant another thing: much like the zombies in the second sublevel of the trial, they wouldn''t be giving out much EXP individually.


    But as a group, then it would surely be a lot.


    How to kill them all was the problem, though.


    But it was a problem Stark didn''t have.


    "¡­" the boy wasn''t bothered, actually, he was waiting for all of them toe out of their spot and get closer to him, "Focus¡­"


    He closed his eyes, and sensed all of their auras as they slowly got closer, wanting to make sure that he didn''t fail whatever he was trying to do.


    Stark got the [Exorcist] ss, and the entirety of the [Corpse Cemetery] was mostly covered by undead beings, meaning that they were weak not only to his punches since domination''s aura had merged with exorcist, but that he also had two skills specially designed to wipe out both a horde of monsters, but also powerful elites.


    And in this case¡­


    "Come on¡­" sweat poured from Stark''s forehead as he could sense the hundreds of presence around him, "Don''t be scared¡­"


    This was one of the most dangerous things he had done probably, as closing your eyes when surrounded by this many monsters, not even sure you could perceive them all, was basically suicide.


    Lana would probably strangle him for doing that.


    But now that he was alone¡­


    He waited¡­ and waited¡­ and then, when the monsters were close enough, raising their arms to use their skills¡­


    "I got you all," he opened one of his eyes as it burned with aura.


    And¡­


    "CRIMSON PURIFICATION!"


    The crimson/golden aura red to life around Stark, a brilliant halo that pulsed with energy forming around him.


    "Feel the light!" he shouted, thrusting his arms forward.


    The moment his voice broke through the air, the wave of holy energy surged outward.


    ~WHAM~


    A shockwave radiated from him, sending some sort of [Holy sh] from all directions around him.


    "Kldklkl~"


    "Garhh¡­"


    The range was immense, and so all the horde of [Hollow Skeletons] was hit, the moment they came in contact with the attack being thest as they all crumbled to the ground, unable to withstand the holy power.


    [Critical Hit!]


    And so¡­


    "Phew¡­" Stark wiped all that sweat from his forehead, then smiled.


    If it wasn''t for [Crimson Purification], he would have surely struggled so much more, if not died, so he could definitely thank everything that he got the [Exorcist] ss.


    But killing this many monsters could only mean one thing¡­


    [You have in "Hollow Skeleton lv125", gaining 28391 EXP!]


    [You have in "Hollow Skeleton lv125", gaining 28114 EXP!]


    .


    .


    [You have killed 274 ''Hollow Skeletons''.]


    [Due to their number and natures as "puppets of the apostle", the experience points you will get are gonna be reduced!]


    And so that meant¡­


    [+7,703,513 experience!]


    "Oh¡­ shit¡­!" Stark''s eyes widened.


    The harder the rifts and enemies, the more exp he was getting, and this was yet another record broken for him, as he had never received so much at once.


    And of course, getting this much experience could only mean one thing.


    ~DING, DING, DING~


    The familiar sound of leveling up was heard by the boy.


    "Here we go¡­"


    This was only the beginning of the [Corpse Cemetery], but he was already happy that he came alone.

 Chapter 241: Second Zone: Nightmare Loop Cabin

    [Your level has increased to level 61, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 62, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 63, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Experience: 2217224/2500000]


    [Skill Points: 9 Avable!]


    The amount of experience needed to level up was truly getting out of hand, true, but the fact he was still able to increase his level by three in such a short amount of time meant that it was still pretty bnced for now.


    ~WISHHHH~


    Stark sighed as he minimized all the panels and looked around.


    The first zone was nowpletely silent, with the destroyed corpse of the [Hollow Skeletons] lying around, some still surrounded by the holy aura.


    "Puppets of the apostle¡­" he mumbled as he read that on one of the panel, specifically the one that told him he would be getting a decreased amount of EXP for these mobs since they were pretty weak, "Well, doesn''t matter, I''m killing it anyway."


    With determination zing in his eyes, Stark kept going along the stone path that was set for him, nothing bothering him anymore.


    And after ten minutes of eerie silence¡­ he arrived in front of the cabin.


    "¡­" Stark was not stupid, if the first time was a trap (although he had been warned), but what about the cabin that was in the actual rift?


    This is something he would have said normally, but there was really no other way to ess the second zone, so without a single hint of hesitation he swung the door open, although he positioned himself if anything did happen.


    The cabin was pretty small when he looked at it from the outside, barely able to hold more than five humans inside.


    But once opened¡­


    "Huh?" the interior was giant, leading to a very long wooden hallway.


    He could thankfully check it out from the outside, and the interior waspletely made out of the same wood and texture, making it feel very¡­ chilly for some reason.


    "Oh well," Stark sighed before stepping inside the cabin.


    And then¡­


    ~SLAM~


    The door closed behind him, with no way for him to open it back, even if he tried to punch it with all his strength or using his skills.


    [Second Zone: Nightmare Loop Cabin]


    "¡­" Stark stared in front of him, and he could see the wooden walls of the cabin hallway for what seemed like infinity.


    No matter how hard he tried to squint his eyes or use [Focus] to see the end, he just couldn''t.


    "How long is that hallway?" he sighed as he began walking, at least he would be able to notice if any monsters tried to ambush him since it was a straight line.


    Stark stepped cautiously down the seemingly endless hallway, the wooden floor creaking under his weight.


    The first five minutes went normally, with Stark suspecting nothing that bad to be urring, after all it did take him a while before meeting the [Hollow Skeletons] in the first zone, so why should he worry?


    Then ten minutes without any monsters: alright, maybe there is something.


    And then twenty minutes: how long is this hallway going to keep going for¡­?


    Thirty minutes: "¡­"


    Forty minutes: "¡­"


    Fifty minutes: "Alright."


    Stark stopped walking and looked around: behind him was the endless hallway, meaning that he had indeed been walking this distance, but in front of him was literally the same scenery as well, so it didn''t help.


    What actually frightened Stark the most was the non-presence of monsters, which until now in every rift had ALWAYS been there to stop him.


    But in this specific zone¡­ they just didn''t exist?


    "Either that hallway is REALLY big, and the challenge isn''t about monsters," Stark put his hand against his chin, "Or¡­ the name means something."


    [Nightmare Look Cabin] he checked the name again, putting all his attention on the "loop".


    "Loop," he muttered, ncing over his shoulder, "Hm¡­"


    But there was nothing, just the same wooden walls stretching endlessly behind him.


    "AURA SMASH!" he summoned his three fists, then sent them toward one of the walls.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    But they weren''t even damaged, all it left was a giant crimson mark as the aura remained in its spot.


    "Since when is wood this durable?" Stark raised his eyebrows, "Shouldn''t have gone into the cabin without a n, huh¡­"


    Not knowing what to do, Stark decided there was nothing better than just keep going and figure it out as he went.


    And so he started walking again, each step echoing in the silence, and this time paying much more attention than before.


    Every single centimeters of the walls he was passing was being inspected by [Focus].


    And after exactly fifteen minutes¡­


    "¡­!" Stark''s eyes widened.


    No, he didn''t find the exit or any monster or whatever.


    But¡­


    "Alright, I get it now," he stared at one of the walls, and on it were the traces of the [Aura Smash] attack he used fifteen minutes ago, "That hallway loops for around fifteen minutes by walking¡­"


    There is absolutely NO rift or zone that cannot bepleted, meaning that even those that contained puzzles (much like this one) or traps couldn''t be used to instantly kill a ssifier, as it wouldn''t be fair.


    Which meant that there was a way to get out.


    How though was the answer Stark needed to find.


    "Between this exact spot and the entire loop is somewhere that leads to the next zone," he reached his conclusion.


    Stark pressed his palm against the wall, tracing the faint markings left by his earlier attack.


    "Fifteen minutes¡­"


    He turned and began pacing again, this time going in the opposite direction, his thoughts racing.


    As he walked, he scanned for any irregrities, any sign of a shift in the wood grain or an odd texture. He kicked at the floorboards, testing their strength, but they didn''t even budge.


    "Maybe it''s not about the walls," he muttered, "What if it''s¡­ a monster?"


    After inspecting literally everything, taking him around an hour, Stark found nothing, and was yet again back at his original spot with the marks of the [Aura Smash] avable for him to see.


    "Think¡­ Stark Heartsouls¡­ think¡­" Stark stood up in the middle of the hallway and closed his eyes as he began to imagine the structure of the hallway in front of him, white lines forming in his mind as to draw its shape even though he closed his eyes, "Focus¡­ on any kind of weird aura¡­ anything¡­"


    With his eyes closed, Stark began to look around, the white lines showing the shape of the hallway as though they were still opened: this was a way for him to look past the walls for any aura.


    But¡­ there was nothing.


    Even after several minutes of focusing everything he had on his vision, he didn''t see anything remotely suspicious.


    Or at least¡­ that''s what he believed.


    "It''s just¡­ not there," Stark sighed as he looked down in disappointment.


    But at that moment¡­ his eyes widened.


    "¡­!" because exactly right under his feet, in a spot he would normally never notice it in if he didn''t look down¡­ was a dark aura.


    "I¡­ got you," Stark smiled as he kept staring down at the moving aura, this time he would make sure to get out of that shitty loop, though he didn''t open his eyes again, wanting to make sure that it was indeed real.

 Chapter 242: The Darkness Ghost BOSS

    "¡­" Stark kept staring at the ground below him with his eyes closed, not leaving the weird ck aura out of his field of vision for even a second, ''Calm down¡­''


    That thing''s aura was actively terrifying, and he felt like if he let any kind of emotions visible, then it would detect it ande out to surprise him.


    Of course, this would mean the beginning of the fight, but Stark didn''t want that: HE wanted to ambush it!


    He took a step forward, his eyes still closed, and the dark aura followed him.


    "Hm¡­" it seemed to have been following him all this time, making sure to stay under his feet to not get detected.


    Too bad for it that it fell against the worst opponent possible at this time.


    And so¡­


    "Wielding Cross," he whispered, summoning the crimson/golden cross above his head as he stared at the aura below.


    The crimson/golden cross hovered above Stark, radiating with a fierce light, and he could feel the energy crackling in the air.


    It was strange that it didn''t notice the change in the atmosphere since, y''know, this cross was literally the ultimate weakness of undead monsters, which he assumed that thing was, or maybe it just thought that he was going to use it on the wall?


    Who knows!


    "Time to end this," he muttered, focusing on the dark aura that slithered beneath him.


    And with a swift motion, he took a step back, then smashed the ground where the aura was as it needed to move, not able to predict Stark''s movements if he was this fast.


    ~BOOOOOOM~


    This time, the ground actually crumbled as the cross passed right through it, hitting whatever was below as Stark could feel the impact of the hit.


    "-243717!" and the damage was beyond anything he had ever done before.


    "FGRAGHHHH~" a terrifying scream came from the ground he had hit.


    And after a few seconds of suspense¡­


    ~FWISH~


    The creature emerged from the ground.


    It was a mass of shadow and decay, towering above Stark by a long shot, reaching the very high 10 meters tall ceiling easily.


    Its form twisted and contorted, shifting like smoke in the wind, and ckened bones could be seening out from each of its side.


    Its eyes, if they could be called that, glowed a sickly green, piercing through the dim light of the cabin.


    As for its figure¡­ well¡­ it wasn''t humanoid, instead it just looked like it was wearing its "aura" as some sort of sheet to hide its true form, only allowing Stark to see its eyes and giant mouth, and it literally didn''t have a face, it was just darkness.


    "Gaahhrrhh~" as it opened its mouth, a low, guttural growl escaped it, reverberating in the hallways of the cabin.


    It stretched its arms wide, revealing bony fingers curling into ws, each extremely sharp and sturdy, although it didn''t have a weapon, its hands were surrounded by that same aura that covered its body and soul.


    The creature swayed, and its body literally moving like a me on the edges.


    And after its introduction¡­ it just stared at Stark, not doing anything else.


    "Holy shit¡­" Stark backed away, that thing was horrifying, and he didn''t even know why he felt like that, after all it didn''t have a proper face or figure¡­


    "You¡­" and it could actually speak, even though it could only say a few words, "Die¡­" it pointed its arm at Stark, "Death aura."


    ~FWISH, VIOUM~


    Stark''s heart raced as the creature''s bony fingers extended. The air thickened, a chilling weight pressing down on him.


    "Die¡­" it growled again, its voice so rusty it was actually horrible to listen to.


    With a flick of its wrist, shadows spiraled from its hand, coiling through the air toward Stark.


    But¡­


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE," Stark just rolled out of the attack''s way, "Good try!"


    "¡­" the green eyes were still hollow though, showing no malice or any sort of resentment whatsoever, the monster was just¡­ staring, no emotions in its eyes.


    "WIELDING CROSS!" yet again, Stark positioned his hands as if he was holding a baseball bat, then swung with full force to his left.


    ~SLAM, BOOOM~


    The monster was yet again hit.


    "-231985!"


    "¡­" and yet, it wasn''t dead.


    "Huh?" this wasn''t normal.


    Stark had assumed that this monster should be an elite, yet their HPs shouldn''t be that high at this current level¡­ right?


    "PERCEPTION!" he shouted as he decided to check out the opponent before it could attack again.


    And what he saw¡­ was shocking.


    ¡­


    [Name: Darkness Ghost (BOSS)]


    [Level: 130]


    [HP: 114298/590000]


    [Strength: 9999]


    [Stamina: 15000]


    [Speed: 3492]


    [Defense: 4371]


    [Skills: Shadow Grasp, Aura Drain, Bone Shard Barrage, Raging Loop, Shroud of Darkness, Soul Blind, Necrotic Touch, Void Pulse¡­]


    ¡­


    Stark''s eyes widened.


    No, it wasn''t because of the stats, which were kind of weird, or because of the skills.


    But because¡­ based on the "ranking" next to its name, that thing was a boss.


    "A boss¡­ in the middle of the rift?" Stark was confused, this has never happened before, after all!


    As to possiblyprehend what was happening, he reminded himself of all possible rankings monsters could have: Fodder, Weak, Normal, Strong, Elite, Boss, Cmity, Immortal, Universal, Divine.


    But usually, in video games and in this world, then it was always the final boss of the rift that should be at the [Boss] category¡­ right?


    But what if he was wrong? There were four other difficulties after [Boss] after all.


    What if¡­ he had been wrong, what if final bosses can actually be way WAY stronger than anything he ever imagined.


    What if¡­ the apostle this time is from the [Cmity] difficulty? What if from now on, every rift would have progressively more difficult enemies and apostles?


    Just this thought sent a shiver down Stark''s spine, as it meant that the next monsters could easily take down the warden¡­


    "Doesn''t matter," in the end he just decided to beat it and see for himself, he had said he would go alone after all, and he would never regret that decision.


    Plus, even if that thing was a boss, he still had theplete advantage no matter what as he had already damaged it for over 450000 health points in two attacks.


    "Focus¡­ Stark Heartsouls¡­ you got this¡­" but the fact that he knew that this thing was a boss even though he was only in the second zone was still omnipresent.


    "¡­" and the monster literally wasn''t attacking, even though its strength stat proved that no matter what it did, it would surely one shot the human.


    "Oh well, if you want to sit still, then I''ll allow it!!"


    "¡­" the green eyes filled with aura were unmoving, and even after the second attack had crashed, the monster only budged slightly, not even caring about the damage it received.


    "GOOD¡­ BYE!" Stark swung for the third and final time toward the [Darkness Ghost], expecting it to take the hit again and die, but¡­


    "Aura Drain¡­" it whispered in a very calm voice as it positioned its giant skeletal hand in the spot where the cross was hitting.


    And then¡­


    "GOT YOU-" Stark wanted to shout this, but before he could even finish, his jaw dropped.


    ~FWISH~


    The [Darkness Ghost] actually stopped the cross with the palm of its hand as if it was the easiest thing in the world, then grabbed it from the tip and began to suck out the holy aura, making the cross essentially disappear in less than ten seconds.


    "+100000" and in addition to that, it healed itself.


    And then¡­ as if it didn''t care about anything, it went back to stare at Stark with its hollow eyes, one that were piercing his soul.


    "¡­" Stark knew that this definitely was a boss now.

 Chapter 243: Exorcism of the Ghost Boss

    [Darkness Ghost HP: 214298/590000]


    To be honest, it was the first time Stark fought a monster so¡­ passive.


    He could feel its presence and power, yet it wasn''t doing anything, just staring at Stark with its empty and emotionless eyes, its body slowly swaying from left to right as if waiting for him to make the first move.


    "AURA SMASH!" Stark didn''t want to stay in here for too long, so he indeed was the one to attack first, sending his three crimson fists toward the ghostly creature.


    But yet again¡­


    "Soul Drain¡­" it muttered slowly as it raised its two skeletal hands, tanking the attacks and sucking them in once they hit its palms.


    "+10000! +10000! +10000!"


    "¡­" Stark''s expression turned stoic, "Alright, no more projectiles I guess."


    He got ready to dash toward the monster, using his fist to attack, and although it was a ghost, he should still be able to hit it with his aura, right?


    Yet, right before he was about to start the assault¡­


    "Bone Shard Barrage¡­!" The creature hissed, its voice cold and sharp.


    Before Stark could react, a barrage of jagged bone shards erupted from the ghost''s form, slicing through the air like a deadly storm.


    "SHIT!" Stark ducked, rolling to the side just in time to avoid the deadly projectiles that embedded themselves into the wooden walls behind him.


    He regained his footing, breathing hard. "Okay, so that''s how you wanna y?"


    The ghost''s empty gaze seemed to challenge him. Stark lunged again, this time aiming for the creature''s legs.


    "Bone Shard Barrage¡­" it whispered again, forcing Stark to back away for the second time.


    ~FWISH~


    He tried to avoid again, but not being able to use [Invincible Dodge] made it IMPOSSIBLE to avoid the attack as they were in a closed hallway.


    And so¡­


    ~PIERCE, FWISH~


    Two of the sharp bones that flew in all directions hit his shoulder and hip.


    "-17362! -23911!" the [Domination] aura protected him from receiving fatal damage, but he was still extremely low now.


    "¡­" then without wasting a single second, the monster its right arm, enveloping it in its dark aura.


    It had been so quiet and calm until now that the fact it suddenly attacked took Stark by surprise.


    And yet¡­


    "I¡­ can''t¡­ move¡­" there was a small hole in his hip, which hurt like hell.


    The ghost loomed closer, its skeletal arm extending toward Stark, the dark aura swirling around its fingers like smoke.


    "Shadow Grasp¡­" it hissed, and the air grew heavy, oppressive. Stark felt an invisible force wrap around his limbs and body, tightening with a grip that wouldn''t let go.


    "WHAT THE FUCK," Panic surged through him as he struggled against the grasp, his breath quickening, there were shadows coiled around him, squeezing tighter, drawing him closer to the creature''s mouth, basically transporting him to his doom.


    Stark tried to struggle, but his hip was still throbbing with a sharp pain that just wouldn''t go away, plus the wound was still fresh, blood seeping through his clothes.


    And so with the small amount of power he had left in this position¡­


    "Crimson Healing!" he shouted, forcing the words from his lips.


    As soon as he activated the skill though, a crimson light began to surround the boy, and specifically the wounds on his hip and shoulder, both of them closing.


    "+20000!" and he regained his health, not all of it, but enough to be able to continue.


    But there was one problem: this didn''t change the fact that some weird shadows were still surrounding him, transporting him toward the creature, who had its mouth open, ready to devour the human.


    There was one thing it seemed to forget, though: Stark was an exorcist too, and he had another skill in stock for such situation.


    "CRIMSON PURIFICATION!" he shouted again, as the mouth with sharp teeth was now only a few centimeters away from closing in on him.


    ~FWISH~


    A radiant burst of holy energy erupted from him, illuminating the dark space with a fierce glow, and the shadows clutching him recoiled, disintegrating into wisps of smoke as the energy pulsed outward.


    ~BOOM~


    The explosion of holy aura mmed into the Darkness Ghost with a force that shook the air, and he felt a surge of satisfaction as the ghost staggered back, its hollow eyes actually flickering, almost as if its life essence (well not really since it''s an undead) was weakening.


    The oppressive grip that had ensnared him shattered from all of that, and he stumbled back, regaining his bnce and shaking off the effects of the creature''s dark grasp.


    "Didn''t see thating, did ya?"


    The ghost snarled, its twisted mouth opening wider, revealing rows of jagged teeth that glistened with malice, though it still didn''t seem angry.


    "You die¡­"


    "Is that all you can say," Stark rolled his eyes as he positioned himself forbat, "Anyway, let''s end this!"


    "Spatial Inventory," when fighting powerful monsters he couldn''t defeat using his skills, Stark always opted for the next best solution: his [Crystal Stun] potions!


    He grabbed two of those from his void, then immediately threw them at the giant ghost, both of them exploding and spreading the mist as soon as they hit it.


    But¡­


    [''Stun'' cannot be given to undead beings.]


    "Fair," he had tried, and now it would just be hands in handsbat, two punches should be enough to kill that thing as its HP were low.


    ~FWISH~


    But for the third time (HOLY!), the darkness ghost stopped Stark''s assault, but this time it decided to use everything it had in stock.


    "Good¡­ bye¡­" it spoke in a low voice as it flicked its fingers in Stark''s direction, "Soul Blind¡­"


    And then¡­


    ~VIOUM~


    Complete darkness.


    And it wasn''t that the room became extremely dark, not at all, it was just¡­ that Stark was blinded, not even able to see his own body or even imagining them.


    All he could do¡­


    ~FWISH, CRACK~


    Was hearing the sounds of the monster slowly approaching.


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH," he drew a circle in his palms, then pointed at where the sound wasing from.


    He couldn''t see anything, and all he could do was follow his instincts to avoid the attacks, and maybe if he could kill the beast with his legendary skill before it could do anything, then it was a massive win.


    But¡­


    "Shroud of Darkness," he heard it whisper.


    ~BOOM~


    And less than a second afterward, the beam descended in the location the monster was previously in.


    "Did¡­ I win?"


    No, he couldn''t have won, otherwise the skill should have gone off immediately.


    And so, Stark immediately decided to check the description of the skill it had used.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Shroud of Darkness]


    [Description:] Seeps into the ground, transforming its entire figure into dark aura that it can use to lurk underneath its opponents, just out of sight, and it can reappear wherever it wants, though it is indeed possible to hit the aura and damage it.


    [Domination Tip: it''s going to be behind you.]


    ¡­


    Stark tried to send one [Crimson Spear] behind him, but they hit nothing.


    And so just like that¡­ two minutes passed.


    Two minutes where Stark constantly looked around, trying to identify ANY noise that could reveal its location.


    And right after that¡­


    [''Soul Blind'' is deactivated as it onlysts three minutes.]


    "¡­"


    Suddenly, Stark retrieved his vision, but there was nothing in front of him.


    [BEHIND YOU! BEHIND YOU! BEHIND YOU!] yet, [Focus] warned him like crazy, summoning dozens of panels each saying the same two words.


    But before he could even turn around¡­


    ~FWISH, GRAB~


    He was grabbed by the [Darkness Ghost]''s right skeletal hand.


    "What the fuck¡­" Stark gritted his teeth, "Why didn''t it just do that before?!"


    [It cannot attack you while you are soul blinded.]


    "¡­Alright," he opened his eyes again, and before him was¡­ the monster''s giant face, its hollow eyes looking at him, and its mouth contorted into a giant smile.


    "I¡­ got¡­ you¡­ human¡­" it almost looked like it wanted tough, yet couldn''t, "Annoying¡­ bug¡­"


    "¡­" Stark stared at it with a neutral expression though, just wanting to see what it wanted to do now that he was caught.


    "YOU¡­ DIE¡­" it spoke louder than before.


    And then¡­


    "NECROTIC TOUCH!"


    The skeletal fingers of the ghost''s other hand hovered above Stark, the air thick with impending doom.


    "¡­" Stark looked above him with the most stoic of expression though, and he saw the tendrils of dark energy slowly reaching for him from above, ready to seep into his very essence and destroy his human cells as soon as it even as much as grazed him.


    But there was a reason Stark was so calm.


    Since¡­


    "Dodge Control," he mumbled, and the moment the [Necrotic Touch] was about to reach him, his body quite literally teleported out of the ghost''s hand,nding right on top of it.


    "¡­?" even the monster was confused.


    But before it could even figure out what had just happened¡­


    ~SLAM~


    Stark punched it in the "face" while he had the opportunity to.


    ~BOOM~


    The attack quite literally cause an explosion as Stark''s [Domination] aura was still merged with [Exorcist], meaning that he did slightly above average damage to the undead.


    And so¡­


    "-168372!"


    It died.

 Chapter 244: The Third Zone: Reapers Garden

    "I¡­ Die¡­" the boss said as it dropped its head, and suddenly its entire began to vanish, probably since it was getting exorcised.


    "Adios," Stark smiled as he kept observing the ghost''s body, and after a few minutes, itpletely vanished, leaving nothing other than a ck smoke that was upward, toward the ceiling, "At least that''s done with."


    And of course, this could only mean one thing¡­


    [You have in ''Darkness Ghost lv130'', gained 3,500,000EXP!]


    ~DING, DING~


    [Your level has increased to level 64, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 65, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Experience: 587224/2700000]


    [Skill Points: 15 Avable!]


    Stark didn''t even need for a single second to know what he was upgrading.


    [You have upgraded ''Crimson Purification'' to level 15!]


    Was there even any doubt in his decision? He was in an undead rift, plus soon enough he would be able to enter the [Devil''s Abyss] which contained three apostles, and by the name it was also filled with demons and devils, who were weak to [Exorcist].


    But as he awaited for his new perks¡­ something else urred


    Something that had never happened before.


    [You now have a choice, Host.]


    "Huh?" instead of getting his perks, a panel appeared.


    [Since you have reached silver-tier, you can now ess more features, and in this case¡­]


    [You can choose to merge the perks!]


    "What?"


    [As I said, you have a choice: either you can choose to get three NORMAL perks like usual since you passed three thresholds, or¡­ you can choose a LEGENDARY perk instead, it''s only one, but it merges the three others and is way better (choose that)]


    "¡­" Stark felt like that thing wasn''t really giving him a choice, specifically putting the emphasis on the fact that merging the perks was a much better idea, "Oh well," and it wasn''t like Stark hated it, didn''t his system always reveal itself to be of help after all?


    [So, which do you choose?]


    And below it appeared two panels.


    [Three perks me)] or [One LEGENDARY Perk (Wow!)]


    "Sigh¡­" he clicked on the legendary perk, his curiosity getting the better of him, and as soon as he clicked on that panel¡­


    [Amazing choice!]


    ¡­


    [Skill: Crimson Purification lv15]


    [New Perk: Holy Concentration (LEGENDARY)]


    [Description: Instead of sending out your holy aura around you to kill all enemies surrounding you, you can instead choose to transform ALL of this aura into a giant energy ball that you can send toward a group of enemies, resulting in more damage!]


    [Note: this perk can actually hurt normal enemies as well, though it will not deal as much damage as normal skills!]


    ¡­


    "Amazing," Stark''s eyes widened, he couldn''t deny that this perk was the real deal.


    [Good choice, the other perks were "less cooldown", "more holy aura" and "holy presence"!]


    "Knew you wouldn''t lie to me, panel," Stark gave the panel a thumbs up, but it just disappeared as it wasn''t sentient, just telling him the info he needed.


    "Alright, and now the new skill!" he had reached another threshold since he was now level 65, so he waited for the three cards to appear.


    And so he waited, and waited.


    And¡­ waited¡­?


    "Huh?" no cards were appearing, although it had been 3 minutes, and he even checked all his panels to make sure he didn''t minimize it, "What?"


    [Here is some info if you are confused!]


    "¡­?"


    [Remember how skills when they reach level 20 are now only able to unlock perks every 10 level?]


    "Yeah¡­?"


    [Well, it''s the same for skills, wahoo! Meaning that the moment you reached level 60, you could only get a skill every 10 levels, meaning that the next one is at level 70!]


    [Note: the gap between each skill will increase more and more as you upgrade your rank!]


    [Have fun¡­!]


    "Dude¡­" I guess he got his answer as to how so many people could keep up with all their skills: they couldn''t, it''s just that as they upgraded their ranks, they got less and less until it became too difficult to even get one since all their skills would be from the highest ranked category, "I guess that''s fair," but even he couldn''t deny that having too many skills would mean him forgetting about some of them at some point.


    He enjoyed his current bnce as he basically used all his skills during battles, and he wouldn''t want to change it.


    "Alright," he muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. "Time to move on."


    He took a deep breath, refocusing.


    He was still currently in the cabin with the infinite hallway, though the ghost had disappeared, meaning that he was truly alone.


    But right as he finished all the things he needed to do¡­


    ~FWISH~


    His surroundings began to distort, and it wasn''t his vision, it was literally the hallways of the cabin that were now moving like waves, and the ground wasn''t normal either.


    The air thickened, vibrating with an invisible force that actually hurt Stark''s mind.


    He steadied himself against the wall, awaiting the end of whatever this was.


    And¡­


    Just as suddenly as it began, the distortion ceased.


    Stark opened his eyes again, and¡­ the cabin returned to its former state, it was extremely small as you would expect from such a cabin, only enhanced by the [Raging Loop] skill of the ''Darkness Ghost''.


    But now that it had died, the skill obviously deactivated.


    Stark blinked, shaking off the remnants of dizziness.


    Before him stood a door, it was actually pretty damn average-looking as it waspletely made out of the wood, but beside it, there was nothing else in that cabin since the door he entered from had disappeared as well.


    "Alright, let''s see what you''ve got," Stark muttered, steeling himself for the unknown. He reached for the doorknob, the cold wood biting into his palm.


    And with a firm twist, he pulled it open.


    But after these two zones, he expected something horrible straight out of a horror movie.


    And yet¡­ all he saw¡­ was a garden.


    [Third Zone: Reaper''s Garden]


    The air shifted as Stark stepped into the Reaper''s Garden, and the scent of flowers was overwhelming.


    He was currently standing on yet another stone path that went in a straight line toward a massive fountain he could see in the distance, probably in the middle of the zone, which meant that it wasn''t that big.


    Then Stark decided to scan the surroundings: rows upon rows of flowers were present everywhere, their petals moving to the wind, and statues of grim figures loomed, ced , faces carved with eerie expressions that watched him intently.


    "Just a garden?" he murmured, incredulous. "No monsters, no traps?"


    There were no tombstones this time, and he could see almost the entirety of the zone thanks to [Focus], or at least up until the fountain that was around three kilometers ahead.


    But there wasn''t a zone that didn''t have a single monster, so he knew something was up, much like with the first one.


    Would the monsters be waiting for him right before he reached the end? Or maybe an elite would appear the moment he reached the middle point of the garden, which was the fountain.


    Or maybe¡­


    Stark looked at the statues, their eyes almost looking like they were following him, as he took a few steps toward the fountain.


    "¡­Yeah, no."


    And so Stark immediately punched one of the statues, not wanting to risk it.

 Chapter 245: The Gargoyle Statues

    ~FWISH~


    Stark punched one of the stone statues that were disyed along the stone path of [Reaper''s Garden].


    He had aimed for the first one he saw after walking a bit as he didn''t want to take any risks: what if those statues were a trap, or what if they came back to life, and thus he would be forced to fight hundreds of them.


    The gray statue he had punched was that of an ugly gargoyle, its eyes glowing with a green aura that seemed to following him.


    ~BOOM~


    Obviously, as Stark''s attack was enhanced by crimson aura, the statue shattered into hundreds of pieces the moment his fist hit.


    "Huh, nothing I guess," Stark titled his head, he actually really expected this to be a trap, "Hm¡­" but then he looked at the other ones, and all the small auras in their eyes who kept looking at him, "What if it''s only a few of them¡­"


    This made much more sense.


    And so¡­


    ~BOOM~


    Stark destroyed the statue next to the one he had already shattered, and then the one in front of it.


    And so on, and so on.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    He kept punching as he walked, he didn''t lose anything by doing that, so he just mmed every statue he saw, even going as far as going back to the entrance of the garden to destroy the ones he had left.


    Just like that, of destruction passed, making Stark believe that he might have been wrong since he was getting closer and closer to the fountain in the middle.


    Approaching it though, made Stark notice that above the stone structure of the fountain was a massive gargoyle, yes, at least thrice as big as the other ones.


    "¡­" Stark look at it with a neutral expression, "Yeah¡­ I''m destroying this one."


    If there was a trap in this entire zone, it sure as hell was this.


    ~DASH~


    And so he began dashing toward it, wanting to get rid of it as SOON as possible.


    The stone gargoyle''s wings were extremely big too, each of them just as big as its body, and spread, a dark green aura in its eyes as it faced Stark, who didn''t stop running.


    ~DASH, FWISH~


    After reaching an appropriate distance, he jumped in the air toward the monster''s statue, confident he could destroy it with one punch, too.


    Stark soared through the air, muscles coiling with energy.


    "Let''s see what you''ve got," he muttered, his fist clenched tight.


    The gargoyle''s stony gaze remained fixed on him, the dark green light flickering like a heartbeat, almost judging him.


    ~FWISH, SLAM~


    As he connected, a resounding crack echoed through the garden.


    ~CRACK~


    Stark''s punchnded, and so he fully expected it to be destroyed like all the others.


    ~BAM~


    And yet¡­ instead of crumbling, the gargoyle shuddered.


    "Huh?" Stark dropped to the ground again, looking up: the statue was not even harmed from his attack.


    Instead¡­


    ~CRACK, CRACK~


    Small cracks were beginning to form on the statue''s stony texture, and a green light was escaping those cracks.


    ~CRACK~


    After only ten seconds, the crack grew bigger and spread throughout its entire body.


    And then¡­


    ~BOOM~


    The explosion sent shards of stone flying in all directions, and Stark shielded his face as fragments whizzed past him, the air filled with a sudden roar.


    He immediately looked upward toward the top of the fountain.


    And¡­


    From the heart of the destruction, the gargoyle emerged, its massive wings unfurling like dark shadows, green light glimmered in its eyes, now burning with life.


    "Great," Stark muttered, backing away slowly, "I had the idea but not the right execution, huh¡­"


    Stark thought about the possibility of using [Heaven''s Wrath], which would have made it infinitely easier, though he couldn''t have known.


    "Ksssgrak~" with a low growl, the creature flexed its wings, the ground trembling beneath its weight as it jumped from the fountain,nding on the stone path and making cracks appear on the ground.


    "Why do they always have to be so dramatic?" Stark shook his head, readying himself.


    But before he could begin attacking¡­


    "KKSREAAAAAKKKKK~" the gargoyle roared again, this time ten times louder than before, creating some sort of sonic wave around its mouth because of the sheer intensity.


    And right as it finished its "incantation"¡­


    "Call of the Gargoyle," it cast its skill and¡­


    ~CRACK, CRACK, CRACK~


    3 of the statues he hadn''t destroyed behind him cracked open, their forms crumbling to dust as the gargoyle that had been hidden inside came back to life.


    "Just what I needed," he muttered, fists tightening.


    The newly animated statues¡ªeach resembling the gargoyle although smaller¡ªmoved with an eerie grace, their bodies glistening under the faint light.


    But they weren''t the only ones since¡­


    ~FWISH~


    From the other half of the zone appeared two other gargoyles, using their wings to fly andnd right in front of their "king".


    They were regrouping.


    But before they could even do anything¡­


    "Domi-Chains Restrain," he summoned the chain, spanned it in his hands a few times, then sent it toward the three flying gargoyles above him as they attempted to go toward their friends.


    The chain whirled through the air, slicing the space between Stark and the three flying gargoyles, chasing them as if it was a predator.


    And¡­


    ~FWISH, SPIN~


    Surprisingly, these things were so dumb that they didn''t even notice it, meaning that they chain wrapped around one of them, then took a turn and began to surround all of them a few times, restraining them from using their wings as the chain was much more powerful than they were.


    "Kraik?"


    "Grakks!"


    They tried their hardest to keep pping their wings as to not fall, but it was futile as after less than 5 seconds, the chain began to suck up their energy, all three of them rolled up as the chain forced them to stick close to one another.


    And after a few more seconds of struggle, none of them were able to hold the weight of the three of them, so they fell.


    ~FWISH¡­ CRASH~


    Their bodies were crushed upon impact with the hard ground, all three dying since the chain weakened them, and thus reduced their defense.


    "Grakkr?!"


    "GKrakr!!!"


    The two other gargoyles which had ced themselves in front of the bigger one took a step back, actually scared of the human, as it so easily eliminated three of their kind.


    But before Stark could even begin truly fighting¡­


    "Krakrkz¡­" the big gargoyle shook its head, and Stark could ALMOST understand what it said: useless.


    ~SMASH~


    Using its hands with sharp ws, it immediately grabbed both of the gargoyles heads and smashed them together.


    "Gkakra¡­" it didn''t seem to care though, as it pierced their bodies like they were some sort of meat kebabs, then drank their blood, "GKRKAKAKK!!!!"


    ~FWISH~


    It threw the bodies toward Stark, who easily dodged them by stepping to the side.


    And now... the gargoyle looked more powerful than before, its green aura having strands of crimson one appearing on it, probably because of the blood of the others.


    "Alright," Stark got into position again, "I don''t really care if you''re a cannibal, but you''re not eating me."


    "GROOAOKKK!"


    [Gargoyle King - Level 140 (ELITE)]


    And now¡­ it was just another 1V1.

 Chapter 246: The Gargoyle King

    Stark squared his shoulders, feeling the energy crackle around him, and the gargoyle king flexed its wings, dust and debris scattering as it prepared for an attack.


    "Bring it on," Stark growled, clenching his fists, muscles tensing.


    But right as the monster began to repeatedly p its wings to float off the ground, Stark decided to use [Perception] as to, like usual, check out its level, HP, stats and skills.


    ¡­


    [Name: Gargoyle King (ELITE)]


    [Level: 140]


    [HP: 650000]


    [Strength: 8732]


    [Stamina: 3213]


    [Speed: 6426]


    [Defense: 2938]


    [Skills: Statue Camouge, Winged Assault, Bloodlust Surge, Call of the Gargoyle, Shadow w, Stone Wings, Curse of Stone, The King of Gargoyles¡­]


    ¡­


    Its stats were very high, although it was logical since it was a lvl140 elite, but strangely enough, it didn''t have this many skills.


    Stark truly couldn''t understand how [Perception] worked: was it because these were its only skills that it showed them, or maybe it already knew which skills it would use during this entire battle, which are the skills it disyed for him to see?


    ~FLAP, FLAP~


    Meanwhile, the king was now flying in the air around ten meters above the ground, staring down at Stark with its eyes, which were still burning with that green aura that surrounded its body.


    "Crimson Spears," Stark summoned five spears and threw them all toward the gargoyle one by one.


    ~FWISH~


    But the flying monster had very good control over its flight, able to move wherever it wanted to avoid the spears easily, thus rendering any projectile useless as long as it wasn''t attacking.


    It wasn''t the king for no reason after all.


    "Ah¡­" none of Stark''s spears hit.


    And then¡­


    "WINGED ASSAULT!"


    The gargoyle king soared down, wings spread wide, casting a shadow over Stark.


    "Invincible Dodge!" Stark darted to the side, barely dodging the monstrous ws that sliced through the air where he had just stood.


    "GRAAAAAAAK!" The gargoyle''s roar echoed through the garden, its fury palpable, and it wheeled around, circling back for another assault.


    But yet again¡­


    "Invincible Dodge," since the interval between each attack wasn''t high (less than three seconds), Stark able to keep avoiding those winged assaults.


    But Stark knew he couldn''t keep avoiding before since the gargoyle literally didn''t seem to want to stop, turning back and forth over and over and over, forcing Stark to avoid if he didn''t want to get fucked instantly.


    "SHADOW CLAW," and after around a minute of this, the gargoyle decide to enhance its arsenal as its ws began to burn with a dark me, then dove toward Stark again.


    Stark braced himself, eyes narrowed as the gargoyle king descended, its ws igniting with that dark power around it.


    "Aura Smash," he didn''t have the time to merge them, but he sent all three crimson fists toward the descending gargoyle as it should be able to momentarily stop it.


    Yet it didn''t.


    "Stone Wings," while still keeping up its speed, the gargoyle rolled up its wings around its body, using its skill, and¡­ the wings literally turned into stone, much like those from the statue Stark tried to destroy.


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    "-0! -0! -0!" and obviously, it didn''t do any damage.


    "Dodge Contro-" Stark instinctively tried to use that skill since [Invincible Dodge] was still on cooldown, but¡­


    [Cooldown on ''Dodge Control'', you can use it again in 39 minutes!]


    "Oh," he had forgotten about the one hour cooldown ''dodge control'' had.


    And so¡­


    ~SLASH~


    "-37261!"


    [Stark HP: 5766/64300]


    He had tried to sidestep, but the shadow ws of the creature hit his side, hurting him like hell and making a ton of blood pour out from the wound.


    He had obviously used [Domination]''s aura to surround the area that was about to be hit, and activated the [Domination Shield] to take 5000 damage, and yet¡­ even then he was almost on the verge of death.


    "Cough¡­" Stark''s mouth was letting out a massive amount of blood too.


    And when he tried to hold his side, he immediately felt the crimson liquid on his hand, then looked at it, his hand now painted a beautiful lively red.


    "¡­" Stark''s eyes burned as he saw that, and a powerful vortex appeared in them as he stared at the gargoyle, who was flying above him, spinning in circles as if it was some sort of bird.


    Stark clenched his jaw, fighting against the pain. The wound throbbed, but adrenaline surged through him, igniting his resolve.


    "Let''s do this," he growled, pushing himself off the ground, "WIELDING CROSS!"


    The crimson/golden cross appeared above him, and he immediately took his "baseball" yer stance, ready to m it if the gargoyle came to closer.


    "CALL OF THE GARGOYLE," but yet again, the gargoyle roared like crazy as it stopped spinning in the air, and instead just kept pping its wings while moving left and right, staring at Stark.


    And of course, the fact it used this skill meant one thing: more of ''them''.


    ~CRACK, CRACK~


    This time, only two of the gargoyle statues cracked opened, and the creatures hiding inside of them came out, both rushing toward Stark as they followed the orders of their king, who knew it was useless to wait.


    But¡­


    ~SLAM~


    Stark used one of his 3 strikes to absolutely decimate the two monsters at the same time, killing them both as they didn''t seem to have that much HP to begin with.


    The two dead gargoyles were sent flying in the opposite, one crashing against the fountain and the other just falling to the ground.


    And¡­


    "Bloodlust Surge," the king gargoyle dropped to the ground in a giant thud, then grabbed the bodies of its two minions and squeezed them out while cing them above its mouth, it was yet again drinking the blood of itspanions.


    And so just likest that time¡­


    ~BOOM~


    The gargoyle''s body exploded as its aura became much more powerful.


    "The more it eats, the stronger it bes, huh¡­" Stark thought, and his stance didn''t falter at all as he didn''t want to be taken by surprise: if that thinges close, he would smash it away just like its minions.


    And just as he expected¡­


    "WINGED ASSAULT," feeling more powerful than ever before, the gargoyle tested its luck by flying above ground, then immediately dashing toward Stark, readying its [Stone Wings] and ws to deflect or attack.


    But¡­ that gargoyle was extremely dumb, and its confidence got the better of it, as even its minions should have felt the holy aura emanating from Stark, one that any undead would KNOW was deadly.


    Maybe it was just so sure of its own capabilities that it didn''t believe it would affect it?


    ~FWISH~


    "GRAKKKK~" at incredible, almost teleporting, the gargoyle was already in front of Stark.


    But in the end¡­ it didn''t matter: it had pushed its luck.


    ~SLAM~


    Using [Focus] to follow its movements, Stark immediately swung the cross as the gargoyle came close to him, hitting it straight on.


    "STONE WINGS!" it of course tried to use its wings as a shield and positioned them both right in front of the cross as it was about to hit its side, turning them into hard stone that couldn''t be destroyed normally.


    And yet¡­


    ~SLAM, BOOOOOM~


    The wing''s stone defense shattered as it was hit by the cross, the holy aura supressing its powers and weakening them enough for it to be able to pass.


    "-183729!"


    "GAKGR-" the gargoyle''s green aura flickered slightly upon being hit by the crimson cross, which clearly hurt like hell.


    But even then¡­ Stark wasn''t done.


    "And another one," while the gargoyle was still being slowly sent flying toward the other direction after being hit like a baseball, Stark immediately dashed toward it, ignoring the pain as he caught up to it.


    And then¡­


    ~BOOOOOM~


    He mmed it again using his final cross strike as he didn''t want to let it get up and have a chance to attack again.


    "-211974!"


    ~BOOM~


    It hit the wall on one of the sides, its aura weakened and a lot of bloor pouring out from different parts of its body.


    And yet yet again, Stark wasn''t done.


    He had learned something: if you want to end a battle quickly as you were injured, you shouldn''t let the enemy do anything, instead¡­ just overwhelm it with attacks, and it will slowly but surely be unable to answer.


    Two [Exorcist] attacks as powerful as [Wielding Cross] on an undead were deadly no matter how you think about it, and it was visible by the gargoyle''s expression and movements: one of its eyes had stopped burning with aura, meaning that the green light that was originally there disappeared, and blood and sweat could be seen all over its ugly body.


    "¡­" Stark was hurting too, but he was still standing, staring at the gargoyle with disgusted eyes.


    And¡­ as he said before¡­ he wouldn''t even let it do anything.


    "CRIMSON PURIFICATION¡­ HOLY CONCENTRATION," and so he decided to use his exorcist skill''s new perk as topletely annihte his opponent in one go, and also check out how powerful that attack truly was as the panels that had given it to him had hyped it up so much and described it as a [Legendary] perk, the first one he had ever gotten.


    "Let''s see, now," Stark''s eyes burned with crimson and golden aura as he smiled, pointing at the gargoyle king.

 Chapter 247: Death of the Gargoyle King

    "CRIMSON PURIFICATION¡­ HOLY CONCENTRATION!"


    While the gargoyle king was still down from literally being smashed by two attacks thatpletely weakened it, it lifted its eyes, only one of them functioning as it the green aura was still lit up in it.


    "GRAKKKQS~" in addition to that, one of its wings was damaged as it had tried to use it to block the cross, a fatal mistake in that regard.


    But even then, the king still believed there was a chance for it toe out victory out of this mess.


    It took it around thirty seconds, but in the end, it was able to stand back on its feet, swaying left and right as to keep its bnce, the holy aura hurting its head.


    And when it finally decided to look at Stark again¡­ its eyes widened, and it finally realized something: it would have never been able to win.


    In front of it was a giant energy ballpletely created from holy aura, Stark''s arms spread around it as it was roughly the size of his chest, an aura pouring out from his fingers to give power to the attack.


    This was the legendary perk of [Crimson Purification]: Holy Concentration.


    It did take them quite a bit of it to do it since Stark had never done it before, but he had sessfully managed toplete his energy ball before the gargoyle got up.


    Basically, instead of focusing his aura to send it around his body like some sort of holy wave, he grabbed all of that aura and put it inside that energy ball, making it slowly grow with a magnificent golden color.


    And when he was finally done¡­


    "Adios," he smiled as he pushed the ball out with his palm, sending it toward the gargoyle king at intense speed.


    And of course, in its weakened state, the monster had absolutely no chance to avoid it.


    ~FWISH¡­ BOOOOM~


    Not only did the holy energy ball touch its body perfectly, but upon impact, it immediately exploded, sending out waves of aura around it, meaning that if it potentially had enemies surrounding it, then they would have died too.


    "-278367!"


    "Gahg-" the green aura in the second eye of the gargoyle flicked for a few seconds as well beforepletely vanishing, a trail of smoke leaving the body of the elite upward as it had quite literally been fried by the ball.


    [Gargoyle King: 0/650000]


    And so it fell, dead.


    ~SWISH~


    And its body turned back to stone instantly, before shatteringpletely.


    "Damn, that''s overkill, not gonna lie," Starkughed.


    [You have in ''Gargoyle King lv140'', gained 3,800,000EXP!]


    He got slightly more EXP than by the [Darkness Ghost], probably since it was level 140, 10 levels above the other monster, and there was no denying that it was an elite, only one rank below boss.


    Of course, nothing until now could everpete with the EXP he had gotten from the warden, but soon enough the monsters would finally be able to give him 5 million exp at once, catching up to it, though it will take time.


    [You have in ''Gargoyle Minion lv135'', gained 227462EXP!]


    [You have in ''Gargoyle Minion lv135'', gained 219381EXP!]


    [You have in ''Gargoyle Minion lv135'', gained 225448EXP!]


    ~DING~


    [Your level has increased to level 66, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Experience: 2359515/2850000]


    And worse of all: he only got one level from that.


    "¡­" Stark sighed, but he was used to it, domination was truly an unforgiving ss after all.


    ~TAP, TAP~


    He slowly headed back to the stone path, and specifically the stone fountain which now missed the gargoyle statue at the top, to continue walking toward the path leading to the boss/final zone.


    The garden was now in chaos from the battle: MOST of the small gargoyle statues were destroyed, the grass was burned because of the holy aura, and because of the shadow ws, and some walls had cracks on them because of all the damage.


    "Battles are intense, huh," this was actually the first time Stark noticed such a distinct change in the atmosphere after a battle, as for some reason he had never seen such a scenery before, "Well, doesn''t matter."


    He walked around the fountain and continued heading toward the end of this garden as he was now the other half, no monstersing out as they had quite literally ALL been killed.


    But this was a good thing, since it allowed Stark to rest: he still only had 7500 HP from the fight, so trying to fight the apostle right now would be suicide.


    In the distance, at the very end of the garden, there was a massive red door that opened, inviting him to enter.


    Only ten minutes after that, he reached that very same door.


    But instead of immediately going in¡­ Stark went to the right side of the garden and rested against the wall.


    His side still hurt a bit from the [Shadow ws], but surrounding it with his aura massively decreased the pain and stopped the bleeding as well.


    "Spatial Inventory," he mumbled, then pulled out THIRTY, yes you heard him right, THIRTY [Regeneration Potions], then gulped them all one by one, "Good thing I always restock my potions, heh¡­"


    [Potions Avable: x73 strength, x66 speed and x47 regeneration]


    The wound on his side slowly closed up afterward, and he didn''t have to put his aura there as to stop him from dying of blood loss.


    There were several ways to regenerate your health points: potions of healing, skills and finally¡­ just resting.


    As long as you didn''t have the [Bleed] effect and weren''t amputated or had a massive/fatal injury, then simply resting and sleeping would slowly give you HP, although that''s the longest method of all, and the least used since, y''know, when you''re in a rift, you can''t really take the time to do that.


    And the other reason Stark could afford to do that without fearing just a single monstere to kill him while he was resting is because¡­


    "Clone Frenzy," he lifted his arm upward, and three clones appeared in front of him, "Superior Clone," he mumbled, and the clones suddenly began to merge in a sh of beautiful crimson light.


    30 secondster after merging, what emerged from all that light and was, obviously, the [Superior Clone]!


    He hadn''t summoned it until now because he feared that it could get taken down in one strike, and giving it HP was a terrible idea, just check the fight against the gargoyle: he had been put to under 6000 health points, which would have killed him.


    And if a single debris flew toward the clone and hit it, then it would have died too.


    "=)" and of course, that little shit had its iconic demonic smile, which never left its face no matter what happened.


    "You know what to do," Stark smiled at it, and it nodded as he closed his eyes, "I guess you can wake me up in like¡­ huh¡­ two hours?" he didn''t want to stay for too long in here as there was the possibility of this rift''s time going much slower than in the real world, meaning that while he thought a few hours passed, it would actually be weeks outside.


    The next zone, beyond that red ominous door with a frightening auraing from the other side, was probably the final boss of this rift: the apostle.


    And so Stark needed to prepare himself with everything he had, as it would surely be a hard battle (but not his hardest since, y''know, Exorcist).

 Chapter 248: Last Zone: Reapers and Lothers Grave

    ~SHAKE~


    Stark opened his eyes as he was being shaken by the [Superior Clone].


    "Ah?!" he actually got startled as the first thing he saw was a crimson light in his face, then the massive mischievous smile of the clone soon after, "Fucking hell¡­"


    It had been around three hours since he had woken up, and thanks to his injury being healed with the potions, his HP was now fully maxed again.


    "Thanks," he got up and looked around, it seemed like the [Superior Clone] hadn''t fought anything, though he noticed that thest few statues that had been standing after the battle were now all destroyed, "Got bored?"


    "=)" the clone shrugged.


    "Oh well," Stark didn''t have anything to do, and so he went back on the path, followed closely by his close as they faced the giant red door before them.


    Stark stood before the ominous red door, its surface pulsing like a heartbeat, shadows dancing along its edges, flickering with an energy that sent a shiver down his spine.


    He nced at his clone, whose crimson aura shimmered, ready for whatevery ahead, that carefree smile on its face: as long as the original survived, then it was good.


    "Here goes nothing," Stark muttered, stepping forward, and the clone walked right next to him.


    ~FWISH~


    But right as they passed the threshold of the door, a strange sensation washed over Stark.


    "¡­!" it was weird, unlike anything he had ever felt before in a rift.


    There was no silver fog this time, which actually quite strange, but Stark felt it in his bones that this was it¡­ and soon enough, a panel appeared.


    [Last Zone: Reaper''s and Lother''s Grave]


    The sensation Stark felt while walking past the door was something even he didn''t know how to describe, though it strangely still felt familiar to him.


    Dread? Fear? Anxiety?


    No¡­ it was none of these, Stark wouldn''t be scared from that, he hadn''t been even in the face of death several times after all.


    ":l" and to prove his point, even his clone had stopped smiling.


    The fourth zone was¡­ special.


    And as he looked around, Stark noticed that he had stepped into an arena, its vastness swallowing him whole.


    The ground beneath his feet felt cold, with a smooth stone surface and ck mist reaching only up to his feet.


    Surrounding him were towering walls engraved with ancient runes and weird drawings depicting something Stark couldn''t understand, each flickering with a deep glow.


    And even then, even with that setup and appearance, this wasn''t what surprised Stark the most.


    Because as soon as he looked up¡­


    "What¡­"


    Above the circr walls that delimited the zone of the giant arena were thousands upon thousands of undead spectators looking down at him.


    Their forms varied: skeletal warriors d in tattered remnants of armor, rotting corpses wearing decaying robes, spectral figures, gargoyles, ghosts¡­ and many more.


    It was¡­ a spectacle, and surely nobody would believe Stark if he told them what he saw at the end of the [Death Rift], not that he cared to anyway though.


    "What the fuck¡­" Stark''s eyes widened.


    Some of the undead brandished rusty weapons, ttering them against one another in a frenzied rhythm, while others raised their hands in the air and pped, while the rest just pointed their fingers toward Stark as if asking him to head toward the center of the arena.


    But right as he was about to walk deeper inside the arena, since he had only stopped at the very edge of the entrance to observe his surroundings¡­


    ~CLANG~


    He heard a sudden noise, and the giant red door that was previously opened right behind him a few seconds ago closed out of nowhere, trapping him inside here.


    "=)" but the clone went back to smiling, which reassured Stark: it meant that it was still confident in their victory.


    Stark wasn''t particrly impressed except for the massive amount of undead seemingly "spectating" his moves, as he was worried that they would all jump down at once toward him, and there was no guarantee [Crimson Purification] would save his ass this time with this many undead.


    ~TAP, TAP~


    Not seeing a reason to stop, Stark continued to walk toward the center of the arena, and the closer he got to it, the more the cheers of the undead crowd escted.


    Stark pressed forward, the sound of ttering bones and rusted metal filled the air around him, echoing like a taunting song.


    And the arena pulsed with a dark energy, the spectators leaning closer, their hollow eyes fixed on him, hungry for the show that was about to ur.


    "Why the hell are you all cheering?" he muttered, ncing around.


    And at that moment¡­ he finally reached the center of the arena, where a giant incantation circle made with blood could be seen.


    "Huh-" it didn''t take more than five seconds since he stepped inside the circle for it to suddenly begin glowing with a dark light, "SHIT!"


    ~FWISH, THROW~


    A vortex of darkness was forming around the circle, and it was surely going to suck Stark in if he didn''t escape.


    But thankfully enough, his clone had stayed behind, and immediately grabbed the boy out of the range.


    "Thanks," the clone was thankfully still alive, and Stark got up, taking dozens of steps back since the vortex in the middle of the arena grew more and more.


    And then, after a minute¡­


    ~THUD~


    The ground trembled slightly, and a hush fell over the undead as a figure emerged from the shadows at the center of the arena.


    "¡­!" Stark''s eyes widened even more than before.


    And that''s when he finally understood the emotion that had washed over him before: it was¡­ the feeling of knowing that death was close, which is why it felt familiar to him.


    [Reaper, The Undead Puppeteer (Godless Demon Apostle)]


    The figure was giant, at least ten meters in height, and it was wearing a dark long robe that flowed downward.


    It seemed to be floating in the air though, as it had no feet, and the robe stopped right before the ground, meaning you could clearly see there was nothing there.


    It was wearing a dark cloak on top of its head, but even then, you could still see its face: it had a skeleton face, emotionless and hollow, only a small white dot in its eyes showing that it was alive.


    And as for its weapon¡­ as you might have guessed¡­ it was carrying a scythe with its two skeletal hands.


    "GAKKRKAK!"


    "KSKSKSKS~"


    The sheers of the undead crowd reached their peak as Reaper appeared, and the skeleton apostle actually seemed to enjoy the praises as he lifted one of his arms upward and nodded his head while looking at all his "fans".


    But after that quick break, he immediately went back to serious mode, pointing his scythe toward the human, and a voiceing out of its skull.


    "Let the fight begin, human, and do not disappoint them, for if you do, a fate worse than death awaits you," Reaper obviously couldn''t change expressions since, y''know, his head was a skull, but Stark felt that in his voice was a mix of both calmness, confidence and¡­ anger.

 Chapter 249: The Undead Arena and TWO Apostles?!

    [Wee to the ''Undead Arena'']


    [Fight your opponents to escape!]


    These two panels appeared in front of Stark right as Reaper pointed his scythe toward the human.


    "Are you ready?" the skeleton grim reaper spoke again, a powerful dark aura swirling around his entire body and weapon, making Stark gulp.


    "Sure, why not," Stark kept smiling though: he had his anti-undead skills, so nothing to fear on a 1 on 1, and he would make sure to deliver a beautiful spectacle for those watching.


    "=)" but right as he took his fighting stance, ready to start¡­ his clone tapped on his shoulder a few times.


    "¡­?" Stark looked back to see the [Superior Clone] smiling.


    "Very well," Reaper''s skull mouth couldn''t move, but it was clear that he was smiling, "Let ALL the fighters battle, then!" Reaper said while Stark was busy looking at his clone.


    "¡­" the [Superior Clone] was trying to tell something to the boy.


    It was pointing at the arena, then making massive circles with its hands: it couldn''t speak, so it quite literally had to y a guessing game with Stark.


    "The¡­ zone¡­?" he guessed after a few seconds, and the clone nodded extremely quickly.


    Then it moved to another sign.


    It pointed at the ground, then it made a simple panel appeared in front of it.


    [Reaper, The Undead Puppeteer] this was what was written on the panel as it was the only one the clone could open since it was minimized.


    Then the clone repeated that maneuver several times, its smiling expression almost begging for Stark to understand.


    "This zone¡­?" Stark mumbled as the clone pointed at the ground, "This zone''s panel?" he asked as the clone made the panel appear again.


    And suddenly¡­


    "!!!!" the clone jumped in agreement.


    ''This zone''s panel¡­?'' Stark repeated, and he immediately opened up that panel again (for some reason the clone couldn''t do it though).


    Stark quickly nced at Reaper, and he was actually holding his scythe horizontally with his two handles at the edge of its handle, his eyes closed, though you could only see that because, y''know, the small white dots in them had disappeared.


    ~TAP, TAP~


    He was repeatedly taping his scythe''s wooden handle on the ground too, doing some sort of¡­ ritual? Or something strange, as it was glowing with dark aura.


    ''Well, doesn''t matter as long as he leaves me alone for now,'' Stark went back to focus on his clone, ''Anyway, so this zone''s panel¡­''


    Stark tried to open it, but he had actually closed it, probably why the clone couldn''t open it at all.


    "Third Zone panel!" he mumbled to himself, and it reappeared again.


    [Last Zone: Reaper''s and Lother''s Grave]


    "=)" immediately, the clone pointed¡­ at the second name.


    "Huh¡­" and just as quickly as it did, Stark''s eyes widened.


    In retrospective, this shouldn''t be confusing as it is just a normal name, but when you think about it, if Reaper was the ''undead puppeteer'' in front of him, the apostle he needed to kill to fill his [ApostleDex].


    Then¡­ who the fuck is ''Lother''?


    And that''s when Stark suddenly remembered something: right as he was about to open the cabin door, he ignored the third panel that had appeared before him, only reading the first few words.


    And they were¡­


    [There isn''t just one apostle-] there was another bigger part to the sentence that he had skipped, but now¡­


    "Oh¡­ shit¡­" Stark figured it out.


    And as soon as that happened.


    "Give them a show they won''t forget," Reaper lifted his scythe all the way up to his head, then taped it against the ground onest time, an extremely powerful auraing out of it, like dark mes taking over.


    And suddenly¡­


    Fwish!


    ''That noise¡­'' it came from right below Stark.


    "I summon thee, ''Lother, The Grave Keeper'',e and aid me to prevent this human from reaching our lord," Reaper pointed his scythe toward Stark again, its pointy edges burning now.


    And then...


    Boom! Fwish! m!


    The ground shook violently, and the air crackled with energy.


    Stark braced himself, his heart pounding as the ground rumbled beneath him.


    And suddenly¡­


    Boom!


    Four long white hands burst from the earth, each one massive and menacing, fingers curling like ws poised to strike.


    "Holy hell!" Stark shouted, adrenaline flooding his veins, and even the clone got ready.


    The four hands were surrounding himpletely from all directions: nord, east, south and west, meaning that they could easily reach him if he wasn''t careful.


    "=)" the clone was also surrounded since it was right next to Stark, but it didn''t look bothered that much.


    And then¡­


    "Do not die too quickly," Reaper let out a trail of dark smoke leaving his skull mouth.


    ~SLAM~


    The hands mmed down toward him, each blow sending a shockwave that rattled the air.


    Stark reacted instinctively, the familiar rush of power coursing through him as he activated [Invincible Dodge].


    In a split second, he sidestepped, a blur of motion, narrowly avoiding the first hand, and the impact cratered the ground, dust and debris flying into the air.


    "Not today!" he yelled, pushing himself off the ground to evade a strike from the second hand.


    He weaved through the onught, his movements precise and fluid, each hand crashing down where he had stood mere moments before, leaving jagged cracks in the arena floor.


    The crowd of undead gasped, their hollow eyes wide with anticipation.


    "Come on, Lother! Is that all you''ve got?" Stark taunted, he was sure that this thing was the second apostle.


    After around a minute where the giant white hands repeatedly tried to m both Stark and his clone¡­ they all went back into the ground.


    And mere secondster¡­


    Fwish!


    Lother''s massive form began to emerge from the ground next to Reaper, rising to a towering height of eight meters, the giant humanoid figure had four arms, each as powerful as a train, ready to unleash fury, and a gaping mouth with what could only be described as a ck hole in it.


    [Lother, The Grave Keeper - Apostle]


    Its body was COMPLETELY white except for the asional wrinkles then and there, and it was bald, with no nose, no ears, andpletely ck eyes with no pupils.


    As said before, Lother had FOUR arms (two where they normally should be, and another twoing out from his shoulders), and it was currently standing on its two legs, meaning that it could use them all to attack, making it EXTREMELY difficult to avoid it all.


    But it did have a second form though, and not talking about when its HP depletes: Lother could use his two front arms, meaning the normal ones, to get on all fours like a dog, making him much more menacing as his face and mouth that stretched downward were actually terrifying.


    "Oh~" Reaperughed, "One of the first who actually managed to avoid it all, you might actually be able to give us a good show, then¡­"


    The "white hands" ambush was actually way faster than you might believe it to be, only taking a split second between the time they emerged and hit the ground where the human stood.


    And so, that meant that A LOT of people had died before the fight could even begin, and even Stark only reacted ordingly because he noticed that there should have been TWO monsters, not just Reaper.


    "¡­" the second apostle, Lother, couldn''t speak, as his mouth was literally dislocated (or just weird, one of the two), and so only Reaper was capable of speech.


    "Your friend''s weird," Stark shrugged as he pointed at the white creature straight out of a monster foundation or something.


    "He can''t speak, hear or breath, and his vision is extremely reduced, to the point he can only attack people based on their vibrations and aura," Reaper informed while inspecting his scythe, "And yet¡­" the small white dots in Reaper''s eyes grew in size, "He is still stronger than you are."


    "Hhahaha~" Starkughed, "I''d love to see that."


    "You will."


    [3¡­]


    The countdown of the battle began, and all the undead spectators were cheering.


    [2¡­]


    Reaper''s aura and his body were now surrounded by dark mes of death.


    [1¡­]


    Lother was just normal, though Stark noticed that the weird smile on his stretched mouth grew as he kept taping the ground with his arms, ready to dash at the human.


    [FIGHT!]


    But Stark and his clone were ready too, activating both of their auras as they knew that this was going to be their hardest battle yet.


    They were undead, sure (at least Reaper was, not sure about Lother), but they were still apostles, and the strongest ones he had fought yet (the three crimson moons are stronger, but he didn''t battle them).


    But before Stark could even begin to activate [Perception] to check out his opponent''s stats, HP, and skills¡­


    A panel appeared in front of him: it was given by the [Undead Arena] itself.


    And on it was information that he feared would be true ever since he fought the [Darkness Ghost] in the second zone.


    And it was¡­


    [Lother, The Grave Keeper]


    [Rank: Boss]


    And¡­ the most powerful of the two¡­


    [Reaper, The Undead Puppeteer]


    [Rank: Cmity]


    He was at the rank above [Boss].

 Chapter 250: A Calamity-Level Apostle!

    [Lother, The Grave Keeper]


    [Rank: Boss]


    [Reaper, The Undead Puppeteer]


    [Rank: Cmity]


    The two apostles stood before Stark, thetter being of a rank above boss, a rank Stark had never fought before.


    Of course, he had previously seen monsters of this rank: the [Crimson Moons Trio] back at the rift with Judicator, the second apostle he fought.


    And so that meant¡­ that this thing should be within their range of power.


    "Come on," Reaper pointed his scythe toward Stark again, "We need to entertain the viewers, don''t we?"


    "Haha¡­ sure¡­" Stark had drops of sweat pouring from his forehead as he was actually stressing a bit.


    But he wouldn''t let that get him to make a mistake.


    "PERCEPTION," he shouted as he saw Reaper prepare himself to strike, and Lother on the verge of jumping toward him as well to grab him with his disgusting hands.


    ¡­


    [Name: Lother, The Grave Keeper (BOSS - Godless Demon Apostle)]


    [Level: 145]


    [HP: 600000]


    [Strength: 11821]


    [Stamina: 2368]


    [Speed: 5583]


    [Defense: 7904]


    [Skills: Grave Grasp, Echoing Wail, Vengeful Strike, Burial Mound, Undead Sacrifice, Bone Barrage, Spectral Ambush, Tremor of the Damned, Shovel Wielder, Fate''s Chains, Final Rest (MYTHICAL)¡­]


    ¡­


    "Decent HPpared to other bosses¡­ but incredible strength and defense, and medium speed, only it''s stamina is low¡­" Stark thought of the possibility of using that fact to his advantage, but he didn''t see how.


    Stamina meant that the monster would get tired easily since casting skills this powerful could exhaust you easily, and in addition to that the time between his skills would be pretty significant since the lower your stamina is, the longer it will take.


    But there was one problem: the presence of Reaper, the [Cmity] apostle, who would obviously buy some time for Lother whenever he needed it.


    "Ah shit¡­" he was basically fighting a stronger version of the warden (Reaper), but along with him was another boss¡­


    This was hell, and Stark couldn''t see how any of his group could possibly survive that.


    If all 50 of them had tried to conquer this rift, then the giant majority would have died, and even Sora would have probably been overwhelmed.


    ''They should thank me for sacrificing myself¡­ seriously¡­'' Stark sighed as he took his position, then immediately moved to check Reaper''s stats.


    "PERCEPTION," he shouted again, eyes darting toward the newly appeared panel.


    ¡­


    [Name: Reaper, The Undead Puppeteer (CALAMITY - Godless Demon Apostle)]


    [Level: 150]


    [HP: 750000]


    [Strength: 10532]


    [Stamina: 6049]


    [Speed: 8511]


    [Defense: 4875]


    [Skills: Soul Rend, Shadow Bind (MYTHICAL), Scythe Dance, Cursed Requiem, Death''s Grasp, Phantom Veil, Abyssal Charge, Wraith''s Veil, Eternal Night, Unholy Convergence, Spectral Rebirth, Dark Symphony, Fate''s Judgement (MYTHICAL)¡­]


    ¡­


    "¡­" Stark didn''t even need to analyze that thing, all that he knew was that it was definitely stronger than the warden, "Alright."


    Fwish! Throw!


    And before Stark could even realize it, a golden ball of energy was thrown from behind him, toward Lother.


    "Huh¡­" he looked back, and saw the [Superior Clone] smiling, it had used [Crimson Purification]''s new perk while he was busy analyzing.


    And¡­


    Boooom!


    The attack actually hit Lother, who was too dumb and thought that he could tank it.


    "-176482!"


    "Holy," Stark was bbergasted, "Amazing job, clone!" he praised it, and it just shrugged.


    "¡­" Lother was sent flying toward one of the walls of the massive arena, which gave them more than enough space to fight freely, crashing against the wall and causing dozens of undead monsters to fall inside of it, all crushed since the height from the stands to the ground was high.


    But¡­ was Lother did when he saw those undead fall was¡­ surprising.


    "Undead Sacrifice¡­" the grotesque wide-mouthed creatures grabbed the bodies of all the undead with its four hands, crushing them using its sheer strength, then swallowed all the dust and remains with its mouth.


    Stark watched as Lother consumed the remains of the fallen undead. A dark mist enveloped the giant, swirling around him as he fed, tendrils of shadow stretching from the remains into Lother''s gaping maw.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Undead Sacrifice]


    [Description:] Lother consumes fallen undead to gain strength. For each undead he devours, he absorbs a fraction of their power, boosting his own physical abilities. However, there''s a limit. If Lother consumes too many at once, he risks overwhelming his own body, leading to a temporary (and long) stun.


    [Note: take advantage of that, Lother cannot resist the temptation of eating other undead =)]


    ¡­


    That note was basically telling him to allow Lother to eat a maximum amount of undead and trying to make him reach his limit.


    But there was a problem with that: what was the limit?


    10? 100? What if it''s 1000?


    ''Not clear, no point in risking it,'' and so that was the conclusion he reached.


    But his clone, on the other hand¡­ it seemed to think differently.


    "Aura Smash¡­ MERGE!"


    Fwish!


    Reaper was currently just observing the fight, using his scythe as some sort of cane by cing its handle in the ground, "Hm."


    Boom!


    The crimson fist hit Lother''s mouth as it was literally unable to avoid it since it was too fast, way faster than the holy energy ball, obviously.


    Crack!


    Lother''s head literally cracked upon the impact with the fist, and it actually moved a bit as its mouth stretched more.


    "-76482!" plus, the damage was very good.


    But of course, it resulted in Lother''s body crashing against the wall, and MORE undead falling, at least 50 of them this time, and the worst of all was that the ones who fell were actually cheering, anticipating being eaten by one of their ''gods''.


    "Undead Sacrifice¡­" Lother ate them all again, and the dark aura swirling around him increased again: this time, both Stark and his clone sensed that surprise attacks wouldn''t work anymore, its mouth letting out a deadly ck fog of aura.


    "¡­" yet Stark and the [Superior Clone] weren''t impressed: that thing literally just took 250k points of damage in less than ten seconds, so why should they care if it started eating its ''servants''.


    But suddenly, right as if Reaper could read their mocking thoughts, he suddenly moved, removing his scythe''s handle from the ground and grabbing it again, swinging it a few times to make sure it was working as a trail of ck aura with soul particles followed each of the strikes.


    "I think I saw enough," he began walking toward Stark, "I give you a 3/10 in the entertainment scale, could do better, I hope you will and your next life."


    "Heh, that''s pretty low," Stark responded, a smile as devilish as his clone''s forming, "Maybe I can make that number go up by kicking your ass?"


    "You are free to try," Reaper spanned his scythe in his hands, showing that he had perfect control over it.


    Lother on the other hand got up on his two feet, increasing his size and now slightly taller than Reaper: he was a giant, and a grotesque one at that.


    "Hey, clone," Stark looked at the crimson replica of himself.


    "¡­"


    "You take care of the white guy, I''ll get Reaper, and please don''t die," Stark gave it a thumbs up as he gave it such an insane order, but it was proof that he trusted his clone.


    "¡­" the [Superior Clone] nodded, still smiling.


    And so both of them took their fighting stances.


    Reaper and Lother were the same, though, as the cmity apostle slowly walked toward the original Stark, while Lother took huge steps in the clone''s direction.

 Chapter 251: Stark and Clone VS Reaper and Lother

    Lother, the grotesque white giant who was standing up on his two feet, looking down at the two Stark with his impressive 12 meters height, suddenly jumped toward the clone, and used its skill.


    "Grave Grasp," his four arms all elongated toward the clone, trying to grab and crush it.


    But¡­


    "Invincible Dodge," it immediately rolled away every time the hands tried to grab it, sent five crimson spears toward Lother, all hitting him.


    "-12732! -13821! -14985! -14334! -13948!" the clone seemed to be doing good damage, so Stark immediately stopped looking and worrying about it, instead focusing on his own battle: the one against Reaper.


    To be honest, there was no way for Stark to defeat these two things in a 2v1, so he was happy that the clone actually able to help, otherwise he would have been fucked.


    Now¡­ one of them needed to kill their opponent, then overwhelm the second and kill it too.


    But Reaper¡­ seemed unbeatable.


    "SCULK NECKLACE, ACTIVATE!" he decided to finally use the ne he had acquired, the sculk liquid that emerged from it shing in Reaper''s direction thrice, yet it did nothing as the apostle just moved his hands, making the sculk look like it was pure weak slime.


    He was slowly walking toward Stark, unbothered by the sculk and the fact his ally was already fighting, the dark aura in the eye sockets of the skull glowing.


    "Scythe Dance," he began to slowly pull his scythe back, as if he is charging a powerful attack, and he probably was, to be honest, "Let''s see you avoid this."


    ~SWING~


    Stark barely had time to react.


    Reaper spun, a blur of motion that broke the line between the physical and the ethereal, and dark des sliced through the air, a whirlwind of death surrounding Stark.


    He felt the rush of wind as each sweep cut toward him, leaving no room for escape.


    "Invincible Dodge!" Stark ducked low, rolling to the side, barely evading the first wave, the air crackled with the energy of the attack, and he could hear the shriek of the des as they cut through the space where he had just stood.


    Reaper''s movements were fluid and uncounterable, but Stark couldn''t let himself be mesmerized; he focused on the rhythm, anticipating the next strike.


    The ground trembled as the scythe cleaved through the arena floor, sending splintered debris flying, Stark leaped backward, narrowly dodging another barrage.


    "You''re faster than you look," he called out, forcing confidence into his voice.


    Reaper merely chuckled, the sound low and chilling. "You have no idea."


    "CRIMSON SPEARS," he summoned his five spears, then sent them all in different directions toward his opponent.


    "¡­" but even though Reaper had no ''shield'' or ''defensive'' skill, he quite literally just swung his scythe five times extremely fast, deflecting the five spears with it, "Alright, projectiles won''t work¡­"


    "AURA SMASH!" but he immediately used another skill while Reaper closed in the distance again, summoning three crimson fists as he didn''t have the time to merge them.


    But he didn''t actually send them toward Reaper, not at all, instead¡­ he sent them at Lother, who was busy fighting the clone, clearly overwhelming it but not having enough speed to touch it with its hands or skills such as [Grave Grasp], [Burial Mound] or [Bone Barrage].


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    "-33271! -34998! -31576!"


    "¡­" Lother at this point was getting absolutely demolished, and it was almost pitiful how easily overwhelmed it was simply because its weakness was projectiles.


    [Lother HP: 177371/600000]


    Stark was too busy fighting Reaper to check out the damage he had done, so he left the rest up to his clone, and he would try to asionally help it.


    ~SLAM~


    Lother hit the wall again, then ate the 150 undead that fell from above using [Undead Sacrifice], growing stronger.


    And so now¡­


    "Crimson Spears," the clone calmly sent another spear toward the white titan, expecting it to be hit again.


    And yet¡­


    Fwish!


    Almost as if teleporting, it actually avoided the projectiles, having reached the halfway point of its [Undead Sacrifice], meaning that it had gained a significant boost not only in speed, but also attack and defense.


    "ECHOING WAIL, CURSED AURA" it stretched its mouth wider, almost reaching the floor at the point, frankly disgusting, then activated two of its ''passive skills''.


    First, [Echoing Wail] was kind of weird, since from the massive stretched mouth of the monster came a very¡­ weird sound, it sounded sad, and after a few seconds it could definitely be identified as crying.


    [The necrotic energy hit you¡­ but it failed since the ''confusion'' effect doesn''t affect a clone or someone with the ''Domination'' ss.]


    Yet it did nothing.


    And as for the second skill¡­


    Fwish!


    Remember that ck aura fog that came out from Lother''s mouth constantly? Well this was the [Cursed Aura], it was a skill it was using constantly for a while before activating it as it was a [Condition] skill, as you might have guessed.


    And so¡­ Lother opened his mouth as much as possible, and¡­ let out an exceptional amount of [Cursed Aura] out of it, engulfing the entire arena, and even reaching the stands where all the spectators were.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Cursed Aura (LEGENDARY)]


    [Skill: A dark mist envelops the area around Lother, increasing his own defense and weakening nearby enemies (and even allies).]


    ¡­


    [Your defense has been reduced!]


    Such a message appeared in front of Stark, but he didn''t mind it because¡­ it also meant that Reaper''s defense was decreased.


    "¡­" and more surprising of all, Reaper was actually eyeing Lother with a gaze full of hate and disgust, "This fool doesn''t learn, does he," he mumbled before facing Stark again, "Let us end this, human, I have things to take care of."


    And so, the [Scythe Dance] resumed, though before he continued, Reaper used another one of his skills: [Phantom Veil].


    A shroud of darkness enveloped Reaper, the mist swirling around him like a living thing, and he vanished into the shadows.


    ''Huh? Did he teleport¡­?'' was what Stark wanted to wonder for around two seconds, until he eventually realized that the glimmering edge of the scythe was still visible, meaning that he had quite literally just be invisible, though his scythe couldn''t do that.


    Stark squinted, straining to pinpoint Reaper''s location amidst the swirling chaos of the battle between the [Superior Clone] and Lother, which seemed to gradually be more and more difficult for the clone since every time Lother would use a skill and miss, it would hit one of the stands, and Lother would immediately eat the undead to be stronger.


    "Come on, you coward!" Stark taunted Reaper, forcing himself to stay calm, anticipating the strike he knew woulde, but the scythe remained, glinting ominously in the darkness of the area filled with cursed aura, which also made it a bit harder to see.


    And the funny thing is that two of them actually stood still for actual minutes: Reaper waiting for the opportunity to strike, and Stark expecting an attack to avoid it, and so in the meantime, both decided to observe the fight between Lother and the clone, which had only reached its middle point.


    "Crimson Spears, Aura Smash," the clone would calmly send projectiles whenever it could, yet Lother would avoid them all, the white titan feeling more confident as its mouth contorted into a terrifying grin.


    Of course, Stark had his [Crimson Purification], but using it right now with the constant threat of Reaper killing him wasn''t a good idea, plus what if he needed itter?


    But right as Lother devoured another row of undead¡­


    The monster finally decided to use its second most powerful skill.


    "SHOVEL WIELDER!"


    ***


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 Chapter 252: One Apostle Down, One More to Go!

    "SHOVEL WIELDER!"


    Lother was already down 3/4th of his health since the clone did manage to hit it once with the crimson cross of [Wielding Cross], dealing around 60000 damage instantly.


    And of course, this meant that Lother was entering his ''final'' phase.


    To be honest, Lother was such an easy boss that if it was alone, Stark would have quite literally killed it before the fight even began.


    But it was Reaper being there that made it difficult.


    Or at least¡­ this is what he thought.


    Because once Lother activated [Shovel Wielder]¡­ then it became a whole other story.


    ~FWISH~


    Lother crouched low, its grotesque body forming a hunch as it pressed its disgusting face into the ground.


    The air around it thickened, a tension building as the giant focused, fingers beginning to dig into the earth with a savage determination.


    The undead crowd could be seen cheering more so than usual, probably since they knew what was awaiting the human, but Stark just focused his attention on what was happening, while still making sure to asionally watch Reaper to make sure he wasn''t attacking him from behind.


    Lother plunged its hands deeper, wing through the dirt as if searching for some artifact. The ground shook under the struggle, gravel and dirt flying in every direction.


    After around twenty seconds, finally, with a triumphant cry that reverberated off the walls, Lother pulled upward, arms straining as it revealed two gleaming shovels, one in each hand.


    And right afterward, not even mere seconds after he sessfully activated the skill¡­ the apostles attacked.


    With a guttural cry, created from the deepest depths of the creature''s soul, Lother dashed toward the clone and swung the shovels overhead, the metal cutting through the air with a wicked whistle.


    The shovels descended, shadows casting over the clone and the arena.


    ~SWING, BAM~


    But the [Superior Clone], still smiling, just its used twost strikes from [Wielding Cross] to deflect the two shovels swings.


    "Tremor of the Damned!" Lother got up on his two feet, though still carrying the two shovels with the hands on his shoulders instead of the normal ones.


    And then¡­ he jumped in the air and stomped the ground with his two feet.


    ~FWISH, BING~


    This created a massive shockwave that hit the [Superior Clone] as it was mostly impossible to avoid without [Invincible Dodge], and it had failed its timing since the shockwave was pretty damn long.


    ~BOING~


    The [Superior Clone] didn''t receive any sort of damage though, it was just sent flying upward, precisely right in front of Lother''s torso.


    "¡­!" it was literally at the perfect position to be hit, with no way to avoid it normally.


    It was Lother''s goal: send the enemy flying using the shockwave, then while they can''t do anything, m them with both shovels.


    Lother''s shovels descended with a thunderous whoosh, slicing through the air, a deadly arc aimed straight at the clone.


    "SHIT!" Stark''s heart raced as he watched, certain the clone would be crushed beneath the weight of the monstrous attack, and if it died¡­ then it would be a 2V1 with his chances of winning plummeting all the way to zero, essentially more when he was struggling to even KEEP UP with Reaper.


    But just as the des neared their target, the clone''s aura red bright, the devilish smile growing more, its confidence not faltering for a single second.


    "Dodge Control!"


    In an instant, the clone''s body shifted, bending and twisting with an almost unnatural fluidity: it ducked and rolled, then slipped beneath the shovels with a grace that seemed to defy physics.


    The des cleaved the air where it had been just a heartbeat before, the ground quaking as they struck nothing but each other, the force Lother put into the blow just to be avoided making him tremble a bit as the impact of the shovels against one another shook him.


    Lother stumbled, his momentum carrying him forward.


    But with a swift motion, the clone propelled itself backward,unching off the de of one of the shovels, using the moment to spring away from danger.


    "AURA SMASH!" while still in midair, the crimson copy summoned three crimson fists right behind it, then without a second of hesitation sent them toward Lother''s face, who still struggled to regain his bnce.


    But the funniest thing of all wasn''t that Lother was struggling and still being shaken by the impact, or that it was getting overwhelmed by a simple clone.


    It was¡­ that the fists the [Superior Clone] had thrown were aimed at Lother''s mouth, meaning that they entered through the stretched grin it had, now transformed into one of shock as it SWALLOWED THEM.


    But of course, swallowing didn''t mean they didn''t hit.


    And so¡­


    ~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~


    "-33821! -34338! -34186!"


    [Lother HP: 15026/600000]


    The crimson fists exploded while they were in Lother''s throat, and it was actually another one of his weaknesses: the abyss that was his stretched was extremely sensitive, and anything that went inside would deal much higher damage to the white giant.


    "¡­" the explosion inside Lother almost made him lose consciousness, and the fact he was already struggling to keep his bnce on his two feet didn''t help as he suddenly fell backward, crashing into one of the massive stands with thousands of undead on them.


    The arena shuddered under the impact, a cascade of undead tumbling from the seats above as the shockwave reverberated through the air.


    Lother let out a guttural cry, its grotesque form crashing vertically, shovels ttering beside it.


    And yet¡­


    "UNDEAD SACRIFICE!"


    The first thing Lother did as he caused such havoc was to move all four of his hands to begin devouring everything in his way.


    "UNDEAD SACRIFICE!!!" he was eating, and eating, and eating, eating everything that he could grasp or see, all the undead that fell, those that were crushed, and even some that were still cheering.


    The more Lother ate, the stronger he became: better speed, greater strength, imprable body and defense.


    Lother was actually mad he had been ALMOST defeated by such a small thing.


    "UNDEAD SACRIFICE!!!!!!"


    ~CRUSH, NOM~


    He crushed the bodies of dozens, hundreds, then quickly thousands of undead before eating them.


    Quickly, he became stronger than Reaper, even the cmity apostle surprised to see that his panion'' could be pushed so far.


    "Futile," but even then, Reaper didn''t seem to care much.


    "UNDEAD¡­ SACRIFICE!!!!!" Lother was in an absolute frenzy, and no one was safe from his gaping mouth as it absorbed everything.


    This kept going for three minutes, with all three other participants: the clone, Stark and Reaper, just staring at Lother as it kept eating.


    But right as the giant titan got up again, feeling as powerful as before, and ready to smash his way to victory, both Stark(s) unable to avoid his attacks or even hope of dealing damage to it¡­


    The expected happened: Lother tried to move as he put ONEst undead in his mouth and¡­


    [You have maxed out your powers for a while now, the body isn''t able to keep up]


    [''Stun'' has been given to Lother, The Grave Keeper]


    And so¡­ the white titan stood still, unable to move as his body fidgeted, and even though he could see all those insects below him, he wasn''t able to crush them in any way.


    ~FWISH~


    Quickly, the [Superior Clone] drew a circle in its hand, then pointed at the dark sky above the arena, "Heaven''s Wrath."


    And so less than five secondster, the beam charged up and¡­


    ~BOOOOOOOM~


    It not only destroyed Lotherpletely, slowly erasing his body from existence as he couldn''t even move or scream, but a major chunk of the arena was taken by the st, thousands upon thousands of undead killed.


    [You can''t get EXP from those monsters.]


    "¡­"


    And with that¡­


    [Lother, The Grave Keeper has been defeated!]


    [One apostle remains!]


    "Hm~" Reaper was still invisible, and so both Stark and the clone stared back at the floating scythe now that one of the threats was gone, "I mean, you destroyed half the audience, but the other half seems happy¡­ so¡­" the scythe began to spin in the air, almost as if controlled by nothing, "I guess we can entertain them so more¡­"


    "Hey, seems like you upgraded my rating," Stark smiled back, and the clone took a few steps toward the cmity-level apostle as well.


    "I was nning to kill him after that anyway," he responded, speaking of Lother, "Thanks for doing the hard work."


    And so, the three figures faced one another, although one was invisible and spinning its sigh repeatedly, a dark auraing of its edges.


    2V2 turned into a 2V1, giving Stark a good advantage inparison to before.


    But even then¡­ could they defeat Reaper?


    He was the first cmity-level monsters fought, so he could definitely have many tricks up his sleeve, as seen by his tant confidence even though the human had eliminated the other apostle.


    "I have eliminated five of you now, you won''t be different from the rest," Stark pointed, an enraged expression on his face as his pupils glowed with crimson aura.


    "Very well, let the game begin then."


    And so, the final battle began, and Reaper was stronger than Warden, there was no denying it.

 Chapter 253: Two VS One against Reaper

    Stark''s breath caught as he watched the clone prepare for the next move, it seemed more prepared than he was, maybe since it didn''t have feelings except for its overconfidence.


    But the moment Stark diverted his eyes for even a SINGLE second¡­


    ~FWISH~


    With a swift motion, the scythe the invisible Reaper was holding sliced through the air, and Stark barely reacted in time, leaping to the side as it whistled past him.


    "Nice try, you fucking dumbass-" Stark wanted to taunt Reaper, but his eyes widened as he immediately realized that the scythe''s de actually hit the wall, sticking to it, meaning that it wasn''t Reaper that was swinging: he just threw it.


    And so¡­ a feeling of dread took over Stark as he literally couldn''t know where Reaper was anymore.


    "Do you feel it now?" as if ripping through space and time, Reaper''s skeletal hand appeared and created some sort of rift to another dimension, holding its edges as the upper half of Reaper''s body appeared and leaned in toward Stark, the small dot in his eyes growing bigger.


    "¡­!" and Stark, though he didn''t want to admit it, couldn''t help but feel threatened.


    "You can''t see me, you can''t do anything, ept your death, goodbye."


    ~FWISH~


    Reaper removed his hands from the opening of the rift, and it slowly began to disappear, rendering him invisible again.


    What could Stark possibly do against an invisible opponent? An opponent he couldn''t see yet could see and attack him whenever it wanted¡­?


    Does he even have a chance?


    And the answer to this question¡­ nobody knew it.


    "I can''t see him¡­" Stark slowed down time using [Focus]''s perk [Time Vision] for three seconds, allowing him to think as he saw the rift slowly close, Reaper''s body still slightly visible as the dark cloak around him gradually disappeared, returning into his dimension, "I can''t see him¡­ but¡­ I think¡­"


    Stark''s eyes widened as he realized something after using [Time Vision].


    Time Vision was one of the perks of [Focus], and what other perk did he have with this skill?


    Well¡­


    [Description: You can ce a target on an opponent, thus allowing you to observe their movements better and have your crimson ''eyes'' always following them, no matter what they do]


    He had [Target Set].


    He had never done it before, but there was nothing else he could do: it was this, or awaiting his inevitable death, his clone unable to do anything as well.


    ''We''ll see about that,'' he had an enraged expression on his face as his eyes burning with a crimson fire.


    ~FWISH~


    He positioned his right arm like a gun, as if aiming with it, then pointed toward the small remaining visible parts of Reaper.


    And then¡­


    "FOCUS¡­ TARGET SET!" he shot, and a small little tracker was sent toward Reaper at intense speed.


    [Time Vision] deactivated, and so the rift Reaper appeared from closed as well.


    Now Stark couldn''t see him anymore, he was doomed.


    And yet¡­


    ~DING~


    [Reaper has been set as a target!]


    ~BLINK, BLINK, BLINK~


    And now¡­ in Stark''s vision¡­ he could now see the cmity apostle: he was glowing with a bright crimson aura that constantly flickered, disying his position to Stark.


    Stark IMMEDIATELY looked at his clone, and its eyes were also glowing with the same deep color, meaning that it could see the apostle too now that he was hit by the tracker.


    But now what?


    What should Stark do?


    Currently, Reaper was constantly turning around Stark, probably wanting to scare him as he could attack whenever he wanted, and from wherever position he felt like.


    Reaper didn''t know that Stark could actually see him though, and the boy made EXTREMELY sure to keep acting like normal: which meant looking around with a terrified face and moving in many directions as if trying to dodge invisible attacks.


    Stark couldn''t be arrogant and just shout that he could see him, or immediately attempt to attack the apostle, no, this would be stupid, and dealing only 100000 points of damage is useless.


    He had a GOLDEN opportunity to deal as much damage as he wanted if he got the timing right, and letting it pass would be suicide.


    Stark''s heart thundered in his chest as he feigned panic, ncing wildly around the arena. He sensed Reaper''s presence flickering just out of sight, a predator stalking its prey.


    Each breath came heavy, but he steadied himself, focusing on the faint crimson glow marking Reaper''s position.


    "Where are you, you bastard?" he shouted, his acting perfect.


    His clone, though, just stood still as it was ignored by Reaper, as the apostle knew that killing the original would also kill the copy.


    With a quick nce at the tracker, Stark zeroed in on Reaper''s position. The figure circled closer, and Stark held his breath, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.


    Then he felt it¡ªa slight shift in the air, a chill that whispered of danger.


    The air grew thick with tension as Stark''s pulse quickened. He sensed Reaper''s presence inching closer, the flickering crimson glow barely illuminating the darkened arena.


    "Enough of this charade," Reaper''s voice slithered through the shadows.


    "DEATH''S GRASP," with a simple wave of his hand, skeletal hands erupted from the ground, their bony fingers curling around Stark''s legs,tching on like a vice.


    Stark was actually taken by surprise, though his determination didn''t falter, "Get off me!"


    But the hands tightened, drawing him down.


    And as to make sure the human couldn''t survive this¡­ Reaper added another skill to finish all of it.


    "SHADOW BIND," Reaper flicked his wrist, and tendrils of darkness erupted from the ground as well, wrapping around Stark''s chest and stomach. The shadowy tendrils constricted, squeezing the breath from his lungs, though not enough to suffocate him as Stark resisted.


    Each pulse of the tendrils sapped his energy, tugging at his very life force and he could still feel the cold fingers of touching him below.


    "-50! -50! -50!" being bound by [Shadow Bind] also took some of his HP every second, and it seemed as though this was what Reaper awaited: he wanted to slowly kill Stark, especially now that he was in this state.


    But¡­ the human wouldn''t go down like this.


    "DODGE CONTROL," Stark wanted to activate his skill as it always aided him in such situations, even just a few hours ago against the [Darkness Ghost], and it also helped his clone against Lother mere minutes ago.


    Stark felt the familiar sensation of his skill activating, and he fully expected to be instantly teleported away, then use the next opportunity to attack Reaper and deal the most amount of damage possible, maybe so much so that he could end the strike with that simple assault.


    And yet¡­ all of Stark''s ns were all crushed.


    The reason?


    Well¡­


    "Huh?" the tendrils that had wrapped around Stark began to glow, and the feeling of power that was deep within himpletely disappeared.


    "Foolish human, just abandon, and let me see you die slowly, do cry, I enjoy seeing your struggles," Reaper couldn''t smile, but deep inside, he definitely was.


    And before Stark¡­ a panel appeared.


    ~DING~


    [''Dodge Control'' has been absorbed by ''Shadow Bind'', the skill was used, yet it didn''t work, meaning that it was put back on cooldown!]


    "Oh."


    Stark was done for.

 Chapter 254: Triple Cross Attack against the Calamity

    [''Dodge Control'' has been absorbed by ''Shadow Bind'', the skill was used, yet it didn''t work, meaning that it was put back on cooldown!]


    "PERCEPTION," Stark immediately used his skill to check out [Shadow Bind]''s description to know how it worked.


    "-50! -50! -50!" and of course, he was still taking damage over time, blood pouring from his mouth as it had been around two minutes since the shadow tendrils immobilized him.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Shadow Bind (MYTHICAL)]


    [Description:] With a flick of his wrist, Reaper can summon tendrils of darkness from the ground, wrapping around the opponent''s body.


    This ability ensnares its victim, immobilizing them momentarily as the shadows constrict tight, making escape nearly impossible.


    In addition to that, the tendrils stop any skill equal to or beyond legendary to be used as it absorbs them, and note that if a skill is absorbed, then it will be put on cooldown as if it was actually used.


    ¡­


    A mythical skill that stops any skill that is legendary or beyond it to be used when the person was restrained.


    "¡­"


    "-50! -100! -100!" and the damage he was taking increased more and more.


    "¡­"


    "I can sense that your life force is weakening, it was fun while itsted human, thank you for getting rid of the other," Reaperughed, still invisible.


    And yet¡­


    "=)" Stark smiled: he had figured out a way to escape, "CRIMSON BALL TRANSMISSION!"


    Without wasting time, Stark summoned the small crimson ball in his right hand, which was actually not restrained by the tendrils as Reaper didn''t bother to do that, believing there was no chance the human could escape.


    After all, for him, only a [Legendary], [Mythical] or above skill could allow someone to escape [Shadow Bind], anything below that was worthless to him, at least this is what he believed, and it had always worked, so why even worry?


    And yet¡­ it was his biggest mistake.


    With a swift motion, using all of his momentum and willpower as his HP were decreasing so much he was on the verge of copsing, Stark threw the crimson ball upward.


    ~FWISH~


    The crimson ball floated just before Reaper''s skeletal face, its glow illuminating the dark space around them. Stark''s heart raced as he felt the tendrils constricting him tighten further, but he focused on the moment, on the energy thrumming within him.


    And so¡­ just as he was about to die from the suffocation and damage he had been dealt with¡­


    He snapped his fingers.


    In an instant, he teleported, appearing directly in front of Reaper''s face as that was where the crimson ball was.


    The darkness seemed to shudder as Stark materialized, the crimson ball hovering like a star at the peak of its arc.


    "Time''s up," he growled, unleashing the surge of power coursing through him, "Staring directly at Reaper, who didn''t even have the time to react because of how fast the human was."


    "You¡­" but even then, his eyes widened, the small dot in his eyes bing almost invisible, not expecting for a human to be able to see him, "Shit," and he knew that this was bad.


    Stark, not wasting a single second of that precious opportunity he had created for himself after acting as if he couldn''t see Reaper, and also taking all that damage from that mythical skill, immediately decided to attack.


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT," his aura exploded outward as soon as he activated the legendary skill, doubling in intensity, radiating with a fierce light.


    Reaper''s hollow eyes widened even more for a fraction of a second as he noticed Stark''s growing aura, surprise mingling with the darkness, and Stark''s grin widened.


    This was his moment.


    "Say goodbye!" he shouted, channeling all of his strength into his next assault.


    Of course, Stark could definitely try to punch Reaper repeatedly, but not only was it ineffective, it also didn''t guarantee that the damage output would be high, and what if the cmity apostle can still use a defensive skill?


    No¡­ Stark needed something better.


    And so¡­


    "WIELDING CROSS," he summoned the giant crimson cross with its strands of golden/holy aura, raising it above his head.


    [3 Cross Strikes Avable!]


    The air thickened with tension as the cross shimmered, its edges crackling with energy.


    "Let''s see how you handle this!" he shouted, determination surging within him.


    And so¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Stark IMMEDIATELY swung the cross in Reaper''s direction like a baseball bat, using his ENTIRE strength for that.


    It was all or nothing now, either these next attacks seed, or it was over.


    Stark swung the crimson cross with all his might, a blur of red and gold that arced through the air. It collided with Reaper''s skull face, a sickening thud echoing through the dark arena as the undead actually cheered.


    The impact jolted through Stark''s arms, but the satisfaction of hitting that little arrogant shit fueled him.


    The moment the cross made contact, a surge of energy erupted from it, radiating the powerful essence of the [Exorcist].


    ~BOOOOOOOOM~


    "-198372!"


    Reaper staggered back, his hollow eyes wide with shock. Pain rippled across his skeletal visage as you could feel the force of the blow resonating through the air.


    "You little¡ª" Reaper growled, rage twisting his voice, but before he could counter, Stark pivoted and swung the cross again, this time in the opposite direction.


    ~FWISH~


    "NOT TODAY," the apostle tried to position one of his hands right in front of the cross to stop it from hitting, "UNHOLY CONVERGENCE," he tried to activate one of his other legendary skills, the arm he positioned to block the attack glowing with an incredibly powerful dark aura.


    And yet¡­ even that wasn''t enough.


    ~BAM, BOOM~


    The cross absolutely destroyed the apostle''s arm, like literally, itpletely shattered, then struck Reaper''s side, close to his shoulder, without losing momentum, sending him sprawling.


    Stark seized the opportunity, a wild grin stered across his face as he reveled in the excitement of winning. The energy crackled around him, an exhrating rush that pushed him onward.


    ~BOOOOOM~


    "-203485!"


    Reaper''s voice echoed through the arena, tinged with fury and disbelief, "YOU FUCKING LITTLE¡ª"


    But Stark didn''t wait to hear the rest: he had one final strike left, and he was determined to finish this.


    He drew back the cross, focusing all his energy into thest blow, and with a roar, he swung downward, aiming for the top of Reaper''s head.


    ~FWISH~


    The crimson cross descended like a guillotine, the force behind it fueled by Stark''s rage and determination.


    The cross met its target with a deafening crack, and massive fractures erupted across Reaper''s skull face upon impact.


    ~BOOOOOOOOMMMMM~


    "-257436!"


    Reaper staggered, almost falling to his knees.


    And Stark felt a surge of triumph as he witnessed the formidable apostle falter, the darkness around him losing its grip.


    And yet¡­ the cmity monster didn''t give up.


    [Reaper HP: 90707/750000]


    Reaper couldn''t bleed since he was quite literally a grim reaper, meaning that he wasn''t alive at all, he was an undead as well.


    But, even then, a ck liquid was oozing out of his mouth and hollow eyes as he looked down, the liquid sshing onto the ground.


    "YOU THINK, THIS, IS, THE END?" but even then, even with all these attacks, even with everything he had done¡­ Reaper immediately stood back up as Stark was still in midair (when attacking with the cross, he wasn''t falling).


    And so¡­


    "FATE''S JUDGEMENT," he decided to use his second [Mythical] skill, which is also his most powerful one.


    "¡­Try me," yet Stark wasn''t scared.

 Chapter 255: Calamity Apostle Death

    Reaper immediately got up after receiving the third and final strike of [Wielding Cross], the skull that served as his face now having cracks all over it as the impact was extremely powerful.


    Stark expected for the monster to die after all of this, but it looks like it wasn''t enough.


    And so¡­ he was in midair, with Reaper already up, his hands glowing with a deep darkness that was taking over the entire area, the crowd cheering for their ''master'' to finally win against the human.


    "YOUR FATE HAS BEEN SEALED SINCE THE MOMENT YOU STEPPED FOOT IN THIS ARENA," Reaper spoke, the small dots in his hollow eyes leaving a powerful trail everytime he moved his slightly, "AND THUS, THIS IS YOUR END!"


    ~FWISH, BOOM~


    Stark finallynded on the ground, then looked up to see Reaper with his hands joined together, chanting some kind of spell, though the words were giberish to Stark.


    And after a few seconds¡­


    ~BOOM~


    His hands exploded with aura and¡­ he spread them apart, looking up at the sky.


    "¡­?" Stark looked up as well, and¡­ well¡­ "What the fuck¡­?"


    A swirling vortex of darkness erupted above them, shadow hands, skeletal hands, dark aura and much more were stretching out like a monstrous w from the spinning portal above.


    Stark squinted against the oppressive energy, his instincts screaming at him to run, yet he couldn''t do that, not now.


    "What the hell is that?" the sounding from the storm above was deafening, even disrupting Stark''s very own thoughts.


    Reaperughed, a sound devoid of warmth, "Your doom, human. Prepare to witness the end of your existence."


    As the darkness churned and twisted, Stark''s heart raced. He needed to think fast, but the chaos swirling overhead threatened to overwhelm him as the portal that even created undead entities kept growing.


    Stark turned his head toward his clone, yet it still wasn''t moving, also just looking up with the same confident and devilish smile it had.


    "Why is it¡­ so confident¡­?" Stark wondered, after all it wouldn''t be smiling if it wasn''t 100% sure that they would win, right?


    And so, as Stark looked in front of him¡­ he finally saw IT.


    [Double Assault Perk: "Double Impact", activated!]


    This was a perk so rare to activate that it had only happened twice to Stark: in the fight against Sierra, the apostle with the crystal stun arrows; and the second time was against the [Corrupted Ghoul] back at the ''Dimension Storer Association'' when he wanted to level up right before the second trial.


    And¡­ Stark couldn''t help but smile again once he saw that.


    The reason was simple: "Double Impact" once activated has a 100% hit rate, the monster legitimately cannot avoid the attack that ising.


    And so¡­


    "WHY ARE YOU SMILING, HUMAN?" Reaper had deactivated [Shadow Veil] already since it was useless when Stark could see it, moving his mouth up and down as he couldn''t show visible emotions.


    "I don''t know¡­" Stark smiled, "But I won."


    "HUH, YOU THINK YOU CAN WIN? FATE''S JUDGEMENT IS A CONDITION SKILL, ITS OVER FOR YOU-" Reaper shouted, ready to finally order all of the entities and attacks that had formed in the vortex of darkness above to attack the human.


    And yet¡­ even then¡­


    ~FWISH~


    [''Double Impact'' activated!]


    [Description: When using ''Double Assault'', there is a very small chance that each attack will count as two hits (deadly), causing double the damage, but also double the status effect or knockback on your opponent.]


    Thest attack that Stark had done to the apostle was the swing at the top of its head.


    Which meant¡­


    ~FWISH~


    A crimson replica of Stark came out of the original''s body and jumped in the air, arriving at the exact position he was in when he had previously hit Reaper.


    "¡­" the double impact clone summoned the crimson cross behind it, then swung down instantly: its job was just to attack a second time, no need to waste time.


    "YOU THINK THIS IS GONNA BE ENOUGH? YOUR TRICKS WON''T WORK-" Reaper tried to avoid the attack by using another skill, "DARK SYMPHONY!"


    But¡­


    [Sorry, you cannot avoid that attack, apostle,] a panel appeared before him.


    "Huh?"


    ~FWISH~


    The clone swung down with the cross, and it hit Reaper''s forehead again, the impact just as hard as thest since it quite literally copied everything.


    ~BOOOOOOM~


    "-257436!" even the damage was the same.


    But doing this much could only mean thing¡­ right?


    "Gah-" Reaper''s little white dots in his eyes began to flicker as his HP reached zero, meaning that his real death was iing, "YOU-"


    [Reaper HP: 0/750000]


    [Warning! You will die!]


    But even then, the apostle still wanted to use his [Mythical] skill, to at least take down the human and entire arena with him.


    He spread his arms upward again, focusing all his power into this.


    ~FWISH, FWISH, FWIIIISHHH~


    He was concentrating like he never did before as he had actually never been so defeated by a human: he would always be the one toying with them, not the other way around.


    But now¡­


    "AS LONG AS I TAKE YOU DOWN WITH ME, IT IS MY VICTORY," Reaper suddenly clenched his fists, and the aura around them grew ten times in size, meaning that he was on the verge of activating his power.


    "GKKGKGK~"


    "HIHIHIHI~"


    And for the first time too, the cheers in the crowd weren''t directed as his victory, but at his failure: they were cheering for the human.


    "FATE''S JUDGEMENT¡­ ACTIVATED!" in one final ditch effort, Reaper''s entire body glowed with an ethereal darkness, "I GOT YOU NOW-"


    The vortex above flickered, and everything in it began to slowlye out.


    "¡­" and yet, neither did him or his clone do anything to stop that: he obviously still had [Crimson Purification], so he could have definitely stopped the apostle, yet he didn''t.


    And for the second time, the reason why was obvious.


    To be honest, even Reaper should know what was bound to happen to him, the only thing he didn''t expect was for it to happen so FAST.


    "MY VICTOR-" and yet, he couldn''t end his final sentence.


    Because¡­


    ~CRACK, CRACK~


    The cracks that had formed from Stark''s third strike were still present, making small particles of dust fall to the ground.


    ~CRACK, CRACK~


    And the [Second Impact]''s attack only served as a way to deepen those wounds, spreading the cracks more and more as they kept advancing, soon enough taking over Reaper''s entire face, who was barely holding on.


    ~CRACK, CRACK~


    In addition to that, the foolish apostle''s pride didn''t let him at least not use too much energy.


    ~CRACK, CRACK~


    While trying to activate [Fate''s Judgement], the small cracks on his head literally glowed with darkness aura as Reaper was charging up everything he had, and from Stark''s perspective, it looked as though the apostle''s head was just a ticking bomb.


    "I¡­ CANNOT¡­ DISAPPOINT¡­ LORD¡­ GODLESS!" Reaper shouted as hard as he could, the entire arena plunged in darkness.


    But even then¡­


    ~CRACK¡­~


    "Goodbye," Stark smiled, and that was thest thing Reaper''s small white pupils looked at before IT happened.


    ~BOOM~


    Overwhelmed by the cracks, and the intense usage of darkness aura to power himself up, Reaper''s skull head couldn''t handle it and actually exploded.


    Reaper''s skeletal face shattered, and the dark energy he had gathered dissipating as his body crumbled. The vortex above flickered and copsed, the shadowy entities it had birthed vanishing into nothingness.


    Stark watched in stunned silence as the mighty Reaper, the Cmity Apostle, was reduced to nothing before his eyes as his skeletal body, which was only kept together thanks to aura, also turned into dust as well.


    The arena was deathly quiet, the crowd''s cheers dying in their throats.


    ~THUD~


    And Reaper''s body, now missing his head as its exploded because of the aura, fell to the ground in a thud, turning into dust while it fell.


    "¡­Nice," Stark smiled as he fist pumped the clone, who was still alive right beside him.


    The fact a clone at one HP survived this entire battle though was baffling to Stark.


    And to be honest, he couldn''t deny that he felt it was stronger than before, as actually being able to take down an apostle by itself was insane.


    "Sigh¡­ just what are you on," he let out a small chuckle as he looked at it, the omnipresent smile wider than before.


    "GIGIGKSKK!"


    "HIHIHIH~"


    "NRAAA~"


    The undead in the crowd were all cheering and pping, congratting the human for his victory against the two apostles.


    "Weird," Stark didn''t know why monsters wouldn''t attack and actually be happy when their leader died, but as long as they didn''t attack, he didn''t care much.


    He was extremely tired to begin with, as doing all of this absolutely exhausted his stamina.


    But¡­ in the end¡­ it was worth it¡­ because¡­


    [Lother, The Grave Keeper has been defeated!]


    [Reaper, The Undead Puppeteer has been defeated!]


    He had actually done it, he had won the two versus two fair and square, meaning that he was officially stronger than a cmity-level monster.

 Chapter 256: Purging a Rift?

    [Lother, The Grave Keeper has been defeated!]


    [Reaper, The Undead Puppeteer, has been defeated!]


    "Phew¡­" Stark immediately fell to the ground, his legs giving out from exhaustion, it wasn''t every day he fought two enemies so strong after all.


    "=)" the clone was also there, just smiling at it constantly keep looking at Reaper''s body, his bones turned into dust, and Lother''s body on the other hand was just non-existent since [Heaven''s Wrath]pletely erased it.


    "Well, time to check the panels out," Stark sighed as he was sitting on the cold ground.


    ~DING~


    [You have in ''Lother, The Grave Keeper lv145'', gained 4,100,485EXP!]


    This seemed normal, although Stark almost wanted to dance because of the exp wanted.


    But right after¡­


    ~DING, DING~


    [Congrattions, you have eliminated your first cmity-level monsters! Woohoo!]


    [You have in ''Reaper, The Undead Puppeteer lv150'', gained 7,650,000EXP!]


    ":O" Stark''s mind went nk, and his jaw almost hit the ground because of how shocked he was.


    To show you just how giant this amount of experience was, the previous strongest monster the boy had fought: Warden, gave Stark exactly 5,240,000 experience points.


    And now¡­ Reaper, who was a cmity apostle, gave around 2.5 million more.


    Was it because he was a level 150 apostle¡­ or¡­ was it because of his ranking as a monster?


    "Yeah¡­ it''s because he is a cmity monster¡­ heh¡­" Stark mumbled to himself, since Lother, who was pretty close in level, did give much less.


    And with all of that¡­


    [+11,750,485 EXP!]


    He had finally reached over 10 million experience at once, a phenomenal milestone.


    And so¡­


    ~DING, DING, DING, DING~


    [Your level has increased to level 67, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 68, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 69, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 70, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Experience: 1,560,000/3,690,000]


    [Skill Points: 30 Avable!]


    "Finally¡­" he had finally reached level 70, meaning that he would be able to get a new skill, plus he was only five levels away from level 75 which would allow him to spin the [ss Wheel] and grant him a new ss.


    But now that Stark knew just how hard it was to level up with [Domination].


    Then he would surely have to wait a few weeks before being able to level up since he wouldn''t have an opportunity for a rift as good as this one until a while, if not until he manages to unlock the [Devil''s Abyss] using the key he had gotten.


    "GRKAKK~"


    "HIKIKI~"


    In addition to that, all the undead that were constantly cheering suddenly began to glow with a deep white light, and after a sudden sh, all of them disappeared, as if they never existed in the first ce.


    "Huh."


    ~SWISH~


    The arena, and the entire rift in that regard, were nowpletely silent, something that had never happened before as there would always be some kind of noise around Stark no matter where he went.


    And yet¡­ now¡­ the only noise that he could hear was the one of the wind running through his hair.


    There was legitimately nothing else.


    And the reason was simple: he had done something most people wouldn''t even imagine being possible.


    It was¡­


    [Congrattions, Stark Heartsouls!]


    ''Hm?''


    [You have eliminated all the monsters of this rift!]


    "What¡­?" his eyes widened in surprise.


    [Yes! You did indeed kill all of them, and they cannot respawn again, meaning that this rift is officially ''purged''!]


    All the monsters had been killed.


    "Holy¡­"


    "=)"


    [As a reward for purging an entire rift, you have been granted a ''Max out Core''!]


    [You can sell it for a massive amount of money, or use it on one of your skills to INSTANTLY max it out, no matter what its level is!]


    "Amazing¡­" Stark smiled, this would be extremely useful.


    The item appeared in Stark''s hand, it looked like a flint stone, though it was glowing with a beautiful aura.


    "I''m keeping it until upgrading my skills again as it would be dumb to waste while the max is level 50," he immediately put it in his [Spatial Inventory] then got up from the ground.


    In addition to that item though, he noticed three faint purple glowsing from Reaper''s remains, yet strangely enough, noneing from Lother''s? Was it because he was erased, or because Reaper was the main threat?


    He took the items and ced the three of them in front of him, vowing toplete everything he needed to do before leaving the rift, as it was extremely peaceful right now, with nothing there to disturb him.


    [Assign your skill points?]


    [Check out the ''ApostleDex''?]


    [Check the equipment?]


    Your next read is on NovelFire|le|mp|yr


    [Level 70 reached: pick a card!]


    He had many things to do, and so the peace of this ce actually allowed him to think better than if he was in the city, constantly hearing the sound of machinery and cars.


    ~FWISH~


    Threepletely ck cards appeared in front of him, their backs showed a white skull with red dots in its eyes, resembling Reaper, but also the [Death Card] that had taken him to this rift.


    "Clone?" Stark smiled, and the [Superior Clone] nodded as it went behind the cards, beginning to look at them.


    "¡­" but as soon as it did, it suddenly lost its smile.


    "Huh?" Stark was confused.


    They had defeated the monsters, everything was looking up for both of them.


    So why¡­ was its expression so grim¡­?


    "¡­" in the end, the clone just shrugged, then pointed at the card in the middle.


    Stark trusted it, so he grabbed it, and¡­


    "The fuck?"


    Once he saw the front for himself, he realized there was actually no front: it waspletely ck, the same color as the card, meaning that the only thing visible in it was the skull.


    "Clone?" Stark raised his eyebrows, and the clone just shrugged again, almost as if saying that the card it had picked wouldn''t have mattered, "Hm¡­ were all the cards just¡­ void?" he asked.


    "=)" and the clone nodded again, smiling mischievously as if it retrieved its confidence.


    "Huh¡­" nheless, Stark decided to check out the skill.


    ¡­


    [Skill: The Void (Passive - Part One)]


    [Rank: Mythical]


    [Description: It is the void, nothing more, nothing less, anyone sent to this void cannot be recovered, and if the host decides to jump in themselves, then their doom will be imminent]


    [Note: this skill is a passive since it is required for some other skills in the future to work, basically, it is like one of the pieces of a two part puzzle, not having it would mean the other skills don''t work!]


    [Info: This skill cannot be leveled up!]


    ¡­


    "Two part skills¡­?" Stark was immensely confused, but after reading the note a few more times, he guessed that all the cards probably all showed [The Void] since some skills would require it in the future.


    Though, he did wonder what kind of skill would require the FUCKING VOID to be used?!


    "Sigh¡­" he scratched his forehead, "I guess that''s fine, it IS mythical in rank after all¡­"


    And so, Stark decided to move to his skill points, wanting to assign them as to give him the BEST possible oue in terms of perks.

 Chapter 257: EPIC Perk and More!

    [Skill Points: 30 Avable!]


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv25; Focus lv25; Aura Smash lv10; Clone Frenzy lv15; Invincible Dodge lv10; Double Assault lv10; Crimson Spears lv5; Heaven''s Wrath lv5; Alchemist lv5; Potion Crafting lv5; Target Maniption lv1; Dodge Control lv5; Crimson Ball Transmission lv1; EGO lv5; Crimson Purification lv15; Wielding Cross lv1; Crimson Healing lv1; The Void.


    ¡­


    Removing [Domination], [Focus] and [The Void] since they couldn''t be upgraded, Stark had 15 other skills he could potentially upgrade.


    But¡­ to be honest¡­ Stark already had an idea of which skills he wanted to upgrade, and there were three of them.


    Without hesitation, Stark clicked on the three skills and assigned 10 skill points to each of them.


    [You have upgraded ''Crimson Purification'' to level 25 (Silver-Tier Max)!]


    [You have upgraded ''Clone Frenzy'' to level 25 (Silver-Tier Max)!]


    [You have upgraded ''Wielding Cross'' to level 10!]


    His reasoning was simple, and it could be answered by two points: extremely useful and¡­ [Devil''s Abyss].


    [Crimson Purification], [Wielding Cross] and [Clone Frenzy] were legitimate life savers, and Stark couldn''t deny that they quickly became some of his favorite skills, enough to make him forget about some of the others when he was using them.


    They were just THIS good.


    But of course, it was also because Stark honestly feared the [Devil''s Abyss] rift, he always had that bad feeling when thinking about it, and he wouldn''t let himself be killed because he underestimated it.


    After all he still had no information about it, not even a difficulty rating, the only thing he knew was that it would be really hard, and that there were THREE apostles in there.


    In the end though, Stark just moved as he really wanted to know what kind of perks he would be getting from his new upgrades!


    Stay updated with m-v le-mpyr


    And so¡­


    [You now have a choice, Host.]


    Before him appeared the same panel that did when he upgraded [Crimson Purification], when he got the legendary perk that helped him.


    [Since you used 10 stat points on ''Wielding Cross'', you can choose to either: get two normal perks, or get an EPIC one!]


    [So, which do you choose?]


    And below it appeared two panels.


    [Two normal perks] or [One EPIC Perk]


    He didn''t have the choice for the two others since once you reach level 20 for a skill, then it now takes 10 stats point per new perk, making it much harder to get them since he needed to break through to gold tier to upgrade his skill level limit.


    But now that Stark knew just how much better merging perks was, he knew that doing so was the best solution of all, especially after witnessing something as good as [Holy Concentration], which was his first legendary perk ever for merging three of them.


    ~CLICK~


    He clicked on the epic perk option.


    [Good Choice!]


    And so the panels appeared before him.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Crimson Purification lv25 (Silver-Tier Max)!]


    [New Perk: Protection Burst]


    [Description: Upon activating this perk, a powerful aura of holy energy envelops the user, shielding him from the attacks of undead creatures for a brief 10-second window. During this time, any undead assaults against him are reduced by a staggering 95% in damage.]


    [Note: this can useful is you are sure to get hit by some attacks, yet don''t want to take the risk of dying!]


    ¡­


    Pretty damn good perk, and Stark already pictured how useful it could be against an undead boss or in the [Devil''s Abyss] rift, but he quickly moved to the next skill.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Clone Frenzy lv25 (Silver-Tier Max)!]


    [New Perk: Clone Sacrifice]


    [Description: This perk works in two ways when using a Superior Clone. First, if you are about to be hit by an attack that could potentially one-shot you, you can activate this perk and the clone will instantly teleport to take the hit in your ce, shielding you from harm.


    The second way to use this perk is to sacrifice the clone itself. You can send the clone rushing towards an enemy and overcharge it with aura, causing it to explode and deal massive damage to the target. This allows you to use the clone as a living bomb in dire situations.]


    [Note: it ONLY works with the Superior Clone!]


    ¡­


    This perk was amazing as well.


    Stark remembered that his clones could actually do that at some point in time as they tried to use [Aura Smash]''s new merge perk, which was too overwhelming for them, so they ended up exploding, he had used that against the [Corrupted Ghoul].


    But now that he and his clones has mastered it, and his aura increased, he hadn''t been able to do that anymore.


    And yet¡­ here it was, back in business, although it was sad that he could only sacrifice the [Superior Clone], but that would indeed mean that the attack would be devastating, right?


    Plus, he could also use his clone as if he was using [Purgatory Shadows]!


    But suddenly, right as Stark remembered that¡­


    ''Huh¡­? Purgatory Shadows?'' he mumbled to himself as his eyes widened.


    And that''s when he realized something: purgatory shadow has actually not activated during the entirety of this rift, even though he had been hit many times.


    Stark looked down and¡­


    ''Ohe on¡­''


    Not only was the [Purgatory Shadow] ring broken, since the pulsating ck shard in the middle was cracked, but his other ring, the [Crystalheart Band], which granted him a shield that absorbs 10% of damage was also destroyed.


    Which meant that literally ALL of his equipment was destroyed except for the [Sculk Ne], which was useless against Reaper.


    "Sigh¡­" Stark took the two rings off his fingers and threw them away out of frustration.


    Then he quickly returned to the main focus: checking out everything he needed to check.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Wielding Cross lv10]


    [New Perk: Crushing Gravity (EPIC)]


    [Description: By grasping the handle of the Crimson Cross, the user can hurl it high into the air, throwing it very high, and when it reaches its apex, the perk can be activated to make it fall back toward the enemy like a meteor.


    It is EXTREMELY difficult to aim and hit with it, so it only takes one of the three strikes you have avable, plus you lose the cross for the moment it is in the air, so watch out!


    Though, if it does hit, then the damage will be phenomenal, and the area around the enemy that is hit will explode with aura as well!]


    ¡­


    "Heh¡­ worth it," Stark smiled, it was indeed worth the ''EPIC'' title if the damage it did when hitting was just as good as the energy ball from [Holy Concentration].


    The perks Stark had gotten were pretty damn good this time, and he hadn''t been this proud of his choice for a long time now, maybe the calm really did help, huh¡­


    In the end, it didn''t matter, though.


    "¡­" Stark looked at his clone, and it actually seemed upset, "Clone Sacrifice¡­?" he said out of nowhere, and the superior clone immediately began to look everywhere, ready to use the perk to defend the original.


    "Pffftt~" Stark couldn''t help but let out a small chuckle as it is probably that new perk that made the clone panic, but oh well, "Alright, two more."


    He still needed to check out the three pieces of equipment in front of him, and finally¡­ the [ApostleDex], since he had effectively killed 6 apostles now.


    He wanted to leave the best forst though, so he began to crouch down to check out what he got from the two giant apostle monsters.

 Chapter 258: Banish, The Mythical Skill

    "Hm¡­" Stark crouched down as he took the first out of the three pieces of equipment he got from killing the two apostles.


    Stark''s fingers brushed over the first piece of equipment. He turned it over, inspecting its details.


    ¡­


    [Item:] Shadowbinder''s Cloak


    [Type] Armor


    [ss] Assassin, Magus


    [Tier:] Legendary


    [Required Level:] 150


    [Quality:] Exquisite


    [Attributes:] None.


    [Special Perk:] Veil of Shadows - Grants the wearer temporary invisibility for five minutes, though your weapon will not disappear!


    ¡­


    "Huh¡­" this was basically equipment that mimicked Reaper''s [Shadow Veil] skill, the special perk clearly indicating that the weapon couldn''t be invisible either.


    Not from the [Domination] ss, though, and the required level was extremely high.


    Basically¡­ it wasn''t for him.


    Next, he reached for the second piece, its surface glinting ominously.


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] Reaper''s Scythe


    [Type:] Weapon


    [ss:] Warrior, Assassin, Domination


    [Tier:] Mythical


    [Required Level:] 150 for other sses, 70 for domination


    [Quality:] Perfect


    [Attributes:] +2500 strength, +1000 speed


    [Special Perk:] Death''s Touch - When touching someone with this scythe, there is a chance to inflict a curse on them, thus massively reducing their defense.


    ¡­


    "Oh," Stark rolled his eyes as he saw the weapon.


    To be honest, he wasn''t interested in it either.


    Why?


    Well¡­


    ~FWISH, SWING~


    Even though he grabbed the handle and tried to swing, he just literally couldn''t.


    As said before, every [Domination] has their RESPECTIVE weapons, and so you couldn''t try and use another type.


    His weapons were his fists and magic, so the only way he would be able to get a de was if a legitimate skill gave it to him, otherwise he couldn''t.


    Plus, for the first time ever, the [Required Level] was actually different, showing that any person from another ss would need to be level 150 to wield it, while [Domination] only needed to be level 70.


    Maybe it was the world trying to adjust because of how difficult it was to level up with domination?


    In the end, it didn''t matter, and Stark put it inside his [Spatial Inventory] as well, moving to the third and final item.


    ¡­


    [Equipment:] Skull Face


    [Type:] Helmet


    [ss:] Warrior, Magus, Assassin, Archer, Soul Wielder


    [Tier:] Epic


    [Required Level:] 125


    [Quality:] Bad


    [Attributes:] None.


    [Special Perk:] While wearing this skull on your head, you constantly spread out a dark aura around you, and if the enemy is weaker or easily overwhelmed, there is a chance they get the [Stun], [Fear] or [Confusion] status effects.


    ¡­


    A fairly good item, though the quality was bad since it visibly had many cracks on it, possibly since Stark had done the same thing to Reaper.


    But¡­


    "¡­This is bullshit."


    To be honest, Stark did expect that: all these items were rted to the undead, meaning that [Exorcist] could automatically not be a ss allowed to use them, since¡­ y''know¡­ they hate undead beings.


    And [Domination] was a rare ss with the percentage of getting an item being extremely rare anyway, plus he had indeed gotten one for the ss, but it was just useless to him.


    ONLY a [Domination] user can ess a [Domination] item after all, which is why none of the other sses knew about it: it just didn''t drop for them no matter what.


    Could be useful for another [Domination] user though if they can wield weapons, who knows.


    But now that his two rings were broken, he had no item except for the [Sculk Ne], though to be honest, it didn''t bother him that much, as having TOO many pieces of equipment would possibly make him forget about most of them.


    He needed passive ones, much like [Purgatory Shadows] and [Crystalheart Band] since they didn''t need for him to think about using them: they were always activated.


    And as for why his rings broke¡­ the sole possible exnation was that their durability had reached their limit.


    Yes, every item/equipment does have a durability, and if it gets hit too many times, it automatically breaks, which is why people constantly change them.


    "Well¡­ doesn''t matter," he took the [Skull Face] and put it inside his inventory void.


    And then¡­ all that was left for him to do, was to check the ApostleDex.


    [You havepleted an ''ApostleDex'' task! Please open it!]


    Feeling the excitement, Stark immediately opened it.


    And so, the crimson quest-like window appeared before him.


    [Godless Demon Apostles]


    [5 killed, 10 remain]


    In front of him was the same panel he had checked before, with the 15 squares, each depicting one of the apostles he needed to defeat, spread between 3 lines of 5 each.


    And the most surprising of all was¡­ that first line waspleted!


    Stark couldn''t see the other apostles inside the squares as all he got was their shadows, except for the [Crimson Moons Trio], obviously, who was set up in the 5th square of the second line, an Immortal-Level entity if he remembered right.


    He had already met them once back at the rift where he killed [Judicator], so he could see their appearance, and it still brought chills to him.


    The first line though, as said before, waspleted with the five apostles.


    And the order went like this: Mkar -> Judicator -> Sierra -> Lother -> Reaper.


    Each of these apostles had their appearance associated to them on the squares, visible to Stark as he had already met up and beat them, plus he could click on them to make a profil appear with all their relevant information, like rank, level and skills.


    It would have been great to know about their stories as well since he was still confused with all that ''Godless Demon Apostle'' ordeal, but maybe that is for the next time¡­?


    [Each of the apostles is actually ced in terms of strength, so the closer they are to the end, then the stronger they actually are as well!]


    Another panel appeared, and this time it was actually very important information.


    This meant that the first line, which Starkpleted, actually held the five weakest apostles of the lot¡­


    When he would reach the second line, most of them would be at the [Cmity] level, or even [Immortal], as the [Crimson Moons Trio] was actually the strongest apostle of the second line.


    And when he reaches the third¡­ oh boy¡­ they would surely of the highest rank.


    But then what?


    Would he fight the [Godless Demon]? The final boss of this world?


    "Huh¡­" Stark didn''t know, so he quickly moved on.


    [Only those that defeat ALL of the apostles will have the chance to meet and fight the ''Godless Demon'']


    [No one until now has ever aplished that.]


    [Be the first, Chosen One.]


    And of course, to make him wanna do that, there were rewards.


    [Upon defeating 5 of the apostles, you will receive a MYTHICAL reward!]


    [Upon defeating 10 of the apostles, you will receive a GODLY reward!]


    [Upon defeating 15 of the apostles, you will receive an IMMORTAL reward!]


    He hadpleted the first line, which meant¡­


    ~DING~


    [You havepleted the first task!]


    [Congrattions, you have a MYTHICAL skill!]


    "Finally," Stark smiled.


    After everything he went through, he had finally managed toplete a third of the ApostleDex.


    Though¡­ for some strange reason¡­ he felt like he would meet and fight the rest of them much faster than before¡­


    Anyway, he already knew three apostles waiting for him inside the [Devil''s Abyss], and that the [Crimson Moons Trio] could be fought as he met them in one rift before.


    Meaning that only 6 apostles remained unknown, and there was no saying if they didn''t all just regroup together.


    In the end, Stark decided to check that new [Mythical] skill he had acquired.


    If it was as strong as EGO was, then surely he would be MUCH stronger, making Stark very excited.


    [Do you want to receive your skill now?]


    [Y/N]


    ''What kind of dumbass would put no¡­'' he sighed as he taped on yes, and suddenly, the aura around him increased.


    And then¡­ a panel appeared.


    [You have received the MYTHICAL skill: "Banish"!]


    Stark noticed it, but the more powerful a skill was, the simpler its name was.


    Maybe it was just a coincidence, but [Banish] sounded so powerful even though it was just a single word for no reason whatsoever.


    Then¡­ Stark checked the description, and his eyes widened once he did.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Banish]


    [Type:] Mythical


    [Level:] Cannot be leveled up


    [Description: When the user''s feels that their aura surpasses that of an enemy, they can unleash Banish, as a result, both his and the opponent''s auras sh in a violent surge of energy, a battlefield of ethereal power.


    If the user''s aura prevails, the enemy is instantly cast into the Void¡ªdeath is certain and instant, no matter their level or remaining health.


    Should the enemy''s aura prove stronger, though, the user faces a stunning bacsh, leaving them vulnerable to iing attacks.]


    [Condition: "The Void" skill is required.]


    [Note: it can work on ANY enemy.]


    ¡­


    "This is¡­" Stark''s heart raced as he read the panel dozens and dozens of time, until he eventually knew about every word on it.


    This skill was¡­ amazing.


    A high risk, high reward skill.


    If he used it and overpowered an opponent, it could save his life as the opponent is immediately banished to the [Void], which is the skill he received mere minutes ago, but if his aura is weaker, then he is stunned, it was an incredibly fair deal.


    "I guess that''s what the void is used for, huh¡­" no wonder it was [Mythical] as well, though it needed other skills to be useful.


    And so¡­ Stark finished everything he needed to do.


    "Time to get out," he mumbled.

 Chapter 259: Rift Conqueror Academy World Record

    "I guess that''s it for this rift¡­ huh," Stark sighed as he got up.


    He had done it!


    He had beaten the [Death Rift] card that he was given by this shitty academy, and that meant he could go home to announce it to all his ssmates and mock those who thought he was insane.


    But¡­ inparison to what Stark believed, he actually didn''t need to go outside for them to know.


    Since¡­


    ~DING~


    [All the footage inside a rift for this first academy trial, meaning from start to finish, is recorded by the system itself as to credit the ones who doplete it, and also for personal usage!]


    [This footage is sent to ALL students (yes, not only your group) and teachers of the academy!]


    [Have fun!]


    Below that was another panel with a video ying on it, showing how Stark got inside the rift to begin with, meaning that it was real: everyone would see his journey inside that rift from start to finish.


    "¡­" Stark looked at the panel before him for a few seconds, reading each of them at least a dozen times, "¡­Alright."


    He closed them, and then¡­


    ~DING~


    [Someone haspleted a trial''s rift!]


    [Rift name: Corpse Cemetery (DEATH RIFT)]


    [Group Number 8 has passed!]


    [19 spots remain!]


    So many notifications appeared in front of Stark, and it seemed as though these were actually from the ''Rift Conqueror'' Academy itself.


    Stark didn''t know how to feel, on one hand, this easily revealed most of his abilities to the world, though he did expect that even humans that were level 200-250 wouldn''t be able to take him down.


    But on the other hand¡­ FAME AND MONEY!!!


    "Phew¡­" Stark sighed and smiled as he began to head toward the portal that had appeared right on top of Reaper''s body, or at least the dust that made it, "Well, see you never corpse cemetery," he shrugged before jumping into the portal.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, in the outside world.


    It had been exactly a week since Stark entered the rift, and yes, time passed differently in the [Corpse Cemetery], though only by a little as time moved slightly faster in the real world.


    Meaning that the eight-nine hours he spent inside were actually 7 days in the outside world, still better than those other times when it ended up being weeks though, right?


    Afterpleting the rift and killing the second apostle, the rift was automatically considered aspleted, and thus the footage was sent to everyone, meaning that the 30 minutes that Stark spent reading his panels inside ended up being around 11 hours in the real world.


    And oh boy¡­ a lot can happen in 11 hours.


    ¡­


    "Huh, what is that?" Lana wasying on her bed, patiently waiting for Stark toe back as it had been a week, when the panel suddenly appeared.


    [Someone haspleted a trial''s rift!]


    [Rift name: Corpse Cemetery (DEATH RIFT)]


    [Group Number 8 has passed!]


    "OHMYGOD!" she got up from her bed and shouted in excitement and happiness, "H-HE DID IT!"


    It wasn''t before long that she noticed the video attached to those panels.


    "Huh¡­" she began ying it, "I-Is that Stark¡­ wait a damn minute, 8 hours of footage?!"


    She decided to go back on her bed to watch it all.


    ¡­


    The people of his group on the other hand were also just as shocked, they didn''t expect for it to be done¡­ so fast?!


    And alone too!


    All groups had tried to conquer their rifts at least once, except for them, sending a single ssifier to do it.


    And after a week, that person had actually done it¡­


    Most of them were overjoyed, obviously, since it meant their group would 100% go to the next semester/trial.


    They all watched the video as well.


    ¡­


    The other groups on the other hand immediately stressed over the fact that one of the rifts had beenpleted in under a week, a world record for the academy.


    And after checking the video, their despair grew as they saw THAT A SINGLE PERSON had done it, and in only EIGHT HOURS, well, that is if you count the 5 hours in which he slept of course.


    "Holy shit¡­" Karl Spikeford gritted his teeth, even he knew that whatever was happening was out of this world.


    "Huh¡­" the three rock star gangsters that tried to attack Stark and Lana at the train station also were surprised, swallowing their saliva as they recognized that ck hair, even though Stark''s face was hidden by some sort of red aura.


    ¡­


    "¡­Good job," Sora was sitting on a veryfortable chair in the library of her mansion, her surroundings dimly lit by a small candle.


    She immediately stopped reading her book the moment the panel appeared though, prioritizing seeing what Stark was up to over anything else since he was in her group.


    After 4 hours (since she reyed some moments and had to skip the five hours of sleep), she finished the video, a VERY SMALL, barely visible, smile appearing on her face as she sighed in relief.


    She was happy that he was alive and still as strong, if not stronger, than when he saved her.


    ¡­


    And finally, thest people who saw it were obviously the teachers/chairman.


    "Haha¡­" Theodore, the chairman of the academy, smiled, "Impressive¡­"


    Around him were the 19 other people that were responsible for the academy: the teachers.


    "Let''s watch the video, then," Theodore continued, he saw the only one speaking as all the other impatiently awaited to watch, he had forbidden them to do that until they all did it together after all.


    ~CLICK~


    And so they began watching.


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    Spoilers: they were impressed by Stark''s strength and by how easily he managed to dominate his enemies, somehow, it never felt as though the boy in the video was struggling, at least not until the two apostles.


    "You said there was only one, though," one of the teachers spoke.


    "Well¡­ it might have just slipped my mind, haha~"


    But even then, Stark, thanks to a copy of himself, managed to defeat both Lother and Reaper in what could only be described as an extraordinary fight.


    ~CLAP, CLAP~


    Theodore apuded after the video ended.


    "Fabulous, and the fastest clearing time in this academy''s history, we have a champion in our hands, folks," Theodore mischievously smiled, and all the others followed.


    ¡­


    Back to Stark.


    ~FWISH~


    He emerged from the cabin, and opened the door immediately as he left the rift, finding himself in the ''crosswood cemetery'' again, as if nothing had happened.


    The sky was blue, and the sun was up there, probably because it was the morning.


    There was no sound around him except for the one of the wind and some asional cars, but right now, he was alone in this ce.


    But suddenly¡­ something came to disrupt this peace.


    ~BOOM~


    A sudden explosion could be heard from behind Stark, specifically where the cabin was, and once he turned back¡­ he saw IT happening.


    The gray portal which he just exited flickered violently, swirling with a massive amount of energy, radiating an otherworldly hum.


    This kept going for a good minute, until with a final burst of light, the portal began to close, almost as if it was sealing itself from anyone else.


    And the reason was obvious: apleted rift had no reason and no way to truly exist, since all the monsters inside were dead.


    Basically, Stark had witnessed the TRUE death of a rift, something that doesn''t happen often.


    "Interesting," he mumbled as he turned around.


    Now¡­ Stark would need to face the real world after everything that had happened inside that rift.


    And he was sure that many things would change.


    But it didn''t matter for now, so shaking off the lingering sensation of the rift closing in front of him, Stark stepped onto the stone path that passed through the cemetery.


    Minutes passed before he reached the iron gate that marked the entrance (or exit in this case) of the cemetery.


    "Crimson Ball Transmission!" he summoned the ball in hand and easily teleported to the other side, trespassing was no problem with that skill after all!


    Once outside, he continued walking for a while since there was no way for him to find a taxi this close to the cemetery where a supposed nightmare rift was opened, but after twenty minutes of walking, he raised a hand and was lucky enough to find a driver close by.


    "To the capital, please, toward the XXXXX avenue," he pointed at his apartmentplex''s location.


    "Sure thing, kid," the driver nodded, "What were you doing here at this time by the way?"


    "Nothing much," he didn''t even have the strength nor motivation to boast like he always did.


    "Alright."


    Yet another 30 minutes passed, and¡­ he reached the city.


    And what awaited him there was¡­ phenomenal.


    "Huh, seems like something big has happened," the middle-aged driver didn''t seem up-to-date with all the recent stuff.


    But basically¡­ while Stark was looking out of the window, observing the city.


    He noticed that¡­ his footage was ying everywhere.


    Yes, the footage where he was fighting inside the rift was there: his [Crimson Purification] against the undead in the first zone, his fight against the [Darkness Ghost] in the second, the [Gargoyle King] battle in the third, and finally, the 2V2 with the apostles in the fourth.


    Many highlights and clips were showing everywhere, each different from thest.


    Even the NEWS were speaking about him, and Stark lowered the windows to be able to hear what the reporter on the screen of the giant skyscraper was saying.


    [A new ''Rift Conqueror'' academy record has been established, the supposed ssifierpleting a ''Nightmare'' rift alone in THREE HOURS, one that had two ''Godless Demon'' apostles in it!]


    In the span of half a day¡­ Stark had be a celebrity, though an unknown one, since he had activated [Facial Camouge] at the start.


    "Oh¡­ boy¡­" he let out a quick chuckle as the driver kept going.


    And soon enough¡­ he reached his home, the driver stopping right in front of the apartmentplex where he lived.

 Chapter 260: A Goal?

    Stark took the elevator to go to the third floor.


    Frankly, Stark was immensely tired, and even those five hours he got at the rift weren''t even a fraction of the sleep he wanted after doing so many actions.


    [Domination]''s stamina and power works kind of like dopamine: when the user is fighting, their supply is almost endless with stamina, able to keep going and going no matter what.


    But after all of that¡­ tirednesses back, and all they want to do is sleep.


    Stark left the elevator once he was at the third floor and reached for his door, his fingers fumbling for the keycard in his [Spatial Inventory].


    But suddenly¡­


    ~SLAM~


    The door next to his swung open, and there stood Lana, her eyes wide with surprise.


    "Oh," he squinted his eyes.


    "STARK!" and before he could even react, sheunched herself at him, nearly knocking him off bnce.


    "Whoa, careful there," he sighed, steadying himself against the wall.


    "You''re back! I was worried sick!"


    "¡­"


    "Did you really defeat two apostles? I s-saw the footage and everything!!"


    Stark nodded, a faint and tired grin tugging at his lips.


    "That''s insane! I knew you could do it!"


    "Thanks, but I''m beat. Need to crash."


    "Right, of course! Get some rest!"


    Stark nodded again, his body urging him toward thefort of sleep.


    He finally pulled out the keycard, slid it into the lock, and opened the door.


    He jumped into his bed immediately, then fell asleep the microsecond his head touched his pillow, not even bothering to close the door behind.


    "¡­" Lana sighed before smiling, her eyes sparkling as she approached the bed, crouching to watch Stark''s sleeping face, "Cute," she almost wanted to touch his cheek with a single one of her fingers, but she stopped herself, thinking he would probably not like it.


    And so, she patted his head then went away, closing the door behind him, "Thank you for the help," she bowed as he had also helped her pass the first trial after all.


    ¡­


    "¡­" Stark already knew where he was, no need to even bother acting like he was confused.


    He was currently in a casino, and of course, his two doppelg?ngers [Alchemist] and [Domination] were also there, seemingly ying ckjack around a round table.


    "Yo," Domination smiled, "Do that a seat if you want to y!"


    "¡­" Stark didn''t want to, but he still took one of three avable seats, filling in the spots of the table.


    After all¡­ he wanted to talk with them both.


    "So what now?" Stark asked, two cards magically appearing in front of him.


    "What do you mean," Domination quickly checked his own before smiling.


    "I mean¡­ I keep thinking over and over, but what is my¡­ no¡­ our goal?"


    "Hm¡­" Alchemist put his white aura hand against his chin, "Hit by the way," he asked rting to the ckjack game, and another card appeared in his deck.


    "I think I already have a few ideas," Stark continued, but¡­


    "Oh, but we already know what''s our goal, though," Domination lost his smile as he decided to [Hit] as well.


    "And that is¡­?"


    "I mean, isn''t it just beating all the apostles, then meeting with that ''Godless Demon'' punk and beating his ass?" Alchemist answered.


    "Huh?"


    "I mean, the entirety of the things until now were all somehow rted to us killing the apostles, and even the ApostleDex said that killing them all would mean meeting the Godless Demon," Domination finished.


    "I¡­ Oh," Stark realized it.


    His goal was not to get all the sses, have a happy life, or whatever bullshit most people wanted.


    His goal¡­was to get rid of the ''Godless Demon'', no matter what.


    Maybe that was the task Rher wanted to give all the transmigrators? And why it was so hard to pass that judgement of his¡­?


    "In my humble opinion, I think the ''Godless Demon'' could be considered as the ''Controller of all monsters'', which is why we need to get rid of him," Domination shrugged, "Stand."


    "If that is so, then why isn''t anybody trying to kill him? Surely there are people way stronger than I am to do that?"


    "Well¡­ maybe nobody knows how to do it?" Alchemist answered, "After all, even for us, the only way is by the ApostleDex."


    "Oh¡­"


    This meant¡­ that Stark was truly the only one.


    Was he really invited in this world after his death just to get rid of some monster.


    "I think he is the closest thing you could consider to be a god in this world," Domination finished his argument while looking at Stark, "But it is possible to win, much like all the other times, if we manage to defeat all the apostles, then the path will definitely be opened for us."


    And so that meant¡­


    [10 apostles left]


    "We need to get rid of them all," Domination and Alchemist said at the same time as they dropped their cards on the table, Domination going over 21, and Alchemist losing to Stark who got 20.


    "Ok," Stark nodded.


    "Well, then go, we''ve been ying this game for two weeks after all," Domination smiled.


    "Two weeks..? Oh, I get it," it meant that Stark had been so tired that he was sleeping for two weeks in the real world, "Well then¡­ goodbye, see you next time."


    "Cya, host."


    The casino disappeared, the doppelg?ngers, and Stark was back in the ck void again.


    He closed his eyes.


    And then¡­


    ~FWISH~


    He lost consciousness.


    ¡­


    ~DING~


    Stark opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the ceiling of his room.


    "Great¡­" he perfectly remembered the discussion he had with his doppelgangers, and it actually did make him a bit nervous.


    Everyone knew about the [Godless Demon] and how powerful he was, yet no one had ever fought let alone seen him, all they knew was that he controlled the apostles, who in turn controlled millions of monsters.


    "Time to get off¡­ I have lots of time now that the rift isplete," he mumbled as he tried to get up.


    But strangely enough¡­ his bed felt more cramped than usual.


    "¡­" he looked down to see what the hell was happening.


    And¡­ of course it was cramped, since Lana was sleeping right beside.


    He didn''t know how this ended up like that, and to be honest he didn''t even want the context of it all since it would probably be bullshit anyway.


    "¡­Alright," he got up, trying not to wake her up, and then immediately went to the kitchen as he was starving.


    He ate a full meal that he pulled from his [Spatial Inventory], feeling relieved.


    Then¡­ he immediately went back into thinking mode.


    If his goal was truly to kill all of those shitty monsters, then he needed two things: information of their location and¡­ strength to fight back.


    He was level 70, and even though with [Domination] that probably tranted roughly to level 200-250, he still needed much more.


    The [Godless Demon] was probably above level 1000 after all, being able to beat the strongest of ssifiers easily.


    "Alright¡­ just need to focus," he pped his cheeks a few times to wake himself up.


    But right at that moment¡­


    Something unimaginable happened.


    ~DING~


    [It is information that you want?]


    [Then you will get your information!]


    And suddenly, the ApostleDex opened again.

 Chapter 261: The Second Lines Apostles

    [It is information that you want?]


    [Then you will get your information!]


    Ding!


    The ApostleDex opened again out of nowhere, taking Stark by surprise as he took another bite of the toast he prepared.


    The crimson panel appeared before him again, with the 15 boxes containing the apostles of the ''Godless Demon'', the first linepletely crossed out since the five apostles on it had been killed.


    But¡­ he still had ten more to go.


    Ten more gruesome fights to go through just to meet up with that ''Godless Demon'' and kick its ass!


    Hopefully he would have the level to at this point, but he would also probably only be at level 250 MAX, which would already be a miracle with the [Domination] ss since that would mean being able topete with people/monsters above level 1000.


    Ding!


    [You have received information to aid you in your quest!]


    And thus¡­ what Stark got was¡­


    [You have been granted information about the location of all the apostles on the second line!]


    "HOLY SHIT!" he shouted out of pure excitement.


    This was BIG! REALLY BIG!


    Of course, the difficulty would surely rise higher than he could even imagine for these apostles, but at least knowing where they were incredible!


    "Hm~ mh¡­" he heard Lana make some cute noises as she turned around, holding one of the pillows tight, "Hehe~ not here Stark¡­ hehe¡­"


    "¡­" to be honest, he didn''t even wanna know what she was talking about.


    And so, he quickly returned to reading the [ApostleDex] panel, wanting to figure out where the hell were those apostles at.


    Ding!


    He began reading from the second line, stopping his eyes on the first ck box, disying the shadowy figure of an apostle he hadn''t seen yet.


    ¡­


    [Line 2, Apostle 1]


    [Name: ???]


    [Level: ???]


    [Location: Devil''s Abyss]


    ¡­


    Then he quickly moved on to the next one.


    ¡­


    [Line 2, Apostle 2]


    [Name: ???]


    [Level: ???]


    [Location: Devil''s Abyss]


    ¡­


    "Huh¡­" he already knew that three apostles were waiting for him in the [Devil''s Abyss] rift, which he had the key of, but he didn''t expect them so soon!


    ¡­


    [Line 2, Apostle 3]


    [Name: ???]


    [Level: ???]


    [Location: Devil''s Abyss]


    ¡­


    Yep, this was confirmed: the next three apostles Stark needed to find if he wanted to fight them chronologically as to give himself a chance, were those in the [Devil''s Abyss].


    "Ah¡­" Stark sighed, this was bad news for him, since it meant that from now on, the apostles'' level would surely be above 200 or even 250, and by the end of the second line, he already expected the [Crimson Moons Trio] to be level 500 or above.


    It didn''t matter though, so he moved to the apostle to the left from the visible picture of the moon trio, since he had already seen them once, their single eye staring at the boy as if they knew he was inspecting them.


    Fwish!


    ¡­


    [Line 2, Apostle 4]


    [Name: ???]


    [Level: ???]


    [Location: Last Floor (10) of the Colosseum]


    ¡­.


    "Huh?" Stark had never heard of something like a ''colosseum''.


    He had been in this world for a while now, and although it had been less than a year since his arrival, there was no chance he would have missed it.


    Was the ''Colosseum'' a rift? But then why would it talk about floors?!


    "Well, I''ll figure it outter," but there was one thing Stark knew: it was that at some point, he would enter that colosseum and fight the apostle.


    Because no matter what he did, it was his fate as the ''Chosen One''.


    Fighting those apostles was inevitable, and it was either he got rid of them one by one, or they killed him¡­ and soon enough¡­ they will take over the world.


    For that is the true n of the ''Godless Demon''.


    Nobody, not even Stark, knew that he was one of the few ones actively trying to kill the apostles.


    Basically¡­ he was the unknown savior of this world, though his quest was still ongoing.


    And as for the only visible apostle of the second line¡­


    ¡­


    [Line 2, Apostle 5]


    [Name: Crimson Moons Trio]


    [Level: ???]


    [Location: Third Domination Trial]


    ¡­


    "¡­"


    [Location: Third Domination Trial]


    Stark made sure to read that several times just to make sure that he wasn''t going crazy.


    And yet, here it was, in front of his very eyes.


    "¡­"


    Not only did this mean that there would indeed be a third domination trial, at least a hundred times harder than the previous, but also that at least ONE of the apostles would be there.


    "Ah¡­ fucking hell¡­" Stark held his forehead with such force it actually began to hurt, "FUCK¡­"


    He shouted thatst sentence without even realizing it.


    Thud!


    And it surprised Lana so much she jumped from the bed and fell on the ground. Dive deeper into the story on m-vle-mpyr


    "Ouch¡­ what happene~d¡­ I had the besssttt dreamm¡­" Lana mumbled, half asleep.


    She rubbed her eyes, adjusting to her surroundings.


    The usual Lana would immediately have her face turnpletely red as she had essentially slept with Stark, because she got worried after seeing him sleep for two weeks straight.


    She would also think something like ''h-he probably thinks I''m a pervert!!!'', and almost die of shame.


    But¡­ right now¡­ she wasn''t feeling any of that.


    Because as she was watching Stark, all she could sense was fear.


    Stark didn''t look normal: he was angry, so angry in fact that his crimson aura didn''t only take over his face as usual, but his entire body too.


    "Trial¡­ trial¡­" he kept mumbling those words, deep in thought.


    Lana had seen Stark get mad, obviously, but never this much.


    "S-Stark¡­?" she truly couldn''tprehend what he was thinking, and why this happened the moment he woke up.


    Did something bad happen in the outside world? Did he receive horrible news?


    No¡­ Stark wouldn''t be bothered by what happened to others, and he didn''t have anyone close to him besides her and Sora¡­


    "Apostle¡­ trial¡­ domination¡­" he mumbled, his thoughts trying to arrange everything into somethingprehensible.


    "STARK!" Lana shouted again.


    Fwish!


    And this time, Stark turned his head toward her, not losing the aura around him, the vortex in his eyes not disappearing as it inspected the girl before him.


    Woosh!


    This made her legs tremble: she was scared.


    She knew Stark wouldn''t do anything to her, but seeing him like this was¡­ hard.


    But after only thirty seconds¡­ the aura around Stark disappeared, and he retrieved his usual neutral expression.


    "Alright, I get it now," he mumbled low enough for her not to hear, "I''ll get rid of those bastards myself."


    His determination had grown much more than before.


    He didn''t know why he got so mad after seeing the word apostle and domination trial next to one another, but it just¡­ annoyed him.


    Once he was back to normal though, he noticed that Lana was on the ground, her legs trembling, "What''s wrong, did you see a demon," he smiled mischievously, back to normal.


    "I-I guess you can say so¡­" she got up and smiled, happy that the Stark she liked was back.


    "Heh~ I guess sneaking into my bed wasn''t good enough for you, was it?" he added.


    "¡­" and this time, she didn''t have anything to say, "Sorry, just felt¡­fortable doing so."


    She didn''t tell him, but she had been doing that for the past week.


    Well¡­ not that he would have cared, anyway.

 Chapter 262: Jealousy and New Information

    Another week passed since Stark woke up from his sleep, whichsted two weeks, and since he had learned about the location of the apostles from the [ApostleDex].


    Which means that 3 weeks passed since he left the [Corpse Cemetery], and one month since this entire trial started.


    [Three months left before second semester/trial]


    He still had time to do whatever he wanted until then.


    But to be honest, after everything that happened... he didn''t feel like it, and it meant that he didn''t feel like staying around doing nothing.


    After his talk with [Domination] and [Alchemist], after realizing that killing the apostles was basically a path that he quite literally couldn''t avoid, after knowing that a third domination trial wasing¡­


    Stark could only do one thing: be stronger.


    He had already sold all the items he didn''t need too, gaining him roughly 11.3 million rher coins, an incredible amount of cash since the items he had gotten this time were next level even among the usual standard.¨´


    Much like Ferburg, the capital also regrouped different districts, well, basically the same ones to be honest, meaning that there wasn''t much difference other than the location, and that the people here were much stronger.


    "Thank you for the equipment," Violette smiled at him.


    Yes, the very same appraiser he had always been using back there was also in this location for some reason.


    "Are you¡­ following me?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.


    "I got transferred here because apparently the student batch of this year of the ''rift conqueror'' academy is the strongest, which attracts thousands of awakeners, haha~" she giggled, seemingly so professional and well-known among appraisers that she was hired to go in different locations to appraise items.


    "Oh, alright," she didn''t seem to know Stark was in it, but it was fine for him.


    Plus¡­ Violette when he first met her was around level 194 and from the ''Magus'' ss, meaning that she had been stronger than he was.


    And yet¡­ in less than a few months, even though he was only level 70, he was already confident he could easily beat her if it came down to it, though it most likely would never happen as she was a very nice woman.


    But if you want a rough estimate for the [Domination] ss against all the others, you could take the domination user''s level and multiply it by around 4 to 5 times their level to make it fair.


    Meaning that the current Stark could take down people at around level 250 if he managed to take them by surprise using his skills, and with enough determination he could do it even in a one on one.


    And that wasn''t considering the fact Stark was a prodigy among prodigies, and that he had two lives, plus the [Superior Clone].


    Surely, no one in this academy, not even Sora who struggled against the warden and participated in the second domination trial with him, could even try to hurt him: they would all lose.


    But in the end, it didn''t matter.


    Fwish!


    He was currently eating lunch with Lana, which was a steak that he himself had prepared for them both.


    "That''s¡­ amazing!" Lana''s eyes sparkled.


    She had recently been spending her entire time in Stark apartment (he kicked her out when night came, though she was reluctant), and there wasn''t much for him to do other than hangout since he wanted to take a little break from everything.


    Since his appearance in this world, it had only been fighting, fighting, and keep fighting, so maybe a small break wouldn''t kill him.


    Afterward, though, he would try everything in his power to reach level 75 if not 80 if he could.


    Unlocking his next ss was a priority after all!


    Plus, he needed to reach level 75 to be able to use a [Breakthrough stone] and climb all the way to [Gold] rank.


    As said before, Domination workspletely differently than any other ss in that regard too.


    There are 10 categories for rank: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, tinum, Diamond, Ascendant, Prodigy, Immortal and ssified.


    And even though it only took Stark 25 levels between each rank, it waspletely different for the others: it took them 100.


    Yes, you heard that right, someone at the Iron-rank at the beginning could only reach Bronze upon hitting level 100, then silver would only be at level 200, and so on.


    Meaning that they would have to reach level 900 to be at the peak, a feat only a few people could do, and you could count them on your hands.


    But for Stark, it would take him reaching level 225 to be at the top, and though it seemed smaller, the amount of experience needed surely would be unimaginable even to the current him.


    "Are you okay?" Lana asked as she noticed Stark deep in thought, scared he would go on a crazy rampage again.


    "Hm¡­ yeah," he took another bite of his steak, "By the way, I think I''ll be gone from two weeks to a month after tomorrow, I need to train."


    "Oh¡­" Lana looked sad once he said that, after all they had only just started hanging out recently for real, "It''s fine I guess, my father said that you have to be strong enough to protect me, after all!"


    Even she didn''t believe in that ''protection'' bullshit since she could defend herself using her abilities, but right now¡­ she just felt that it was right.


    What was her rtionship with Stark, she wondered.


    There was no denying it at this point: she had feelings for him, but what about him?


    It was always fight, fight, fight¡­ and he probably didn''t think about her for a single instant while doing so, while on the contrary, she would keep thinking of him every day until he came back.


    Death was never too far in this world, after all.


    Basically¡­ she knew that her feelings were one-sided.


    And she wasn''t wrong: Stark wasn''t dense, he could sense it in the air, but he just refused to acknowledge it, as for him, it was all about the apostles and getting stronger now, especially not knowing when the next domination trial would happen.


    He couldn''t enjoy himself until he was confident that he was safe.


    And for now, the looming danger was still there, so getting close to anyone was a bad solution.


    "Well, thanks for the meal," he nodded his head after finishing and took the tes.


    But right as he did that¡­


    Ding! Dong!


    Stark froze for a moment, eyeing the entrance door.


    Who could this be?


    He certainly had no friends at all, and no one should be visiting him.


    Someone for Lana, maybe?


    He walked toward the door.


    Ding! Dong!


    And as he pulled it open, a familiar figure stood on the other side: Sora, the white-haired and emotionless beauty.


    "Oh?" Stark blinked in surprise, "Hello?"


    Sora''s expression remained neutral as she spoke, "Hi, I just felt like visiting since I''m free for today."


    "Sure," Stark replied with the same tone, both of them seemed as neutral as ever, making the conversation look robotic, "Consider yourself home."


    If Sora was here, it meant that she wanted to speak to him about something important alone, otherwise there was no other reason toe.


    And just as expected¡­


    "I have something to talk about, I received it recently but didn''t have the time to speak to you because I was busy," she looked at Stark while entering the apartment, making sure to remove her expensive shoes.


    "Oh?" Stark wanted to know, "Just sit on the table then."


    "Thanks," she bowed out of respect, then entered the living room.


    And what she saw there almost made her emotionless expression falter: she saw Lana sitting on the couch, looking at her.


    "Oh! Sora!" Lana beamed, genuinely happy to see her friend.


    But Sora on the other hand¡­ was annoyed.


    "What are you doing here?" she asked.


    "Huh¡­" Lana was taken aback by the question as you normally wouldn''t ask that, "Well¡­ I just hang out with Stark since it''s our break¡­ you know?"


    "¡­Alright," that''s all Sora answered before turning her back to her and sitting on the table, trying her hardest to shake off that annoying feeling she had in her mind.


    She still didn''t know what it was, but seeing Lana alone with Stark while she wasn''t there angered her more than anything else.


    And after two minutes¡­


    "Thanks for waiting," Stark ced a cup of grape juice in front of him and Sora, "We can talk now, tell me."


    Lana stayed on the couch, though, sensing that she didn''t really have the power needed to sit on the table beside these two¡­ monsters.


    Sora didn''t waste any time in going directly to the point though: she hade here for that, and although Lana''s presence annoyed her for some reason, she still needed to inform Stark of ''THAT''.


    "As the year president and member of the group thatpleted this semester''s trial first, I got some kind of ''information''," she spoke, emotionless as ever, and looked into Stark''s eyes.


    "Hm?" Stark sipped into his juice.


    "Well¡­ I got a single piece of information about the next trial, apparently the chairman rewards those whoplete the trial first with that as to help them."


    "Oh?" Stark was surprised, but it could definitely help, "What is it?"


    "Well, I have received a panel around a week ago, it seemed as though I was the only one to get it for some reason though," Sora taped something in the air, probably at her screen.


    Stark hadn''t received anything, so it made sense.


    And so¡­


    "Here, I''m transferring the information, read it for yourself," she taped a few more times then slid her finger toward Stark.


    Ding!


    And so a new panel opened in front of him.


    [As the group thatpleted the trial first, you have received a few pieces of information concerning the next one!]


    This made sense for now.


    But¡­ what came right after¡­ almost made Stark spit out all his juice.


    [Second Semester Trial: The Colosseum.]

 Chapter 263: The Urge to Get Even Stronger

    "What¡­ did you just say?" Stark mumbled while deeply into Sora''s eyes, taking her aback slightly as she didn''t expect her friend to be this serious over a piece of information.


    "I mean¡­ the panel is right in front of you¡­" Sora shrugged.


    "¡­Right," Stark looked back at it, and immediately his eyes widened again.


    ¡­


    [Second Semester Trial: The Colosseum.]


    [Basic Information: This will be an INDIVIDUAL task, meaning that you will be alone whilepleting it, get ready.]


    ¡­


    These were all the informations they got, nothing more, nothing less.


    But if what was written here was true.


    Then¡­


    The location of the fourth apostle from the second of the [ApostleDex] was just revealed to him.


    .


    [Line 2, Apostle 4]


    [Name: ???]


    [Level: ???]


    [Location: Last Floor (10) of the Colosseum]


    ¡­.


    The apostle was at thest floor, maybe he was the final boss actually? Who knows!


    "Alright," he nodded, "Thank you, Sora, I can prepare something for you if you want?"


    It didn''t look like it, but Stark was actually very good with his hands, and as he was an ountant who lived alone in his past life, cooking wasn''t that strange to him.


    "It''s fine," but she shook her head, "That is all that I wanted to say, I have to go back to business matters."


    Sora was only 18, but she was already vice-president of several guilds under direct order of her father, and her strength was extremely useful to the family.


    Of course, her family didn''t know about Stark or the domination trials, but if they found out their only daughter, who always acted emotionless and never approached anyone, was getting ''infatuated'' to a random boy, then it would be a disaster.


    "I''ll be taking my leave," Sora got up from her seat, not touching her grape juice, then began heading toward the exit door.


    "¡­" Stark couldn''t and didn''t want to stop her, so he just followed.


    But right as Sora was about to leave¡­


    "Don''t worry, Sora, we''ll think you while we''re having fun!" Lana peeked out of the hall, a genuine smile on her face.


    ''Thinking of me while you''re having fun¡­'' Sora looked down, a fire burning within her: she was annoyed, so annoyed in fact she almost wanted to stay here just to stop them from having ''fun''.


    Yes, Sora misunderstood what Lana said, thinking they were having¡­ um¡­ the other kind of private fun.


    Lana on the other hand never had such intentions to mock Sora, as she was her friend, but in the end it did sound like she was nagging her.


    "Alright," Sora nodded with an emotionless expression as she opened the door and closed it behind her, "You two have fun, then."


    "Huh?" Stark felt irritation in her voice, but it was Sora he was listening to, so he simply thought it was his imagination.


    ng!


    He closed the door behind Sora, then went back inside his apartment.


    ''Need to get stronger¡­'' he thought, walking past Lana who was speaking to him, her voice muffled as his brainpletely ignored it.


    He now had the location of ALL the apostles from the second line of the [ApostleDex].


    The first three were in the [Devil''s Abyss], the fourth was in the [Colosseum] somewhere, and the crimson moons trio were in the domination trial.


    If he ever wanted to know the location of the apostles at the third line, who should be the strongest of all, he would need to kill all those on the second.


    Lana watched him intently, her eyes filled with confusion, as Stark sat on one of the chairs around the table and started thinking about something she didn''t know.


    This had happened several times these past few days, and each time it would take around an hour for Stark to go back to his normal self, any attempt to distract him didn''t work.


    But surprisingly, this time it didn''t take more than ten minutes for Stark toe back.


    And once he did, he asked a simple question to Lana.


    "Is there a ''Rift Storer Association'' in the capital? Or at least somewhere where I could get stronger?" he asked while looking at Lana.


    "¡­?" the blonde-haired girl was confused, "Huh¡­ yeah?"


    "NICE!" Stark immediately got up from his seat, a wide smile on his face, "Very nice!"


    "???" Lana raised her eyebrows, then immediately she realized, "Stark¡­ wait a damn minute¡­"


    "What?" Stark was already beginning to check out his [Spatial Inventory] to see if he had everything he needed.


    "Don''t tell me¡­" Lana''s eyes widened more, her pupils shaking.


    "Hahahah!" Stark could already see it, he could sense the feeling of growing stronger.


    Only 5 levels until level 75 after all, which meant another ss AND the possibility to break through to gold-tier!


    With three months of break before the next academy semester, he had MORE than enough time to do whatever he wanted!


    "You''re nning to go inside a rift even in vacation?!" Lana was bbergasted, "Even though we''re having fun?!"


    "¡­"


    And suddenly, Stark stopped everything he was doing to look at Lana with the most neutral of expressions.


    "Lana, I like spending time with you, no denying it," that first sentence made her blush, "But¡­ no matter what, I need to get stronger."


    "Why?! Why risk your life even though we''re on break?!"


    "You wouldn''t understand, but right now, it''s either I risk my life and get stronger, or I dieter anyway for being too weak."


    "With your current strength y-you could definitely earn more than enough money! And I can help you too!"


    "Wouldn''t work, I am forced to keep going no matter what, for I am the¡­" Stark didn''t finish his sentence.


    But¡­


    [Talent: Chosen One].


    "¡­Alright," Lana didn''t want that, but she understood, she can''t force him to stay either.


    She was already happy she spent time with him, as he was always busy.


    And deep down, she knew, that no matter how many months or years, her mind would still force her to wait for Stark.


    "I''m leaving tomorrow," he told her while approaching her and patting her head, "Don''t worry, I won''t die, at least I hope."


    "¡­" Lana looked down, she really wanted to cry, but somehow she couldn''t, the tears wouldn''t pour out.


    Maybe because she didn''t know about Stark''s circumstances? Or because she knew that he was right in trying to be stronger, essentially because the academy year wasn''t over and that it would be much harderter on.


    So in the end¡­


    "Okay," she smiled bitter sweetly, "Do whatever you want!"


    "Thanks," he didn''t need her approval, but it still was good she understood.


    And just like that, the day passed quickly, Stark spending the most amount of time possible with Lana, and even allowing her toy beside him on his bed.


    Tomorrow came, and so D-Day arrived.


    ¡­


    "Goodbye," she smiled as she waved at Stark, who was currently leaving the apartment, "Pleasee back no matter what!"


    "I will, so even if a long time passes, know that I wouldn''t die," he nodded, and she hugged him.


    After that quick embrace, he left his apartment and closed the door behind.


    "¡­" Stark didn''t feel much, to be honest.


    To him, all that mattered is to get stronger.


    If he was sure to meet the apostles at some point, and if the third domination trial was looming over him, then he had no other choice.


    For being the [Chosen One] is both a blessing, but also a curse.

 Chapter 264: The Blocked Rift

    Stark checked the location before hand, and so he hailed for a taxi to drive him to the [Training] district of the capital, a district much more popr and powerful than the one in the city he was in before.


    ''Maybe I should buy a car¡­'' he had more than enough money to do so, and he already knew how to do that from his past life.


    Who cares about driving licenses anyway?!


    In the end though, it didn''t matter, and he left the car after paying, the [Training] district before him.


    In all regards it was pretty familiar to the one he went to before, though it was more popted, and you could sense it that the people in here weren''t kidding.


    And you could clearly see it by the fact there weren''t this many fights/dramas: why would strong people even bother with that?


    Only a weak person would let their ego get to them after all, and that is why Stark never respected these other people, openly mocking them and beating them if they tried something.


    After passing the street with all the shops and people trying to form teams, Stark reached the building for the [Rift Storer Association], who seemed to be present everywhere in this world actually.


    The building was bigger than the other one, which already as giant as three mansions, and so he went up to the lobby.


    The general structure didn''t change, and Stark headed toward the [Rifts] section, reaching the massive hall with all the different rifts in it.


    [Please choose the rift you want to enter!]


    [Warning! Those below rmended level won''t be admitted inside a rift!]


    Inside of the [Rift] section''s giant room were many other halls, each leading to another ce further inside the ''Rift Storer Association''.


    The hall all the way to the right had the title [Level 10-25 Rift] above, the one next to it was [Level 25-50 Rift] and it continued like this until reaching [Level 225-250 Rift].


    Which meant that there were 10 halls/rifts inside the [Rift] section, which people could ess to hope to level up.


    And as for Stark¡­ well¡­


    ~FWISH~


    He slowly began heading to the rift, meaning toward the rifts that are actually of higher level and more difficult.


    At this point anything below level 175-200 wouldn''t help, he needed more.


    But in opposition to before, the further he went, then the more people there were.


    It was obvious why: the capital ACTUALLY had strong people in it, since they needed to be strong to begin with to survive.


    Meaning that the most popr rifts in this ce were the ones between level 175 and 225.


    Once Stark reached the hall with the [Level 200-225] sign over it, it became increasingly difficult to navigate.


    But even then he kept going.


    Too many people were present, meaning a harder time to level up or find monsters.


    He needed something else, and so he moved to thest one.


    And¡­ surprisingly¡­


    "Huh?" once he passed the [Level 200-225] section¡­ there weren''t any people at all, or at least a very small amount of them.


    "What the?"


    Yes, once he reached the hall with the [Level 225-250] rift, there was almost no one there.


    Why? You might ask, well¡­


    [Warning! Please do not take this rift if not prepared!]


    [This is a mistake, you WILL die! Do not take this rift!]


    The barrier was half sealed with nks of wood and such, as if to give the feeling that no one should enter it. But the association had left an opening big enough for anyone who wanted to still go inside to pass.


    "¡­" literally no one was taking this rift.


    And so, that meant that Stark would be alone inside.


    ''YEEPIE!'' he was happy, since it meant more experience for himself, and in addition to that, taking on monsters above level 225 would mean enhancing his power.


    To be honest, this was probably the BIGGEST jump in difficulty Stark would ever make until now.


    Thest rift he went through had monsters at a maximum level of 150.


    But now¡­ he would need to face some that had levels up to 250!


    Was it recklessness? Or just the urgency and need to get stronger fast.


    Because to be honest, Stark had only ever struggled against the cmity apostle: even Lother, the boss one, was destroyed by Stark''s clone alone, so there was no need to worry.


    But it didn''t matter, so Stark began to walk toward the hallway, trying to pass through the small opening the association left.


    And yet¡­


    ~ZAP! BOOM!~


    The crimson barrier that was set up around each of the halls activated again.


    ''Oh yeah¡­ that thing¡­'' he sighed.


    [You are level 70, please do not attempt to enter this rift again!]


    Anyone below level 225 wasn''t allowed in.


    But Stark had already managed to pass the barrier twice before in his previous city, so why should he care?


    He got up from the ground and headed toward it again, this time activating his aura as to push through it.


    He could sense the judgmental stares from the people who tried to head to the hall right next to his, or were just speaking: they were all thinking if that kid was crazy, some even mocking him.


    A mere level 70 trying to enter a rift higher than the one they were entering? HELL NO!


    Stark didn''t mind though, and right as he was about to push through the barrier using his aura like he always did¡­ he was suddenly stopped, a handnding on his shoulder.


    "¡­"


    "You shouldn''t do this, kid," a middle-aged man spoke, but Stark didn''t bother to turn around to see his appearance.


    "Y-Yeah, are you crazy?! Didn''t you read the signs, plus you''re level 70!" a woman spoke beside him.


    "Wait¡­ maybe he''s trying tomit suicide?" a third theorized.


    "¡­" Stark didn''t respond, "Am I free to go now?"


    He surrounded his body with aura, and instinctively, the man that held his shoulder removed his hand.


    "What the¡­" he mumbled as for a split second, a zap went through his body, as if his aura was toxic to the touch.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark continued walking, positioning himself in front of the barrier, then pushing through.


    [WARNING! WARNING! YOU AREN''T ALLOWED!]


    The sounds were bing so loud that most people began looking at Stark, and even those on the other side of the [Rift] section came to check it out.


    [WARNING¡­]


    The barrier resisted, but Stark pushed through, surrounding his entire body with aura.


    [WAR¡­NING¡­ DANG¡­EROUS¡­ RIFT¡­]


    ~SNAP, CRACK~


    The barrier gave in as even with all these attempts, and Stark''s arms were still beginning to go through it, essentially deciding fighting this human wasn''t worth it.


    If he died, then so be it.


    ~FWISH~


    He phased through, then looked back at all the people, who''s jaws quite literally dropped to the ground.


    Level 70 allowed to enter this rift?! The most dangerous one in this association, too?! Was this a joke?!


    "Oh wow, looks like I''m allowed to pass," he sarcastically said as he shrugged his arms, then turned around again.


    ~ZAP~


    Several people after him tried to repeat what he had done, believing there was something faulty in the barrier, but s, none of those below level 225 were allowed in.


    Meaning¡­ that this kid was different, and that he was hiding lots of things.

 Chapter 265: The Sunken Valley, Level 200+ Rift!

    It didn''t take long for Stark to reach the end of the hallway after traversing the crimson barrier, leaving all the other ssifiers behind to wonder how he did it, since many of them attempted afterward, and the barrier literally wouldn''t let them pass no matter what.


    And then¡­ Stark arrived in front of the portal to the rift, also crimson in color.


    [WARNING! DO NOT GO!]


    [EVEN CLASSIFIERS THAT ARE LEVEL 250 AREN''T ADVISED TO ENTER]


    [This rift was ced here but wasn''t supposed to be this difficult, the difficulty is "Determination"!]


    [CALAMITY BOSS INSIDE!]


    Dozens of signs were ced all around the portal, instructing anyone foolish to have gotten here to back away.


    And to be honest, after remembering Lana''s words about not needing to risk your life for no reason, he did indeed feel like it was futile to go this far even though none of the other ssifiers did that.


    But¡­ once he closed his eyes¡­


    The image of the [Crimson Moons Trio] appeared before him, all looking at him with their single pupil, their giants body judging him.


    This sent a shiver down his spine but also¡­ determination!


    "If I can''t beat that rift, these things are going to absolutely destroy me," this was what he thought at that moment, remembering the overwhelming despair he felt when seeing them for the first time.


    And so he jumped inside, not caring about anything else.


    ¡­


    Fwish!


    Stark traveled through dimensions, after a few secondsnded on solid ground.


    Fwish! Thud!


    It had be a habit, so he immediately lifted his gaze to look around.


    And the first thing he noticed was¡­


    Snow, there was snow everywhere.


    It was even pouring down from above, the grey sky filled with clouds, the small snowkes visible.


    The floor was made of dirt, but it was white in color because of the snowy texture.


    Though it wasn''t actually thick enough to make a difference.


    Basically, the snow in itself wouldn''t disturb him because there was only a small amount of it, only enough to cover the surface.


    And so, soon enough he received the panel he had been waiting for.


    Ding!


    ¡­.


    [Wee to the "Sunken Valley"!]


    [Difficulty: Determination]


    [Number of ssifiers: 1]


    [You are in the first zone: "The Descent"!]


    [Good Luck!]


    [Tip because of low level: watch out for the snake and ape, you won''t win against them.]


    ¡­


    This was all the information he would get.


    The name of the rift was ''Sunken Valley'', and once Stark actually took the time to observe more, he noticed that behind here were walls blocking his escape: the only path was forward.


    And what was forward you might ask¡­


    Well¡­


    [First Zone: The Descent]


    In front of was a massive ravine delimited by two giant mountains that were impossible to climb, so all he could was go down.


    Thus the title "The Descent" for the first zone: he needed to go all the way down, and just by looking from his current position, he couldn''t see the bottom.


    [Rift Zone Number: 4]


    This was a small amount of them, but if every zone was as big and time-consuming as this one, then it would take him hours upon hours for each.


    Was this why this rift was locked up?


    Or was the worst toe?


    In the end, it didn''t matter.


    Stark peeked at the void below from above, and he noticed several rocky tforms set along the edges of the ravine, making it possible to go down slowly by parkouring.


    "¡­Alright," he didn''t know what awaited for him down below, but going into the unknown abyss made him anxious.


    Though not enough to stop him.


    But, even if the wanted to leave¡­


    "Hm¡­" the exit portal was gone.


    [Rift Type: No Return]


    Just like a [Normal] rift or [One-ssifier] one like [Sierra''s Death Path], this rift was one where you couldn''t go back once you entered, which is why it had been locked by the association for being too dangerous.


    But there were many other reasons why, and Stark would soon find out about them.


    "Let''s go, I guess," he mumbled as he jumped from the top of the valley into a tform attached to the rocky wall of the ravine.


    Debris fell once he hit the ground, and Stark made a mental note to be careful as any of these things could fall at any point.


    Nothing much happened afterward as Stark made his way down the ravine, parkouring his way from one rocky tform to the next. He had to be careful not to slip, as the fall would be fatal. Discover what''s next at m,vl-em,py-r


    As he descended, he noticed that the snow was getting thicker, and the wind was picking up.


    The visibility was getting worse, and he could barely see the tforms in front of him as the darkness of the abyss was slowly taking over: the only thing aiding him was the white color of the snow.


    But even with that, Stark didn''t see how this was difficult, as any ssifier above level 200 should be able to manage this much.


    But the moment he thought about that, he received an answer.


    ~FWISH~


    He heard a sound behind him.


    And when he quickly turned around¡­


    "¡­!"


    A dozen arrows were in front of him.


    "SHIT!"


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" he rolled away, but was hit by one of the arrows in his shoulder, "Argh¡­"


    "-17621!"


    Not that much damage, but it still hurt.


    ~FWOOSH~


    He removed the arrow from his shoulder quickly, hurting him a bit more, but it didn''t matter.


    [+2 EGO]


    Oh and yeah, the one week cooldown for EGO had ended, so he was now able to use it again!


    [EGO Meter: 2/100]


    ~FWISH~


    More arrows rushed toward him, and Stark activated [Time Vision] to pinpoint where all his enemies were since the arrows came from different directions.


    ~CLICK, CLICK, CLICK~


    He darted his eyes everywhere, taking notes of where all the monsters were, and after he saw them all, he deactivated the skill, taking him less than a second to do that.


    ~FWISH~


    He avoided all the arrows easily now that he knew where they came from, then he looked at the different locations.


    What was shooting him were a bunch of human-sized monkeys with bows in their hands, each standing on a different tform, either above him or below.


    Yes, this was pretty much all, they didn''t look that strong to begin with, and they didn''t have any clothes, only their brown fur.


    Though by looking at their faces, it seemed as though they were incredibly intelligent, easily wielding their bows and throwing two arrows at the same time.


    One of them even had sses!


    ~FWISH~


    Theyunched another barrage of arrows, but Stark this time began to run.


    The tforms were actually abundant at this part of the ''descent'' zone, and so that meant he could parkour to the monsters easily if he managed not to fall.


    Since falling = death.


    "PERCEPTION," he decided to check them out while running though.


    ¡­


    [Name: Sniper Monkeys]


    [Level: 220]


    [HP: 260000]


    [Strength: 4631]


    [Stamina: 14628]


    [Speed: 8790]


    [Defense: 3725!]


    [Skills: Arrow Shot, Bow Strike, Ultimate Arrow¡­]


    ¡­


    These were the first monsters that were over level 200 he fought, but there didn''t seem to be that much difference.


    Sure, they had double the HP of amon monster, even though they weremon too, and their stats wereparable to those of an elite from before, but they only had three skills!


    ''So they can only shoot when far, and attack with their bows from close-range, huh¡­''


    The main difficulty with these things was the fact that they ALWAYS kept running away no matter what, and that if the ssifier in question didn''t have good agility or speed, he would be fucked as he would never be able to catch up.


    Basically, the monkeys'' strategy was to y like cowards.


    They were just hoping for one good strike to end the ssifier in question.


    But¡­


    [Spatial Inventory!]


    He pulled two speed potions and drank them, as well as three [Crystal Stun Potions], keeping them in one of his hands.


    "Crimson Spears! Aura Smash!"


    Stark actually had ways to get to them!


    ~FWISH~


    He threw two spears toward one of the monkeys who was moving away from Stark as he was getting closer to him, piercing its head and stomach.


    "-137261! -274179!" the attack in the end dealt the entirety of its life since it was a critical hit.


    And so it died.


    But Stark wasn''t done: 5 of them remained after all.


    "HIikk!" the other monkeys got scared and began running, parkouring through the different tforms and taking shots at the human.


    ~FWISH~


    But Stark would avoid it all, smiling mischievously as he chased after them.


    He threw yet another two spears toward the closest monkey to him, but Stark was strategic, so he threw one of the spears at the position where it would be, and another right behind it.


    ~FWISH~


    The monkey had seen its friend die, so it immediately backed away, avoiding the first spear.


    And¡­ what had to happen happened.


    ~CRACK~


    The second spear exploded its face.


    2 down, 4 more to go.


    ~FWISH~


    "Invincible Dodge!" he rolled away from another dozen spears, the rest of the monkey increasing their fire rate.


    Everytime he dodged, the monkey''s despair grew bigger.


    ~FWISH~


    He aimed at one of the monkeys while it was jumping to another tform, and predicting its movements pierced its stomach, making it hit the wall and fall into the abyss as it failed the jump.


    Now¡­ the snipers were getting sniped, and in this ravine, there was nowhere they could go to escape.


    "=)" the chosen one had them in his sight.

 Chapter 266: The Sniper Monkeys Challenge

    But Stark didn''t stay idle either, he would move from tform to tform, trying to follow them.


    Their speed was phenomenal, and if anyone saw it happening from afar, all they would see were shes of colors as they kept moving around.


    Depending on where Stark was located, the monkeys were smart enough to either go down or go up, and their agility allowed them to hold onto small things to climb, or do a wall run.


    Stark on the other hand actually didn''t want to risk it, so he did it the normal way: jumping and holding himself into the ledges when needed.


    "AURA SMASH!" inparison to the spears, the crimson fists were much slower, and he only had three, meaning that he focused them all on a single monkey who was running around.


    Stark aimed for the monkey that was closest to him, following it for a good two minutes while avoiding the arrows.


    And when he saw an opportunity arise¡­


    ~FWISH~


    He threw the three crimson fists at it, ALL three hitting it as it was unable to avoid them while Stark almost caught up to it.


    ~BOOM~


    The fists exploded upon impact, and the monkey obviously died, letting out a loud screech before copsing onto the tform below.


    Stark took a deep breath, his heart pounding in his chest. He knew that he couldn''t afford to lose focus now.


    He quickly jumped from tform to tform, trying to continue this momentum by heading toward one of the remaining monkeys.


    He found his next target, and began following it, gaining distance on it slowly.


    "HRIISK-!" it seemed to be the slowest monkey as Stark was actually faster than it.


    As he got closer, he tightened the grip around the three vials in his hands, ready to throw them.


    But¡­


    "HIKHIKHIK!" the monkey, sensing that its life was in danger, used everything it had and began running against one of the stone walls of the valley, toward a tform way farther.


    ''Shit,'' Stark knew he couldn''t jump all the way there, and stopping would mean losing his momentum and some of his adrenaline.


    And so¡­ he did the unthinkable: he copied it.


    When he reached the very edge of the tform he was in, he looked ahead, and ALSO began running against the wall, doing a wless wall run while following the monster.


    And so, when the monkey dropped on the ground of the next rock tform, thinking it was safe, it looked behind it and¡­


    It saw Stark in the air, who had used the wall as a jumping pad to get above the sniper.


    "Hik-"


    ~FWISH, SPLASH~


    He threw all three [Crystal Stun Potions] at it, its speed not allowing it to avoid them from such short distance.


    The vials shattered upon impact, releasing a cloud of white fog that enveloped the monkey.


    [''Sniper Monkey'' has been stunned!]


    Stark adjusted quickly to take advantage of this opportunity.


    While still in the air, he positioned his two legs and using the momentum of his jump smashed his feet against the stunned monkey''s face and mmed its head into the hard ground below.


    ~SPLASH~


    Its head literally exploded until Stark''s feet, leaving a puddle of blood under them.


    "Argh¡­ my shoes¡­" Stark was disgusted.


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    With a single movement of his head he avoided 6 arrows that came at him, and noticed that the other two were together at the very opposite of where he was.


    They were probably thinking that Stark couldn''t reach them, and that he would grow tired at some point, right?


    But¡­ that would not knowing him.


    "Crimson Ball Transmission!" he summoned the ball in his hand and threw it with all his might toward the tform the monkeys stood on as they had the high ground.


    But he wasn''t the only one nning something.


    "ULTIMATE ARROW!" the monkeys used their [Legendary] skill, and yes, these monsters actually had one.


    The arrow they were holding on their bow began to glow with silver aura, its tip glinting ominously, as if ready to track Stark.


    And deep down¡­


    [Warning! Warning! Warning!] he knew that these arrows were bad news, especially with TWO of theming.


    He didn''t know if his shot with the crimson ball would work, but if it didn''t, he would need to be ready to sacrifice one of his lives.


    He kept focusing on the [Crimson Ball] though, paying no mind to the ultimate arrowsing.


    And once he felt that the moment was right¡­


    ~SNAP, FWISH, FWISH~


    He snapped his fingers, immediately teleporting out of his spot.


    And at the same time, the monkeys released their bows, the arrows theyunched quite literally exploding, and in less than a fraction of a second hit the tform Stark had been in mere moments ago, exploding it as well.


    "Hihihihi!"


    "Kakaka!"


    The monkeys cheered, thinking they had eliminated the human.


    But¡­


    "Very bad aim," they heard a voice behind them, and saw the human in the air above them as he teleported, "Good bye."


    ~SLAM~


    He kicked both monkeys out into the abyss, killing them both since, y''know, he wasn''t the only one that risked death by falling from this height.


    And so he managed to finish his first (and only encounter) in the first zone.


    The main goal of this zone was actually to quite literally just ignore the monkeys: the challenge was to keep going while avoiding the arrows that were relentlesly sent toward you.


    The system didn''t expect there to be anyone crazy enough to try and follow the monkeys, especially with their speed who was higher than an average level 225-250.


    You could say Stark found his OWN way of doing it, since for him defeating monsters was always the right choice.


    That is actually one of the reasons why they only had three skills: they weren''t meant to be fought.


    "Phew¡­" he sighed as he looked around, making sure there weren''t any more surprises.


    And then.


    ~DING, DING, DING~


    [You have in "Sniper Monkey lv220", gained 340,000 EXP!]


    [You have in "Sniper Monkey lv220", gained 342,000 EXP!]


    .


    .


    [You have in "Sniper Monkey lv220", gained 341,000 EXP!]


    And so¡­


    [+2,043,000 experience!]


    He got over 2 million EXP from that simple fight.


    Monsters above level 200 were truly a blessing when it came to helping you level up, though you needed to defeat them for that to happen.


    Unfortunately though, Stark didn''t level up.


    [Experience: 3,603,000/3,690,000]


    So close, yet so far.


    And so he needed to keep going if he wanted to get to level 75, which was the goal of this entire ''operation''.


    After the monkeys died, nothing came disturbing him as he parkoured from tform to tform, slowly going down the valley.


    It took him thirty minutes, sure, but they were pretty peaceful and without any issues as the monkeys were the ONLY monsters and challenge of this zone.


    And so¡­ in the end¡­


    ~THUD~


    He managed to end on the ground at the very bottom of the ravine, able to see the corpses of the three monkeys he had sent away, all crushed.


    And then¡­


    ~FWISH, DING~


    [Second Zone: Path to the Bridge]

 Chapter 267: The Cave Leading to the "Bridge"

    [Second Zone: Path to the Bridge]


    "¡­"


    Now that Stark managed to reach the bottom of the ravine, he needed to keep going.


    Considering that one of the zones would be reserved for the boss, it meant he still had two more he needed to go through.


    To be honest, he felt pretty confident, after all he had sessfully managed to kill a few level 220 monstes, basically enhancing his technique as the max level monster he fought until now was level 150.


    A 75 level jump was a big deal, and no one usually does it if they don''t want to get IMMEDIATELY destroyed.


    Thankfully enough, though, he was managing thanks to [Domination].


    Before him was the entrance of a dark cave, surrounded by very close rock walls, making the entire thing extremely ustrophobic.


    "Huh," he couldn''t see the insides of the cave since it was way too dark, "Well, anyway."


    But it didn''t matter, and so he immediately went inside.


    In this zone, he would surely encounter monsters that could actually fight, he needed to be ready.


    Stark''s eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and he thought that he definitely needed a kill that allowed him to see in the dark at some point.


    The cave was¡­ well¡­ as expected extremely ustrophobic, and the actual size only allowed up to two people to go at the same time forward, meaning that if there were any monsters, he would need to fight them an in extremely small environment.


    But with his current visibilty, seeing even a meter ahead of him was already a difficult task, and he couldn''t even see the exit from where he was, although it could just mean it was hidden by something to confuse him.


    It wasplete silence too, and he honestly didn''t see how any monsters could hide or try get away: after all they were the same as him, restrained by the small space.


    "Oh wait!" but Stark remembered something all of a sudden, "Crimson Purification¡­ Holy Concentration!"


    He used up his skill, but just like before, instead of sending a wave of holy aura, he began to pour all of his energy into creating a golden balls in hands, slowly lighting up his surroundings.


    "Yes!" as actually began to emit some light, Stark was almost starting topliment his genius.


    And the more holy aura he put into it, the bigger the energy ball grew.


    And so by the end, once it was fully charged and ready to strike, instead of attacking like he would normally do it, Stark kept it in his right hand, deciding to use it as a light source.


    Worse of all: it worked!


    He could now see at least five meters ahead of him!


    And so once he lifted his energy ball to see ahead¡­


    "Huh," he saw terrifying monsters.


    They were humanoid in shape, attached to the wall with their hands as sharp ws came out of them, and their face were devoid of any features except for a massive mouth with a dangling gray tounge, so big in fact that it was almost reaching the ground.


    There were three of them around four meters away from attached to the wall.


    Instincitvely, Stark wanted to know if there were more, so he moved the [Holy Ball] to the ceiling, and there he saw another two of the same monsters using their tongues as some sort of ropes, slowly going down toward him, ready to sh.


    "¡­" he looked behind, and yet again two of these same monsters slowly but surely approaching him, one of the ground and the other on the wall.


    And, to make it worse, he actually pointed down and saw one of these things slowly emerging from the rock surface below.


    Basically, there were eight horrifying monsters slowly approaching him from beyond the darkness of the ustrophobic cave.


    "¡­Perception," he mumbled immediately while the monsters didn''t realize that they had been seen, yes, they were blind since they had no eyes, so just like Lother, all they could do was feel the vibrations and sense the movements of the opponent.


    ¡­.


    [Name: Tongue-w Ambush]


    [Level: 228]


    [HP: 300000]


    [Strength: 11261]


    [Stamina: 14850]


    [Speed: 2371]


    [Defense: 5892]


    [Skills: Camouge, Tongue Lash, w Swipe, Wall Crawl, Faceless Monstrosity, Sonic Scream, Stun Saliva, Enhanced Senses, Immtion¡­]


    ¡­.


    Level 228, good hp, extremely high strength and stamina, probably to be able to crawl on the walls, but low speed (makes sense with how slow they were approaching Stark, and decent defense.


    They had eight skills, but what surprised Stark the most was¡­


    "Huh?" he read the panel several times, "Stun Saliva¡­? Immtion?!"


    He truly didn''t know how these things could do that, but oh well.


    Stark got into position, making sure to keep the energy ball close to him as it floated in the air to be able to see.


    But as if to confirm his previous question¡­


    "STUN SALIVA! SONIC SCREAM!" all eight monsters suddenly activated these skills, the two on the ceiling with [Stun Saliva] and the rest opening their face mouths wider than before and using [Sonic Scream].


    ~FWISH, PLOP~


    Stark didn''t have eight eyes, so he couldn''t see every monster all the time, and he ESPECIALLY needed to keep watch on the one below as it was slowly revealing itself, and yes, he tried to hit it, by its head wasn''t full out so no damage received.


    ~PLOP~


    A few drops of waternded on his shoulders.


    And suddenly¡­


    ~FWISH~


    [''Domination'' cannot be stunned by ''Stun Saliva'']


    "¡­!!" Stark realized that these weren''t drops of water and looked above him, the two [Tongue-w Ambushes] opening their face mouth and letting out a few droplets of saliva on the human below, "Argh¡­"


    It was disgusting, but Stark was just thankful this didn''t work on him otherwise he would had one hell of a hard time.


    And in addition to that¡­


    "SONIC SCREAM!" the rest of the monsters except the one below Stark used this skill, screaming at the top of their lungs.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" it was a horrifying sound, and Stark had to cover his ears to not go deaf.


    But¡­ yet again¡­


    ~FWISH~


    [''Domination'' cannot be affected by the ''Fear'' effect of "Sonic Scream"]


    Yet again these status effects didn''t work, and the monsters realizing that stopped what they were doing.


    "My turn, now," Stark smiled as summoned his [Spatial Inventory] and put his hand inside of it, and with the other one he summoned [Aura Smash]''s three crimson fists, and his five [Crimson Spears].


    He was ready now, the energy ball floating beside him to illuminate the darkness.


    And so¡­ the battle could truly begin now.


    He needed to fight these things straight from hell, who tried to ambush Stark, and if he had just walked a few more meters, his head would have surely been cut off before he even realized it.


    But¡­ let''s not forget that Stark was in THEIR domain, he was currently in THEIR territory, and even though they were blind, they sure as hell wouldn''t miss him no matter what thanks to the [Enhanced Senses] skill they had.


    And so¡­


    ~FWISH~


    "TONGUE LASH!"


    "CLAW SWIPE!"


    ALL of the monsters, except the one crawling below, jumped toward Stark.


    It was a seven enemy attack at the same time!


    "Oh boy¡­" he got ready for impact.

 Chapter 268: The Sunken Bridge

    All the monsters that ambushed Stark suddenly dashed toward him, not leaving him a single point where to escape in this small cave, so small in fact that Stark''s body was only just barely fitting.


    Any tighter and he would struggle to walk!


    ~FWISH~


    "TONGUE LASH!"


    "CLAW SWIPE!"


    Some of the [Tongue-w Ambushes]unched their tongues at Stark, trying to wrap him up around them as to maybe try and crush his organs, or allow the rest of them to cut him in pieces.


    While the other half justunched themselves at him, their white ws glinting in the darkness of the cave, though the energy ball from [Crimson Purification] still allowed Stark to see from close.


    ~FWISH~


    They didn''t make a sound.


    But¡­ of course Stark wouldn''t sit down and do nothing against these¡­ things.


    "AURA SMASH! CRIMSON SPEARS!"


    All this happened in less than half of a second, but basically: Stark summoned his five spears, then immediately threw one at the group of three monsters in front of him, momentarily stopping them as they were pierced.


    "-98371! -102371! -97483!"


    The three crimson fists on the other hand were sent at the back, hitting the monster''s tongue as they were the ones that used [Tongue Lash], burning it.


    "-300000! -300000!" and most interesting of all: they received the entirety of their health in one go the moment Stark hit their tongues.


    Meaning¡­ that it was their weakness.


    It was rare for monsters to have such an obvious weakness, and even more when the simple action of hitting that weakness was enough to instantly one shot them, but oh well, maybe it was to adjust the difficulty.


    After all, the cave would be totally dark under normal circumstances.


    "SPATIAL INVENTORY," and to fight thest remaining group, meaning the two above that were currently dropping, their mouths opened, revealing their disgusting tongues, and their ws ready to sh¡­


    ~FWISH~


    Stark put his hand inside his inventory and with lightning speed pulled two [Crystal Stun Potions], instantlyunching them above without even looking.


    ~BAM, BAM~


    The potions hit the monster''s mouth, and precisely their tongue.


    [Weakness hit with ''Crystal Stun Potion''!]


    ~DING~


    And yet again, the monsters fell to the ground, exploding their hands against the rock as stunning their tongue was literally just as bad as hitting it, meaning instant death.


    "Huh¡­" and so, knowing that, Stark didn''t hesitate a single second to pull out four more potions, throwing three of them at the monsters above, killing them as well.


    And as for thest one¡­ he just looked down.


    "KRAAA!" the final [Tongue-w Ambush] finally emerged, thinking that its friends were doing a good job distracting the human.


    And yet¡­


    "Kra?" as it lifted its head, it just saw Stark look down at it, its friend''s corpses all around, "¡­"


    ~BAM~


    He dropped thest potion on it, and it died instantly too.


    "Phew¡­" the small golden ball beside him was still working, and so he could see around him.


    But before that¡­


    ~DING! DING! DING!~


    [You have in "Tongue-w Ambush", gained 376,200 EXP!]


    [You have in "Tongue-w Ambush", gained 374,500 EXP!]


    .


    .


    [You have in "Tongue-w Ambush", gained 377,600 EXP!]


    ~DING~


    [Your level has increased to level 71, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Experience: 2,929,300/3,750,000]


    Only one level, but thankfully enough he got enough experience to almost reach the next one too, meaning that it was worth it.


    At this point, monsters below level 150, or even 200, wouldn''t cut it anymore in terms of experience.


    Stark REALLY needed stronger monsters, especially ones that would grant him tons of EXP, and that were actually possible to defeat.


    But in the end it didn''t matter much as he continued his journey through the small cave, easily following the path and not bumping into any walls thanks to the golden ball that emitted light.


    And after around five minutes, where he yet again didn''t meet any more monsters (just like the sniper monkeys, these 8 monsters were actually the sole monsters of this zone since it was small to begin with).


    But yet again, the simple fact that it was this "EASY" made Stark even more suspicious.


    ~FWISH~


    He saw the exit of the cave, and sessfully managed to leave, the sky now visible again as he was back at the ravine.


    This was the entire second zone, yes.


    First zone had 6 [Sniper Monkeys], second zone had 8 [Tongue-w Ambushes].


    Literally what was the catch with this rift?


    He was currently at the third zone, meaning more than halfway through the rift, yet he didn''t see anything worthy of restraining and blocking its ess to anyone.


    To be honest, he didn''t even see why it would be from the [Determination] difficulty.


    Was he too strong? Or were all the others too weak?


    He didn''t know, but surely¡­ there would be something.


    And Stark was right!


    ~FWISH~


    He emerged from the cave and took a look at where he was.


    And¡­


    [Third Zone: The Sunken Bridge]


    In front of him was a massive wooden bridge in extremely bad shape, though still full, allowing anyone to pass through if they dared.


    Below was the void,plete void, and anyone who fell would immediately die.


    Stark didn''t know if it was the same void from his [Void] skill, but even if it wasn''t, it was still terrifying to think about the fact that a single wrong step could lead to¡­ whatever awaits below.


    For no one knows what is inside the void.


    It is death, true, but what causes this death?


    "Hm¡­" Stark kept looking for a few minutes before pping both his cheeks and deciding to not pussy out right now, "Maybe it''s because too many people fell for no reason?"


    He theorized of a reason as to why this rift who closed, but even then, it didn''t make sense.


    In the end, it didn''t matter, and he guessed that it would probably be the boss that was the issue.


    At least he tried to reassure himself, because if it wasn''t the boss¡­ then¡­


    "Hm¡­" he pped himself for a second time.


    For some reason he kept having that bad feeling inside of him, that bad feeling he always got when something was amiss, that sense of dread he got when he knew that something horrifying was about to happen.


    But even when he looked around him for five more minutes, nothing happened.


    What could be that feeling¡­


    [Just go, damn it]


    "Alright, alright," Stark arrived in front of the bridge.


    It was creaking and constantly moving because of the wind, making it seem as though it would all fall apart at ANY point.


    But even then.


    ~CREAK~


    Stark took a first step, and immediately¡­


    ~DING~


    [Do not run, whatever you do, don''t try, you will not reach the end.]


    "I mean¡­ that bridge is giant, so it would take me around 10 to 15 seconds to reach the end even for me¡­" this was just how big it was, at least two or three kilometers in size.


    So running wasn''t an option, as it would immediately copse under the weight and impact.


    ~THUD, THUD~


    Instead, Stark needed to walk carefully and slowly, calcting each of his steps as to not pass through one of the holes in the nks.


    Two minutes passed like that, minutes where Stark just carefully made sure to find the safest way to get to the end.


    And.


    When he reached the end, when he reached the middle point of the bridge¡­


    IT happened.


    ~BOOM~


    It wasn''t the bridge exploding, or anything in the environment, but Stark''s aura itself.


    At this point, the rms in his head were ringing so loudly that they were hurting his head.


    [WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!]


    [GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!]


    Stark''s heart was pounding so hard that he could feel it in his throat.


    The rms in his head were still going off, and he couldn''t shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong.


    He tried to calm himself down, taking deep breaths and focusing on the present moment.


    But it was no use: the feeling was too great, and he couldn''t help but feel like something terrible was about to happen.


    Sensing that staying still wouldn''t do anything, Stark decided to continue to walk across the bridge, as it was better than just waiting for whatever horror was awaiting him.


    Yet even then, he couldn''t shake the feeling that he was being watched.


    He turned his head, scanning the darkness below him, but saw nothing.


    He shook it off and continued on his way.


    A mere fifteen seconds passed between that.


    And right afterward¡­ the true horrors of this world revealed themselves to Stark.


    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something moving.


    It was faint at first, just a shadow against the darkness of the void below him. But as he looked closer, he realized that it wasn''t just a shadow ¨C it was something massive and terrifying rising from the depths of the abyss.


    His heart skipped a beat as he realized what it was ¨C a creature unlike anything he had ever seen before.


    It was at least fifty times his size, with scales as white as snow and eyes that glowed with an otherworldly light. It seemed to be made of shadows themselves, flickering in and out of existence as it rose higher and higher into the air.


    And when it fulled revealed itself¡­ Stark realized that it was a giant snake, and it was looking directly at Stark, knowing of his presence.


    A snake¡­ that directly came from the void¡­?

 Chapter 269: The Universal Great Serpent

    The creature before Stark was a snake so big it could devour his entire apartmentplex in a single easy bite.


    So big in fact that it could enroll itself around the academy and still have leftovers.


    "What¡­ the¡­ fuck¡­" Stark wanted to back away, but he was stuck on the bridge, and the creature was directly looking at him anyway, its red pupils on him.


    "Oh¡­"


    IT SPOKE?!


    "If it isssn''t our little friend¡­ chosssen one¡­" it seemed to mock him too.


    But the simple fact it knew about his [Domination] code name terrified him.


    Its aura was out of this world, and Stark''s couldn''t evenpete, even if he doubled or even tripled his.


    "Well¡­ it ssseems that you are quite ssschoked," it said, its forked tongue whistling for each S.


    "What¡­ are you¡­"


    But even then, Stark''s determination was still there, though just a bit.


    Anyone else while seeing that thing would piss themselves, or even think that jumping out into the void was the best solution (though the snake would probably just go down to devour them), but not Stark.


    He truly wanted to hold his ground, but he knew it wasn''t possible against that thing, not at this current level at least.


    "Do not worry¡­ chosssen¡­" the snake spoke.


    "¡­" does it mean that it wouldn''t kill him?


    "I will try to make your death asss painful asss possssible¡­" what could only be considered as a smile appeared on its face while it opened its mouth, revealing its fangs.


    That thing could probably swallow him by mistake and not even realize it, based on how big its throat was.


    ''Focus¡­ Stark¡­ calm down¡­'' Stark kept looking at the snake directly while it seemed amused of the human''s fear.


    And so, at this moment of calm, while he still had the time, he decided to use a skill.


    "PERCEPTION!" he used it on the white snake before him.


    But¡­


    ~DING~


    [Not high enough level, most information: HP, attributes and skills will be hidden]


    ¡­


    [Name: The Great Serpent (Godless Demon Apostle)]


    [Level: 820]


    [Rank: Universal]


    [Note: you will die, don''t even try to fight or look at it, run.]


    ¡­


    "U-Universal¡­!?"


    This is two ranks above the strongest monster Stark ever fought, who was Reaper, a cmity-level apostle.


    And in addition to that¡­ the [Great Serpent] was also an apostle as well.


    How did that thing end up in here was the real question.


    A level 800 in a level 225 rift is pure insanity, and it should definitely be categorized as [Death] instead of [Determination]!


    "Why are you ssscared, chosssen?" the great serpent asked.


    "I¡­ I''m not scared of you," this was technically true: Stark was just overwhelmed by his aura.


    "Oh?" the snake''s eyes widened a bit, but he quickly retrieved his confidence, "Then die, chosssen."


    The serpent slowly approached Stark, stopping right in front of the boy, its mouth wide open, "You''ve causssed enough issssues asss it isss, godlesssss wantssss you gone."


    "What the-"


    Stark didn''t have the time to understand anything that was happening.


    A level 800 [Universal] apostle stood in front of him while he was supposed to be in a level 225 rift,ing out of the void, and now it was speaking about killing him because the ''godless demon'' wanted him dead?


    Did the [Godless Demon] know of Stark''s existence already?!


    This was all his line of thought could reach as with speed impossible to reach by the boy, the serpent backed away, then rushed toward him, its mouth opened.


    "GRAND BITE!" it used one of its most basic skills, and yet it was enough to crush Stark''s hopes to retaliate.


    "TOO FAST-" it was like a blur even with Stark''s incredible [Perception], which surpassed even the other domination users''.


    And so, he was forced to use one of his skills.


    "DODGE CONTROL!"


    ~CRUNCH~


    The great serpent''s mouth closed in on him (and the bridge), and the apostleughed out loud as it believed to have gotten rid of the human that had been killing itspanions one after the other.


    "Thisss wasss easssy¡­"


    But¡­ of course it wouldn''t work, Stark had activated [Dodge Control] after all!


    ~FWISH~


    Right as the mouth closed in on him and the part of the bridge he stood on, he quite literally teleported away from the attack''s range, saved by his skill, then began rushing at intense speed toward the exit, not caring about the warning to not run.


    "¡­!" it took the serpent a single second to realize that the human was still alive, and so it began following him at lightning speed, catching up to him almost instantly.


    ~BOOM, CRASH~


    The bridge was falling apart behind him, and every step he took resulted in more of the nks that were holding it all together to fall into the void.


    ~FWISH, BOOM~


    In addition to that, the [Great Serpent] kept trying to crash into the bridge over and over, trying to destroy Stark''s way of getting to the other side, yet he would always somehow teleport out of any attack''s range, and thennd perfectly at a safety spot.


    "WHAT?" even the serpent was confused, this shouldn''t be possible, no matter how high Stark''s level is!


    He had been given a simple order by his lord Godless: kill the human known as the chosen one, as he poses an actual threat to him since he was the only one seeking to kill all the apostles to reach him.


    And yet¡­ that human was avoiding all his attacks easily? Almost as if the serpent wasn''t even a threat to him?!


    "GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE SSSHIT!"


    ''Fuck fuck fuck fuck,'' on the other hand, inparison to what the serpent believed, Stark''s thoughts were filled with anxiety and fear of falling or getting killed.


    He would manage to avoid everything thanks to [Dodge Control], but it was still terrifying since even though his body instantly adjusted to avoid the attacks, his eyes and mind couldn''t even follow them.


    And so, 15 seconds passed just like that.


    ''Only 100 meters left¡­'' he was this close to passing the bridge, a small opening in the wall ahead avable for him to pass through: it was his safety, for if he managed to pass that, then the apostle wouldn''t be able to follow.


    ~DING~


    [15 seconds have passed, ''Dodge Control'' has been deactivated!]


    ''SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT,'' he had forgotten about that.


    But thankfully enough, the serpent was thinking of something else: "If the human is going to avoid all my attacksss, then I might assss well make him fall into the void¡­"


    And with that thinking in its head, the apostle immediately headed toward the end of the bridge, its giant body peeking out from the darkness of the void, giving Stark no idea just how big that thing truly was.


    ~CRUNCH~


    It bit the end of the bridge, then watched in joy as it saw the ENTIRE bridge copse, resulting in the human falling.


    Enjoy reading at m vl|em,pyr


    And yet¡­ Stark didn''t give up this time either.


    "CRIMSON BALL TRANSMISSION," while falling into the void, Stark focused his entire energy into the crimson ball in his hand then threw it toward the ending tform of the third zone.


    At this point it was all or nothing, and to add to the pressure, the serpent immediately dashed under the falling Stark, opening its mouth wide, ready to swallow him once he entered its domain (the void below).


    "COME ON, PLEASE," Stark begged as he observed the crimson ball, hoping that he had calcted the trajectory right.


    Either he seeds, or he enters the void and gets devoured.


    Failure wasn''t an option at this point.


    -----------------------------------


    The code can be redeemed by 10 different users with 10 FPs/user. You may use it as a fan give-back gift! Your code number is <ABDHYVGLEHVNEFT3A> and you can find the redeem center at Profile-Redeem.


    Enjoy.

 Chapter 270 : Escaping the Third Zones Bridge!

    Stark watched in anticipation as the crimson ball flew through the air, his heart pounding in his chest. He knew that this was hisst chance, his only hope of survival.


    The ball seemed to hang in the air for an eternity before finally connecting with the tform.


    As stated before, the crimson ball doesn''t bounce at all, so the moment it hit the ground¡­


    ~DING~


    [Target set, teleportation is safe!]


    "GOT YOU!" Stark at this point was within range from the serpent''s mouth, beginning to enter it.


    And so¡­


    ~SLAM~


    It closed its mouth on Stark.


    For a moment, all the boy could see was darkness, and theugher echoing from inside the serpent terrified him.


    But¡­


    ~SNAP~


    Instantly, faster than ever the giant snake could act, Stark teleported out of its mouth and materialized on the tform at the end of the bridge.


    He didn''t even take the microsecond it took him to usually adjust to his new surroundings this time: he immediately dashed toward the small hole below, and slid down.


    Yet again, it didn''t even take more than a single second for the apostle to realize it had been fucked for the second time, and so using all of its speed, moving instantly, almost as fast as the crimson ball, it opened its mouth and rushed toward Stark as he slid down under the hole.


    "¡­" the timing was so close that even a dy of a tenth of a second would have resulted in Stark''s body to be cut in half, or at least crushed.


    But thankfully enough¡­


    ~FWISH~


    He managed to slide down, and the serpent hit the wall instead.


    "NO, NOT POSSSSIBLE-" the serpent was absolutely enraged, and so it assaulted the wall that protected Stark as he emerged on the other side several times.


    ~BAM, BAM, BAM~


    Normally its sheer size and strength would be able to take out any walls, yet this one was SPECIFICALLY designed so that the apostle couldn''t get out if a human ever passed the third zone.


    Meaning¡­ that Stark had won.


    "You¡­ ah, forget about it," the serpent growled as it backed away, then its body slowly descended back into the void, its piercing crimson pupils staring intently at the human, "You will die, chosssen, do not forget."


    And so it disappeared from view.


    ~FWISH~


    Silence.


    There wasplete silence now that the apostle was gone.


    ''Fuck¡­'' Stark dropped to the ground on one knee, breathing in and out repeatedly.


    This was, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the worst experience he had EVER gotten during his time in this world.


    That thing was probably why this rift was ranked [Determination].


    But it still didn''t make sense: if the serpent was always there to begin with, then why did he speak about getting orders to eliminate him?


    Maybe¡­ all the apostles knew about him?


    Up until now, the ones he fought and killed probably all believed he was just one of the many humans trying to challenge them.


    But now¡­ if all of them knew that he was an [Apostle yer], then¡­


    "Hm, doesn''t matter," Stark rested five minutes before getting back up.


    At this point he just wanted to go home, and seeing how badly shaped he was, Lana would surely scold him while saying that she was in the right and that he should have listened to her, which was kind of true.


    But how could he know he would meet such a¡­ thing?!


    ~DING~


    [Congrattions, you have survived an encounter against the ''Great Serpent'', one of the most powerful apostles of all, you should be happy!]


    "Happy¡­?"


    Stark didn''t see how he could feel that way at this very moment.


    For him, all of this was bad: the serpent was too fast, so fast in fact his eyes couldn''t follow it even though its body was giant, and let''s not talk about its strength and aura, easily overwhelming him.


    He had fought the monsters and apostles gradually up until now, but now that he saw that difference in level, he knew that getting stronger was the only way to keep going.


    Because¡­ at some point¡­ he would have to fight that thing again, at least if he wanted toplete his [ApostleDex].


    Oh! And talking about [ApostleDex], Stark decided to open it to check it out.


    5x3 again, first line fullypleted, the second line''s figurespletely dark except for the [Crimson Moons Trio], and he knew of their locations anyway.


    But now that he met with the [Great Serpent]¡­ Stark looked at the third line.


    And just as expected, the third square of the third line revealed itself to be the [Great Serpent], its figure now visible to him as he saw it in real life.


    "Hm¡­" this meant that before it were two apostles who were weaker.


    But also¡­ that there were two that are stronger.


    Stark felt utter despair: how long would it take for him to finally be able to reach the necessary level to win?


    Months? Years? Never?


    Who knows.


    But right as he got up¡­ another notification appeared before him.


    [Despair level is very high, let us change that!]


    ~DING~


    [Please do check the "Great Serpent''s" square.]


    "Huh?" Stark, while now standing up, clicked on the third square of the third line, which revealed the white snake.


    And suddenly¡­


    ~FWISH~


    ¡­.


    [Name: The Great Serpent (Godless Demon Apostle)]


    [Level: 820]


    [Rank: Universal]


    ¡­


    "Yeah¡­?" this seemed normal, as it was the information he had already gotten.


    But¡­ Stark noticed a new line below it all. Continue the saga at m v l e mpyr


    And it was¡­


    [The Great Serpent has a special weakness that can kill it almost instantly, look for that.]


    "Oh?"


    To be honest, Stark wouldn''t usually believe that such a giant and powerful thing could have a hidden weakness, a weakness so powerful against it that it could kill it instantly.


    But¡­ after remembering about the many times monsters or even bosses were overwhelmed by their weaknesses¡­ then maybe it was possible.


    Let''s take example of this rift and the previous one Stark went through!


    The [Sniper Monkey]''s weakness was their head and closebat, killing them really fast if they were hit, the [Tongue-w Ambushes] on the other hand would INSTANTLY die if their tongues were hit too.


    And as for the previous rift, the [Corpse Cemetery], well the weakness was obvious: all the undead in it would instantly if Stark used his [Exorcist] attack, and even [Reaper] and [Lother] were easily defeated once by an attack.


    Every monster has a weakness, all you needed to do was to find and exploit it.


    "¡­Oh well," now that Stark knew this, he put it at the back of his mind to remember and try to look for it when possible.


    But now¡­ he needed to go forward, as resting in this ce forever wouldn''t do anything, though it did seem to be like some kind of safe zone as no monster spawned or could reach him here.


    Around him were stone walls, and all he could see what the sky above him.


    And right in front of him¡­ at the ce he needed to go to¡­ was a ck fog.


    Yes, this was the entrance to the boss zone, which was the fourth.


    He had survived the first two zones easily, and the third almost killed him, but he couldn''t forget that he still needed to beat the boss to leave.


    And now you might ask, what kind of boss could be waiting in a [Determination] rift, right?


    Well¡­ only one way to find out.

 Chapter 271 : The Fourth Zone: Sunken Valley

    "¡­" Stark''s piercing gaze was on the ck fog ahead.


    He was only bleeding from his shoulder (sniper monkey arrow hit him) since he hadn''t received damage since his encounter with the great serpent (a single hit would have been enough to kill him anyway), but he couldn''t deny that he was exhausted.


    "Crimson Healing," he mumbled while beginning to walk toward the fog, and his body surrounded itself with aura, mainly his shoulder though, as the wound on it closed.


    "+20000"


    He was back at full hp, and his [Crimson Healing] was put back on cooldown.


    Stark thought he should really upgrade his HP healing the next time he gets skill points, but so as long as the final boss wasn''t another apostle then he would surely be able to get out of here, because yes, Stark actually thought of that possibility, and if one of them was here, why not two?


    He arrived in front of the ck fog, and as if it was foreshadowing what was bound to happen, the rms in his head rang again.


    [Tip because of low level: watch out for the snake and ape, you won''t win against them.] Dive into the story on m|vl em pyr


    The warning he had received at the start appeared again.


    The snake was referring to the [Great Serpent], but¡­ what about the ape.


    He had never met anything resembling an ape except for the [Sniper Monkeys], and they couldn''t be it.


    Which meant¡­ that beyond the fog was the monster of the second warning.


    "Clone Frenzy¡­ Superior Clone," he took 30 additional seconds to summon the [Superior Clone] beside him, then got ready.


    Stark hesitated for a moment, but then he took a deep breath and stepped into the ck fog, the clone following after.


    The moment he did, the world around him changedpletely.


    ~FWISH~


    He emerged on the other side, fully expecting to see a boss room and a giant ape/monkey to be waiting for him.


    But¡­


    [WARNING!] ast warning came.


    And¡­


    [Aura too overwhelming, running isn''t even an option anymore.]


    [Good luck.]


    ~SPLASH~


    He noticed that the ground beneath him was filled with water, though it was such a small amount that it didn''t even reach the top of his toes.


    He was a massive area, surrounded by trees with leaves on them, and the perimeter was delimited by massive mountain walls.


    This was the arena for this boss.


    [Fourth Zone: The Guardian Ape.]


    "Oh?" the zone had the word ''ape'' in it, confirming what Stark knew.


    Yet there was nothing in the boss arena currently?


    " I mean¡­ huh¡­"


    Normally the bosses would ALWAYS be present, the only time this didn''t happen was with the [Darkness Ghost] as he was hiding beneath Stark, but other than that a boss should always be present when the ssifier enters the zone, right?!


    And yet¡­ there was nothing.


    "¡­" the clone wasn''t smiling, and it actually seemed to be sweating, darting its eyes everywhere, trying to look for something.


    "¡­?" Stark looked at it, the clone seemingly panicking and trembling, something that had never happened before.


    "=(" it looked sad.


    And then¡­ it pointed in the distance.


    "Huh?" Stark turned his head to look at whatever it was pointing at and¡­


    ~FWISH~


    At that very moment, the world around Stark changed, his vision darkening, thening back.


    And when he was able to see once his field of view was back to normal¡­ he found himself in a different location.


    Well, not really.


    He was still in the same area of the zone, nothing having changed: the water, trees and surroundings were the same.


    But something was off about them: they were different in appearance.


    The water wasn''t blue and sparkling anymore, insteadpletely red, color of blood, and trees had lost their colors, now dark with no leaves on them.


    But¡­ the worst of all¡­ what made Stark and even his clone lose every ounce of confidence they had¡­


    Was what was in front of them.


    Because it wasn''t the [Guardian Ape], it wasn''t a cmity-level monster, actually, it wasn''t one, or two, or three, or even five monsters.


    But 10 of them.


    In the distance they all stared at Stark, yet he couldn''t see them since their figures were ckened, impossible to see.


    [The Godless Demon Apostles - 10 remain]


    And what actually confirmed what he feared the most¡­ was that two of the figures were actually visible.


    The first was¡­ three giant moons in the sky with a single massive eye on them.


    "Ohoh~"


    "Heh~"


    "He''s back!"


    It was the [Crimson Moons Trio].


    And the second¡­


    "You got away human, but now, you shall die before our eyesss," it was the [Great Serpent] he made less than ten minutes ago.


    The other 8 figures didn''t speak, or move, or do anything, they just stared at the human, their eyes visible.


    But suddenly¡­


    ~FWISH~


    A pair of massive eyes, one oddly familiar, appeared above all of the apostles, a crimson vortex of aura spinning in them.


    It was¡­


    "Oh¡­ Chosen¡­"


    It was¡­


    ''HOLY FUCK!''


    "=("


    It was¡­


    "Aren''t you the one that wanted this?" the massive figure, the boss of the apostles, asked, "Then¡­ why are you scared?"


    It was the [Godless Demon] himself.


    His sole presence was enough to stun Stark, who couldn''t even imagine how he could defeat that thing, let alone ANY of the apostles in front of him.


    The [Great Serpent] was emerging from beyond the mountains, yet still reaching them, meaning that its length was phenomenal, and the [Crimson Moons Trio] stared at Stark from above, in the now crimson sky.


    But suddenly¡­


    Stark was fucked, this was a trap, he had been set up!


    Maybe they would make it fair by giving him a one on one, but any of the apostles beyond the fourth square of the second line was surely going to murder him in less than a second.


    Stark''s journey¡­ was over.


    "Ohoh~" the godless demonughed again, his demonic voice echoing.


    But suddenly¡­ right as Stark was about to despair¡­


    "=)" the [Superior Clone] smiled again.


    Immediately, Stark diverted his attentions from the godless demon and his apostles to his close, who had suddenly regained his confidence.


    And seeing act like this, Stark retrieved some of his determination, because if his clone was smiling, then it meant that there was a way out of this.


    Stark went back to seeing the monsters and¡­ that''s when he realized it as well.


    "¡­"


    He realized¡­


    "Hahahaha!" heughed as loud as possible, taking some of the apostles aback, who immediately turned their heads toward [Godless], as they knew anyone who mocked their lord would suffer.


    And yet¡­ the [Godless Demon] couldn''t do anything.


    "You may be real," Stark pointed at them, "But you can''t hurt me, can''t you? NONE OF YOU CAN!" he smiled devilishly, actually defying the beings he knew could kill him.


    Even the [Great Serpent] couldn''t hurt him even though he had been seen less than ten minutes ago.


    The reason? Quite simple.


    If the [Great Serpent] went back into the void less than ten minutes ago, then how is he back here?


    The answer is also just as obvious: these things were only manifestations.


    Yes, they were the real deal, and they could summon some of their auras, but other than there was nothing else they could do beside speaking to him and trying to intimidate him.


    "Fantastic," the [Godless] demon smiled, revealing a sharp row of teeth from beyond the darkness, "But you still need to fight something, don''t you?"


    ~CLAP, CLAP~


    He heard pping in the distance, and suddenly¡­


    "GROOAOKKKS-!"


    ~BAM~


    A giant white monkey emerged from beyond the mountains and rushed toward Stark''s location, smashing the ground.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark backed away; and his clone did too, avoiding the attack.


    And so¡­


    "GROOOAZKKKK!!!"


    "Let us see you fight, chosen," Godless continued smiling as he and his apostles stood there, watching.


    Yes, they were going to watch him fight the cmity-level boss of this rift.


    Maybe they wanted to see how strong he was? Or check out his abilities forter?


    Or maybe¡­ they just wanted to put pressure on him.


    Even though he wasn''t looking at them directly right now, he could sense their stares on him.


    Judgmental, insulting, mocking, it was all of that.


    And yet¡­


    "=)" now that he knew they couldn''t hurt him, his confidence reached its peak, "Watch this, assholes," he smiled at them.


    "GROOAOSKK!"


    [The Guardian Ape - Level 250]


    [Rank: Cmity]


    As expected, it was above [Boss] level.


    But now that he had all the information he needed, he put ALL of his attention of the monster ahead, who kept moving around, sometimes on his two legs, bing twice asrge, and other times crawling on all four limbs.


    And so¡­


    "Come at me, monkey," Stark smiled, the clone beside him already charging up a merged [Aura Smash] to send.


    Having a clone aspetent as Stark''s would be a blessing to anyone, as every time, even when Stark forgot because he was overwhelmed, then it would already be thinking about the battle that would ur, making it insanely reliable.


    "GROOAKRKK-!" the guardian ape got up again,pleting towering over Stark as it was more than seven meters in height, and weighted more than ten thousands kilograms, and yes you heard that right.


    A single smash from its long arms would be enough to crush Stark, or any human at its level to be honest.


    And yet¡­


    "Let''s have fun in front of your masters, ape," Stark positioned himself, ready to give it his all, and even though knowing these things were watching him, he had to remind himself that they weren''t real.

 Chapter 272: The Guardian Ape, Overtime Damage

    Almost ANY monster that was in rifts was part of the [Godless Demon''s] army as he controlled them.


    The ones in the [Danger Zone] of the outside world were the only ones safe from his control, though a small part of them were also under direct order from him.


    That thing controlled almost ALL the monsters, and no one really knew what his goal was, most people forgot about his existence already after all, as there was no need for them to remember such an ancient being.


    Many didn''t even believe in his existence, since there was no proof he existed.


    If Stark ever recorded what was in front of him right now, the entire world would be in a state of panic and shock, though he couldn''t do that as he was busy with the [Guardian Ape]


    "GROOAKKK!" the giant monkey slowly approached Stark.


    The [Guardian Ape] has white fur with a red scar running vertically from the top of its head to its left cheek through its left eye, meaning that it was half blind already.


    It also had sharp ws on its hands and feet, ready to pierce the human before it as it slowly walked toward Stark in a weird manner, standing on its too feet, its hands positioned like those of a predator.


    But the most surprising and noticeable feature of all¡­ was therge nodachi-style weapon (basically it''s a giant katana) running through the neck of the beast, piercing it from the left side.


    The de seemed to constantly put it in incredible pain, making it continuously in a berserk state it couldn''t leave.


    And now¡­ all that rage was directed toward him.


    "GROUND POUND!" once reaching appropriate the distance, the ape used its muscr legs to jump in the air, putting its hands together then smashing in Stark''s direction.


    "Invincible Dodge," but the boy calmly rolled forward, meaning that he passed right between the ape''s legs, appearing behind it.


    "PERCEPTION!"


    ¡­


    [Name: Guardian Ape, Protector of the Sunken Valley (CALAMITY)]


    [Level: 250]


    [HP: 1,100,000]


    [Strength: 18532]


    [Stamina: 5782]


    [Speed: 3511]


    [Defense: 17462]


    [Skills: Ground Pound, Tree Swing, Poisonous Poo, Rapid mming, Jumping Sweep, w Combo, Deserved Rest, Immortal Berserker (GODLY), Overtime Damage (PASSIVE MYTHICAL), The Sunkey Valley''s Guardian (MYTHICAL)¡­]


    ¡­


    It had ten skills, a good number, meaning that it could do many things in addition to doing basic attacks.


    As for its stats¡­ well¡­ let''s just say that the jump from level 150 to level 250 was out of this world.


    The [Guardian Ape] was the first monster Stark faced that had more than 1 million HP, and its stats, strength and defense in that regard, were all so high Stark feared that he could die if he ever as much as got grazed by its ws, or if he could even hurt it.


    And also¡­ that thing had a [Godly] tier skill.


    Godly was the seventh out of the eight tiers for skills, meaning that it ALMOST had a skill so strong it could be considered good enough be of the [Immortal] rank, which is the highest one.


    Maybe the [Godless Demon] only had [Immortal] ranked skills, who knows?


    ~FWISH~


    Stark avoided another smash from the ape who immediately turned around once realizing the human had snuck behind him.


    The ape''s speed was actually pretty damn slow, and it made sense since it was its lowest stat of all, not even going above 4000.


    Though that didn''t mean he couldn''t hit Stark, as he still had skills, plus a single touch from him would be enough to crush the boy.


    And yet¡­ there was no fear in his eyes as the ape turned around for the second time, trying to aim for him.


    And this time¡­


    ~FWISH¡­ BOOM~


    A crimson fist flew toward its head and hit it with full impact, sending it flying and forcing to use its ws to not crash against the walls of the valley.


    "GROAKK?!"


    And as you might expect, it was the [Superior Clone] that was charging up [Aura Smash] that sent the attack.


    "-143628!" the number rose up, a testament to just how much damage Stark was able to deal to his enemies now, even with all that defense.


    "GROOOOAKKKKKK!"


    ["Guardian Ape" passive skill "Overtime Damage" activated]


    [+1000 speed! +1000 strength!]


    "Huh?" Stark''s eyes widened, "What the fuck-"


    ~FWISH~


    "TREE SWING," while getting up, the ape grabbed one of the dark trees around it and teared it off as if it was a mere stick, then dashed toward Stark, much faster than before.


    "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!"


    ¡­


    [Skill: Overtime Damage (MYTHICAL)]


    [Description: the more the guardian ape is hit, the more his stats increase randomly by 1000 (except for HP), allowing it to grow stronger as the fight goes on, do remember that these effects are temporary though, and its stats will be reset after battle!]


    [Note: smaller hits don''t matter, you need to hit hard, as hard as you can.]


    ¡­


    "Fuck," this was putting him on a ''damage'' limit.


    If he took too long (and too many attacks to kill it), then he would surely die at some point, as his stats wouldn''t be enough to hold up against it.


    Oh well¡­ he needed to hit hard, as the note said.


    But first¡­


    He needed to try things out, basically, he needed to test some things to make sure if there wasn''t some kind of ''exploit'' to find.


    He was currently much faster than it was, so it greatly helped in his little ''experiments''.


    "=)"


    "Well¡­ let''s start, then."


    [First Experiment!]


    ~FWISH~


    "SPATIAL INVENTORY!"


    Stark grabbed three [Crystal Stun Potions] from his inventory and immediately threw them towards the guardian ape while avoiding another barrage of attacks and several swings from [Tree Swing] as the ape was currently using it like some sort of sword.


    ~BAM, BAM, BAM~


    All three vials shattered upon impact with the ape''s body, releasing the white mist within, surrounding itpletely.


    But¡­


    [Mist doesn''t work on "Guardian Ape"]


    To be honest, none of these potions were working against the bosses at this point, so maybe he should really start looking for new ones just in case.


    He had done well using only [Strength], [Speed], [Regeneration] and [Crystal Stun], but there were definitely so much more powerful potions to use than these.


    But¡­ even though the mist actually didn''t work or deal any damage.


    The simple fact that it hit the ape''s body was enough to activate [Overtime Damage].


    ["Guardian Ape" passive skill "Overtime Damage" activated]


    [+500 speed! +300 defense!]


    Didn''t work, and it seems even a single attack, or even a single attempt at trying to harm the ape that results in hitting it physically, meant its stats would be upgraded.


    "CLAW COMBO," the ape got closer to Stark, and he yet again took Stark aback as his speed did in fact be higher, meaning that Stark would need to keep adjusting over time as using too much speed would exhaust his stamina, but not enough would mean getting hit.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE¡­ PERFECT!"


    He rolled and achieved a perfect on the first attack, meaning that the world around him turned gray and stopped.


    Currently, the [Superior Clone] was charging up another attack, trying to help its host in case anything dangerous happened.


    They really needed to figure something out¡­


    [Second Experiment!]

 Chapter 273: Second Experiment: Failed

    [Second Experiment!]


    The ape was slow, much slower than Stark, so any attacks he would send at it would probably hit it straight on, meaning that he only had a limited amount of moves before the ape grew too fast and durable for that.


    It was a disadvantageous battle against time for Stark (well not really but he can''t keep going forever).


    And being watched by all the apostles as well as the [Godless Demon] did in fact add to the pressure.


    But oh well¡­


    "AURA SMASH! CRIMSON SPEARS," Stark summoned the eight projectiles, and his clone did the same too with 5 spears and 1 merged crimson fist.


    And then¡­.


    "CLAW COMBO," after Stark avoided his firstbo with [Invincible Dodge], the ape lunged toward the boy again, fully knowing a single hit from his ws would be enough to absolutely destroy him.


    Stark wasn''t the same to feel the pressure after all: the ape did as well.


    He was a cmity-level monster, of course, but in the face of the other apostles he was nothing, and trying to please its masters was its biggest priority.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark kept moving to the side to avoid the giant ws, carefully watching each of the ape''s movements, and activating [Time Vision] for a microsecond each time in case he needed it.


    He wanted to do something very precise with that monster for his second experiment.


    And so once he saw the opportunity¡­


    "GOT YOU!" he smiled.


    The guardian ape swung its massive ws, but Stark was ready.


    He met the hand with his own strength, blocking the attack after sliding on the surface for a moment.


    He nted his feet firmly in the watery ground, using his body weight to restrain the ape guardian.


    "Oh?" some of the apostles were surprised.


    "-43613!" because even though he had blocked the attack, there was still an impact, meaning that the human did receive a significant amount of damage from that, no matter how confident he tried to act.


    "=)" the clone kept watching, ready to unleash everything at any point now.


    But Stark didn''t back down from the pain and damage.


    And so, using all of his strength, though lower than the ape''s, he swiftly moved in a way to hold the guardian''s arm on his back. And then, with a powerful thrust, he pierced the ground with the arm he was holding, forcing it to do the same.


    He didn''t know if it would work, but if it did, it would be huge.


    "This kid might be smart."


    "Nothing better than to just beat its ass though!"


    "Weak people need to use strategies to win."


    As expected, the apostles were analyzing the battle, but now that he was locked in, Stark didn''t even pay attention to them, and if he felt their gazes on his back, he didn''t care much to begin with.


    The guardian ape tried to lift its arm from the ground, but it just couldn''t.


    The ws were put in too deeply, and the hard ground made it even harder to get out: it tried to repeatedly m the ground with its other hand, but nothing.


    Then it tried to use all its force to pull it out, but still, nothing either.


    And when it felt desperate, its used its other hand to hold the arm that was stuck and began to pull.


    "GROOAKKKK!"


    "Groak?"


    The guardian ape began to panic.


    It tried everything it could think of, but it was trapped. Its massive strength was no match for the unyielding ground and Stark''s clever strategy.


    "GROAKKS?! GAORKA!" the guardian ape roared in frustration, but its efforts were futile, it was stuck, and Stark had now theplete advantage against an enemy that couldn''t even move or defend itself.


    The guardian ape struggled to break free from Stark''s strategy, and once it knew that it was stuck in ce, it immediately went back to looking at the human, trying to at least see what it was trying to do.


    But once it did, its eyes widened as it saw 10 crimson spears, 3 crimson fists, and another massive merged one ready to strike.


    Stark had been prepared for the ape''s increased speed and stats, thus making it possible for it to either block or avoid his attacks, and so he decided to increase his chances of sess to 100% by forcing the monster to stay in ce.


    "Groa-" the ape didn''t have time to finish its noise, that all the projectiles were right in front of it.


    Stark''s crimson spears and fists flew in a tight formation, while his clone''s merged crimson fist and five spears followed closely behind.


    The projectiles mmed into the ape''s body with tremendous force, causing it to shudder and roar in pain.


    Despite being restrained, the ape was still incredibly powerful. Its muscles bulged as it strained against Stark''s assault, trying its hardest to escape, but all attacks hit their mark.


    BOOM, BOOM, BOOM


    Explosions echoed through the sunken valley as the guardian ape kept roaring,


    its body battered and bruised from the relentless onught, Stark''s strategy had paid off, and now the ape was at his mercy.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    "-44362! -47445! -45649!" first it was the ten spears that hit, dealing around 40000 damage each.


    "-64262! -65821! -63487!" then it was the three crimson fists.


    And finally¡­


    BOOOOOM!


    "148531!" the one that had the biggest impact of all, the merged crimson fist.


    And so with all of that¡­


    [-778,331 damage to ''Guardian Ape''!]


    [Guardian Ape HP: 179,041/1,100,000]


    Not only was this thing''s body obliterated by all the attacks, one of its arms visibly pierced and most likely unusable, and his chest also having holes in it, but it was also down to its final portion of HP.


    Surely it couldn''t do anything now, right?


    Surely Stark had won after such a devastating attack¡­ right!?


    But of course, reality wasn''t as bright.


    "This guy is an idiot."


    "Right."


    "He''s dead, not that impressive, I don''t know how Reaper lost against him."


    All the apostles spoke, mocking the human for doing something so reckless.


    And of course, there were many reasons why.


    But the most obvious of all¡­


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    [''Overtime Damage'' has been activated¡­ 14 times!]


    "WHAT?!" Stark was absolutely crushed as he saw this.


    This had been the topic of his second experiment: to see if dealing damage at the same time would count as a single activation, but it looked like he was wrong, meaning that he went all in for seemingly no reason.


    Of course, he had done massive damage, so it wasn''t really ineffective, but now¡­ what could he possibly do?


    ["Guardian Ape" passive skill "Overtime Damage" activated]


    [+500 speed! +500 strength!]


    [+750 speed! +400 defense!]


    [+800 strength! +500 strength!]


    .


    .


    .


    [+1000 speed! +1000 strength! +1000 defense!]


    And so in the end¡­ that thing was¡­


    "FUCK¡­" Stark took a step back as the ape''s aura was now so powerful it felt nauseating, especially from so close.


    The guardian stood up on its two feet, looking down on the human as it easily removed its arm from the ground with its strength.


    "Groak," it now didn''t exude any emotions, it was just¡­ neutral, as if looking at a bug.


    And then¡­


    "Rapid mming."


    It moved its arm so fast that Stark didn''t have the time to react.


    ~SLAM~


    "-75000!"


    Stark received the entirety of his health from that attack.


    And so¡­


    Ding!


    [You have died.]

 Chapter 274: Immortal Berserker, The Apes Last Stand

    "-75000!"


    [You have died.]


    Stark had been crushed by the [Guardian Ape''s] hand once it powered up.


    Its speed was now far greater than Stark''s, and its attack strength was also so high that even that simple m created a small crater in the ground, even though there was water.


    And of course, let''s not forget: Stark''s body waspletely crushed, his organs spilling out from his stomach and his eyeballs popping out, meaning that he was¡­ well¡­ dead.


    "Fucking hell¡­" Stark opened his eyes and found himself in that same ck void from before.


    [Do you want to be revived?]


    [Y/N]


    Thankfully enough, his talent was still there to grant him a second life, but he didn''t expect for that thing to kill him so fast and easily after powering up.


    [You have 60 seconds to decide, otherwise it is game over!]


    "Hm¡­" Stark put his hand against his chin as he thought of his next n of action.


    He couldn''t fight that thing, no chance in hell.


    With its current stats, forget about it being level 250, you can already decide that it is at minimum level 325 if not more.


    These stat increases were temporary for the ape, but they wouldst until the end of the battle, so there was no strategy to counter it.


    [You have 30 seconds to decide, otherwise it is game over!]


    Most of his skills were cooldown, and those that weren''t wouldn''t of that much use like those from [Exorcist].


    [You have 25 seconds to decide, otherwise it is game over!]


    "Think¡­ Stark¡­ THINK¡­" a vortex of crimson aura began to spin in the boy''s eyes as he kept thinking, time slowing down around him even in this space.


    In less than 25 seconds, he would be forced to go back into the battlefield, and that thing was probably waiting for him, its perception high enough to notice him the moment he revived.


    "FUCK¡­"


    [You have 15 seconds to decide, otherwise it is game over!]


    Inparison to when he was against the warden, his determination was still high enough as to allow him to keep going.


    But what about now?


    In front of the 10 apostles, as well as the [Godless Demon], would he die by the first monster they sent toward him?


    Were all these months in this world for nothing, then?


    Were all these trials simply for show?


    Would he leave everything behind just like this?


    [You have 5 seconds to decide, otherwise it is game over!]


    [WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!]


    The answer was no to all these questions.


    "Alright," Stark calmed down as his aura grew in power.


    Because even if this situation was unwinnable, even if he knew his chances of survival were slim, almost nonexistent actually¡­ he still needed to try.


    [Last chance: do you have to be revived?]


    [Y/N]


    He was the only one that could help himself, no one else would (except his clone, that is).


    And so¡­ he clicked on [Y], shattering the panel, much like against Warden.


    [Make use of that chance, Chosen One.]


    ¡­


    In the real world.


    "Hm¡­"


    "That was¡­ all?"


    "So uninteresting¡­"


    All the apostles were sighing in disbelief.


    They knew about the human who kept killing theirpanions, but they didn''t know any of his abilities: which meant they had no idea that the [Chosen One] talent existed.


    Not even the [Godless Demon] knew, meaning that they truly believed that the human had died like this, from a single attack.


    "¡­" their leader didn''t speak, though, as he kept looking at Stark''s crushed body from above.


    The human that was acting so confident until now was¡­ gone, just like that, and his life force was nonexistent either, his aura disappearingpletely.


    "GROOAKKK!" the [Guardian Ape] was cheering while facing the apostles and [Godless Demon], jumping left to right and repeatedly hitting its chest.


    It seemed very happy it had been capable of killing the human that actually posed somewhat of a threat to them.


    "Good job, little ape," one of the apostles said, "You seem to actually be useful for once."


    "Maybe we should remove that giant sword from his neck, then, as a reward?" another smiled.


    "No¡­ keep it¡­" a third finished, "I like seeing it in pain¡­"


    To them, Stark''s death was already confirmed, as someone''s aura only disappears when they TRULY die.


    [Revive Items] exist, as said before, but if someone has one, then their aura doesn''t disappear, meaning that they aren''t truly dead.


    But in Stark''s case, his life force and aura werepletely gone, leaving no doubt as to what his status was: it was over him.


    And yet¡­ right as they were discussing of leaving¡­


    ~FWISH~


    ~BOOM~


    In the distance, right in Stark''s location, his crushed body as well as his organs that spilled everywhere began to reform, floating toward the main body to recreate it, not leaving a single drop of blood on the ground.


    And after a few seconds¡­ Stark was back.


    [Stark HP: 1/75000]


    With [Chosen One], it didn''t matter whether you were killed by poison, tortured, cut in half, crushed to death or even if every single cell in your body was reduced to nothing: you would revive regardless, your body back to its normal state, though with one HP only.


    ~FWISH~


    Stark got up, he was still bleeding a bit, and his body hurt like hell since, well, he had been crushed, but as long as he could still move around¡­ he was fine.


    "=)" something taped his shoulder, and he noticed that the [Superior Clone] was still there: it had disappeared once he died, but came back as his aura revived him, which is why the apostles and [Godless Demon] weren''t suspicious.


    But surprisingly¡­ the ape didn''t notice him.


    It actually didn''t as it was too busy trying to make its masters happy, or try to get a reward for its achievement.


    And so¡­ Stark decided to take advantage of that.


    "WIELDING CROSS," both he and his clone summoned the cross above them.


    But they didn''t n to just rush and swing at the monster: first of all there was no saying it would do enough damage, and it would probably notice them.


    And so¡­ they both decided to use the new ability of [Wielding Cross].


    [New Perk: Crushing Gravity (EPIC)] Join the adventure on m-vl-e-mpyr


    [Description: By grasping the handle of the Crimson Cross, the user can hurl it high into the air, throwing it very high, and when it reaches its apex, the perk can be activated to make it fall back toward the enemy like a meteor.


    It is EXTREMELY difficult to aim and hit with it, so it only takes one of the three strikes you have avable, plus you lose the cross for the moment it is in the air, so watch out!


    Though, if it does hit, then the damage will be phenomenal, and the area around the enemy that is hit will explode with aura as well!]


    It was the best moment, not only to test it out since the ape wasn''t moving that much, but also to finally get this over with.


    The surprise effect of reviving from [Chosen One] had ALWAYS helped Stark, and this time would be no different.


    ~FWISH~


    Both he and his clone activated the skill, and the giant crimson/golden crosses slowly fell on their two hands as they joined them together, and so with a swift and powerful motion they swung upward, sending the two crosses very high in the sky.


    As the crosses reached their apex, Stark and his clone activated the Crushing Gravity perk again.


    ~BOOM~


    And so the two crimson/golden crosses descended like meteors, their trajectory perfectly aimed at the guardian ape''s head as it wasn''t moving at all, making it infinitely easier to aim.


    The monster was still cheering while looking at the apostles (who were actually staring at the crosses above, yet not willing to say anything to the ape), but once it sensed the attack, it roared in surprise as it noticed the giant objects falling toward it, yet it was toote to dodge or avoid them.


    With an earth-shattering impact, the crosses mmed into the ape''s head, causing its body to be thrown back violently.


    The explosion of aura that followed was immense, and Stark and his clone felt their bodies tremble from the force of it.


    BOOOOOOOM!


    "-437461!" and the perk didn''t lie, because even with the ape''s enhanced defense, the impact of both crosses was enough to deal all of its remaining life.


    For a moment, everything went silent as dust and debris filled the air.


    And¡­


    [Guardian Ape HP: 0/1,100,000]


    As the dust went away, the corpse of the guardian ape was now on the ground.


    "Oh?"


    "Hm¡­"


    The apostles were surprised: the human dide back to life after all, and also somehow used yet another skill to end this battle in one attack.


    Normally, this would be Stark''s victory without a shroud of doubt.


    But¡­


    "Chosen," the [Godless Demon] himself spoke while smiling, "Do you believe you are the only one who can revive himself?"


    "Huh?" Stark was confused.


    But right as he was about to question it about what it just said¡­


    ~FWISH~


    The [Guardian Ape] got up again even though its HP were at 0.


    "Immortal Berserker," and its [Godly] skill activated automatically.


    "This is¡­" Stark took a few steps back, "What the fuck?" his eyes widened.


    He had believed that he was the only one who could revive himself, yet was proven wrong.


    But now¡­ what should he do now? Now that this thing got up, seemingly unharmed, and its stats still just as high as before, if not higher.


    Plus¡­ what was the ability of the [Immortal Berserker] skill?


    "¡­" Stark gulped as he felt that something really bad was bound to happen to him now.

 Chapter 275: A Single Weakness to Kill an Immortal

    "IMMORTAL BERSERKER!"


    The [Guardian Ape] which had been hit by the crimson crosses and the explosion that came from them had been down for less than thirty seconds after its HP reached 0 that it was already back up.


    The aura around the ape was much stronger, retaining his previous stats in addition to the usage of the [Godly] skill.


    A mix of green and blue was inside of his aura, surrounding himpletely as he took a few steps that shook the earth toward the boy.


    "¡­" Stark took a few steps back, yet the clone didn''t move.


    It wasn''t smiling anymore either, instead opting for a look of determination in its eyes and face.


    And so¡­


    "IMMORTAL SMASH!"


    All of the [Guardian''s Ape] attacks were enhanced by the [Godly] skill, making it even more difficult to avoid.


    BOOOOOOM!


    The ape smashed the ground by joining its two hands together and hitting it with all its strength, a green aura surrounding them.


    FWISH!


    The ENTIRE valley shook from that, and Stark actually jumped slightly from that, taking three more steps back.


    "¡­" the clone on the other hand¡­


    "Huh?"


    [The "Superior Clone" has been hit.]


    Its HP went to 0 because of the impact of the smash.


    The guardian ape also got smarted: its goal wasn''t to just show off, but it sent a wave toward the clone, dealing minimal damage, yet enough to kill it as it faded off, and its aura seeped back into Stark''s body.


    "FUCK."


    Stark had lost his clone, and now he was alone against that thing, who was still approaching him.


    But the worst was yet toe for Stark.


    Because he hadn''t realized just how truly fucked he was while the [Guardian Ape] was using [Immortal Berserker].


    Soon enough he would figure it out, though, as he used [Perception] to check out the skill''s description.


    ¡­.


    [Skill: Immortal Berserker]


    [Description: If the ape is one shot or on the verge of dying, he can instinctively activate this skill to revive himself from the dead and give himself a massive boost in power.


    In the "berserker" form, the guardian ape CANNOT be killed, no matter what, it has an infinite amount of health, and its only way toe back to life is to kill the opponent in front of it.


    This effectsts five minutes.]


    [Tip: endure for five minutes or find another way to end it for good, there is one.]


    ¡­


    "¡­" Stark''s jaw almost dropped to the ground as he read the description on the panel, making sure to observe the massive figure of the guardian ape behind the panel as it approached him, its tiny eyes glowing as its target was in its view.


    Stark lifted his eyes toward the ape as he closed the panel.


    And¡­


    [Guardian Ape HP: ¡Þ/1,100,000]


    Its HP were indeed infinite, with no way for Stark to ever hope to hurt it.


    [Survive for five minutes, if it kills you it can revive.]


    This was the current challenge.


    But Stark couldn''t ignore one simple thing: the tip right under the skill''s description spoke about a way to kill it for good, even in this form.


    "IMMORTAL RAPID SLAMMING," yet before he could even do anything¡­


    FWISH!


    The ape lunged forward so fast that it was almost invisible to him, but thankfully enough the fact his HP were at 1 meant that domination was currently in its strongest form to keep the host alive.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" and so he began to roll away while avoiding some of the strikes, each creating a crater in the crater and shaking the sunken valley.


    This was truly a battle between two monsters.


    [3:47 remaining]


    But Stark knew he couldn''t hold on for more than one minute against that thing, and it almost seemed like it was ying with him, smashing the ground again and sending a wave of aura that Stark avoided by jumping.


    "He is done."


    "Hm¡­"


    "That skill is truly weird, undeserving of such a lowly ape."


    The apostles were discussing one another.


    The only one that was mostly calm was the [Godless Demon] and the [Crimson Moons Trio], who kept observing, waiting for something to happen.


    Until the battle was finished, they wouldn''t conclude anything.


    And so what followed¡­ was a one-sided beat down.


    "IMMORTAL GROUND POUND!" the ape would jump, trying tond its butt on Stark''s face, who would jump out of the way in thest second.


    "AURA SMASH!" he tried to send some attacks, but once they hit the ape, they would immediately disintegrate; not stopping its assault.


    "TREE SWING! POISONOUS POO!" with one hand it would grab one of the nearby trees and swing it at Stark, giving it a massive range, while on the other hand it would¡­ well¡­ throw what the skill spoke off.


    "SHIT! SHIT, LITERAL SHIT..!"


    Boom! Boom!


    Stark was actually surprised by his abilities to be on the defensive, avoiding everything by a hair''s length every time. Stay immersed with m-vl-em-py-r


    Even the apostles were surprised, and the ape even more: any human by now should have died, yet here he was, still running around, his stamina not exhausting at all as the domination adrenaline and aura was still pumping.


    "JUMPING SWEEP!" it then tried to jump in the air and swing its arm sideways as it was falling, but Stark would throw a [Crimson Ball Transmission] ball on the other side and avoiding this wide attack.


    [2:54 remaining], and yet, with all of that, less than a minute had passed.


    Stark could feel it in his bones that he wouldn''t survive any longer than this: he needed a way to win.


    But how do you even kill a monster that is immortal?


    In theory, this shouldn''t be possible, thus the [Immortal] connotation.


    But maybe¡­ just maybe¡­


    "GROOOAKK"


    ~SLAM~


    "GROOAKKS!"


    ~SLAM, SLAM, SLAM~


    The ape was relentless now, not even bothering to use skills, instead opting for the easiest option: attack endlessly until the human gets tired or makes a mistake.


    ''Shit¡­''


    ~FWISH~


    Stark kept avoiding, and avoiding, and¡­ avoiding.


    The more seconds passed, the harder it became for him to avoid, almost as if the guardian ape was adapting to his moves, and the more time passed, the closer these attacks came to him.


    [You have approximately¡­ ten seconds before getting hit.]


    Even a warning came to inform him of his demise.


    And yet, Stark wasn''t paying attention to any of that: he had let his instincts take over his body, focusing entirely on the battle inside of his head.


    He was fighting a simple question: how to kill that thing before the time ended.


    [Tip: find another way to end it for good, there is one.]


    If there is a way to kill that thing without waiting for the end of the timer, then he must find it.


    "Come¡­"


    ~FWISH, FWISH~


    He propelled himself off the ground to get out of a sweep''s way and used [Invincible Dodge] to avoid three quick [Rapid mming].


    "On¡­"


    If the ''weakness'' to kill it was around, then it meant it wasn''t part of Stark''s arsenal, else he would have figured it out already, and neither could it be in the environment as they kept moving around while the ape didn''t care.


    And so that meant¡­ that the weakness was probably on the beast itself.


    "GOROOAKKS!" the guardian ape finally roared, which roughly tranted to "die" as it swung for a final time.


    And this time¡­ Stark couldn''t avoid it, he felt it in his soul that it was over.


    But even then¡­ even at this moment where he knew he could die¡­ Stark''s eyes widened, and a small smile grew on his face as he finished analyzing the ape''s body.


    Why, you might ask?


    Well¡­ because he saw it.


    He saw the weakness, the way to win while the ape was immortal.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 276 : The Execution

    "¡­!" Stark''s pupils became so small that it almost looked like they disappeared once he noticed the possible weakness of the guardian ape.


    ~SLAM~


    And at the same time, the guardian was still swinging its giant hand down, so close to Stark''s that he wouldn''t be able to avoid it under normal circumstances.


    "TIME VISION," time slowed down around Stark as he needed these few seconds to think of a way to put his n into action.


    [Tip: find another way to end it for good, there is one.]


    He hadn''t found it as he kept avoiding the attacks, so instead of focusing on the environment he decided to focus on the ape, and he almost immediately noticed it.


    An immortal being was something that shouldn''t be able to be killed, at least that is what the definition says.


    But¡­ was the ape really immortal? Or was it only that its HP became infinite?


    He couldn''t take damage, thus nothing could harm it, that was true.


    But in the case of monsters, and even humans, no matter how strong you are, there is one simple action that could INSTANTLY kill you: your weakness.


    If your body was crushed to oblivion, or if you were cut in half, it doesn''t matter that you have 1, 1000, or even a trillion health point, you would still be dead, or incapacitated enough to not be able to do anything.


    And that was exactly what Stark was aiming: kill it instantly, in a way as to not allow it to strike back.


    ~FWISH~


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT!"


    [Double Assault activated, 20 seconds remaining.]


    ~FWISH~


    He jumped out of the attack''s way almost instantly thanks to his speed, avoiding it at thest microsecond, then dashing toward the ape.


    He had 20 seconds toplete the n, or else it was game over.


    Do or die.


    "GROAKKSK!" the guardian ape at this point was actually beginning to find this human unbearable, he was like a mosquito, you see him, you know where he is, yet still avoiding all your attacks no matter.


    Though the boss did keep some of its confidence because of its [Immortal] status, so no need to worry.


    And yet¡­ it was its biggest mistake.


    "IMMORTAL SMASH!" the ape smashed the ground, with two times as much force as before, but the [Double Assault] skill allowed Stark to see iting from a mile and thus turn around the ape in a sh.


    And¡­ he saw his opportunity then and there.


    [13 seconds of ''Double Assault'' remaining!]


    He needed all his strength and speed he could find for that, but¡­ he needed to do it.


    ~FWISH~


    While the ape smashed the ground, Stark had gone behind the monster and began to climb on its back, heading toward its head and reaching it in less than a second.


    "WRAAAAAHHH-" the ape roared.


    But¡­ it was toote for it now.


    [Execute it.]


    Stark was about to do an [Execution].


    Executions arepletely different from normal takedowns, since the usual ones just end up being draining the monster''s health to 0 without any SIGNIFICANT event happening.


    But [Executions] on the other hand were the opposite.


    You only considered a kill as an execution when the way you kill the boss/monster is incredibly skillful, being ALWAYS visually incredible to watch, a reason why they are popr across the entire world.


    And what was about to follow was one of those executions.


    "COME ON! COME ON!" Stark jumped on the [Guardian Ape''s] back, then ran up to the back of its head.


    "GROAOKK-" the ape''s first instinct was to try and stop the human.


    But¡­ it couldn''t do it as it was suddenly stunned, a shock suddenly being sent all over its body.


    Stark had only noticed it because he took some time to analyze the ape, but its weakness was there since the beginning: therge nodachi-style weapon (basically it''s a giant katana) running from the back of its head to its left side.


    It was so perfectly ced that Stark even believed it was a trap in the beginning.


    But now that it came to it¡­ he would make use of it.


    The sword was actually almost twice as big as Stark, but even then¡­


    "DIE! IMMORTAL!"


    While using all his determination and strength, as well as [Double Assault], he grabbed the handle of the massive sword and began to pull it to the side.


    This was one of the weakness Stark sought: decapitation.


    Even if the ape was currently immortal, decapitating it would be an instant game over, even with an infinite amount of health.


    Stark''s muscles strained as he pulled the massive sword with all his might, feeling the weight of it trying to resist the human''s attempt.


    The guardian ape roared in pain and confusion, its tiny eyes widening in shock as it realized what was happening, yet unable to do anything: all it could do was hope that the human wasn''t strong enough to push the sword all the way to do a full rotation.


    "DIE!" Stark shouted as he ced his legs against the ape''s neck and put more force, his voice echoing through the valley as he continued to pull the sword.


    The ape thrashed and struggled, trying to shake him off, but Stark held on tight, his determination unwavering.


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    None of the apostles were saying anything, but even they knew something was impressive when they saw it.


    And¡­ as to prove Stark''s determination and efforts, the sword actually began to move.


    Slowly at first, then faster and faster as its de, which was going through the ape''s neck, began to slice its neck more and more.


    The guardian ape''s screams grew louder as it realized that its immortality wouldn''t save it from this fate.


    [5 seconds remaining for ''Double Assault''!]


    [EXECUTE IT NOW!]


    And so¡­ with one final pull, which put all the efforts he went through in this rift, and his future determination in defeating all the apostles¡­


    ~FWISH~


    He pulled, and the sword swiftly made a full rotation, meaning that it severed the ape''s neck and decapitated it, spinning twice beforending its de on the ground, standing perfectly vertically.


    The ape on the other hand suddenly jolted as its head was cut, and so it fell to the ground too.


    ~BOOM~


    The impact was strong, and its head rolled away, its mouth opened and eyes widened as that was its final expression before death.


    Stark jumped out of the ape''s back as it was falling andnded on the watery ground of the sunken valley, his face full of determination and excitement as he had done it.


    [EXECUTION SUCCESSFUL!]


    [Execution highlight has been sent all over the world!]


    Executions are so rare and well-liked by everyone, in fact, that once one happens, it is IMMEDIATELY broadcasted for everyone to see.


    And to put it into retrospective, there was at best only one [Execution] every two to three months, just how to show how difficult it was for humans to do something so skillful and finish off a monster in such a way that even the system considered it as a legitimate [Execution].


    After all, even Stark had his cool moments when killing monsters, yet none of those were considered executions!


    And oh boy were they brutal, you could simply say by how Stark''s execution was after all: decapitation of an immortal being, blood spilling everywhere and tainting the water in a crimson color.


    ~DING~


    [You have defeated the "Guardian Ape lvl250" by executing it!]


    [EXP bonus will be given.]

 Chapter 277 : Aura Storm Epic Perk, Level 75 Reached

    Ding!


    [You have in ''Guardian Ape lv250'', gained 18,400,000 EXP!]


    [+7,000,000 Execution Bonus!]


    And so in total¡­ Stark got around 25,400,000 experience points from this battle, a number so big that Stark couldn''t even believe it at first, looking at the panel for more than a minute before finally snapping back to reality.


    "Impressive¡­"


    "I liked it."


    "Pfft¡­"


    All the apostles spoke, giving their own opinions: some were mad, others excited for their uing battle.


    But¡­ there was no denying that ALL of them were surprised though.


    Stark looked up, and he saw that the three [Crimson Moons] above were staring at him, their eyes widened in shock by what the human had just done: he had just defeated an immortal being, or at least a semi-immortal.


    Many among them considered themselves as immortals, especially those in the third line, and so seeing that another monster with infinite HP could be defeated so easily by simply using your head was terrifying: because doesn''t that mean that there is also a way to defeat them if Stark found the guardian ape''s weakness in less than two minutes?


    "I''m out of here."


    "See ya¡­"


    "Need better skills¡­"


    And so gradually, one by one, each of them left, and by the end of it all, the only one left was the [Godless Demon], who was still looking at Stark, the only one not surprised by this entire ordeal in fact.


    "Hm¡­" he thought for a few seconds, "Very well, we''ll y for a bit longer, chosen one."


    ~FWISH~


    And so he disappeared too, leaving behind only darkness.


    "The next time we y is when you die, asshole," Stark replied while smirking.


    Because even though he went through a lot, even though he knew even more wasing, he still didn''t despair.


    If the world, if all these monsters were against him, then by simply using his strength he would crush them all, and build his own safe ce.


    Stark hadn''t had the opportunity to use [Banish] since he could definitely sense that the ape''s aura would be too much for the skill, meaning that there a chance he would lose.


    He also didn''t have the chance to use [EGO] either.


    [EGO Meter: 90/100]


    Though that was because the EGO meter wasn''t full.


    "Does the meter stay in ce even if I don''t do anything?" he asked.


    [Yes, it stays at 90 for an indefinite amount of time, only resetting when you use it.]


    This was great news.


    But now¡­ Stark needed to move to the real stuff: the reward of all his struggles.


    Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!


    [Your level has increased to level 72, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Your level has increased to level 73, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]


    .


    .


    [Your level has increased to level 77, granting you four skill points and a boost in stats]


    [Experience: 4,029,300/4,400,000]


    [Skill Points: 24 Avable!]


    Yet again, not that it was surprising, the amount of skill points per level increased to four instead of three once he passed the level 75 threshold.


    For the first time ever though, Stark wasn''t given any skill for his struggles, since, you know, it was one skill every 10 level now.


    He did receive other panels, though.


    Ding!


    [Level 75 reached, you can now break through to ''Gold-Tier'' to increase your skill level limit!]


    Very good, this meant he would yet again increase in rank, something needed if he wanted to be able to assign his skill points more efficiently and thus increase his important skills to fight the apostles and domination trial.


    [Level 75 reached: you can now spin the ss wheel again!]


    And of course, the most important perk of all was also there.


    But first, he wanted to use his skills points.


    Yes, you shouldn''t usually do this when you were bounded to get a new skill from your next ss or even the fact that the limit would increase, but right now this was only 24 skill points, meaning that it wasn''t much.


    ''Maybe I should think of buying some skill stones¡­'' they are used to increase your skill limit without leveling up.


    And now you might say: pfft~, then it just means that people can use them infinitely to level up over and over, bing overpowered.


    But there are two penalties when doing that a lot: first of all you wouldn''t be used to all your skills, meaning that you wouldn''t be ready for battle inparison to someone who repeatedly used the skills for months.


    And second¡­ every [Skill Stone], even those at the highest of quality, have a small chance to break and cause a skill to go back to level 1, resetting all its perks, so yeah.


    In the end, it didn''t matter, though, and so Stark checked out his skill list to decide.


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv25; Focus lv25; Aura Smash lv10; Clone Frenzy lv25; Invincible Dodge lv10; Double Assault lv10; Crimson Spears lv5; Heaven''s Wrath lv5; Alchemist lv5; Potion Crafting lv5; Target Maniption lv1; Dodge Control lv5; Crimson Ball Transmission lv1; EGO lv5; Crimson Purification lv25; Wielding Cross lv10; Crimson Healing lv1; The Void; Banish


    So many possibilities, yet so little skill points to distribute.


    "Alright," he nodded.


    Ding! Ding!


    [You have upgraded ''Aura Smash'' to level 25!]


    [You have upgraded ''Crimson Spears'' to level 10!]


    [You have upgraded ''Crimson Ball Transmission'' to level 5!]


    He decided to use the skills he used the most, as what was the point of leveling up those that he hadn''t used at all?


    To be honest, Stark already a few skills that he now called the "BIG ONES": they were the skills that he NEEDED to upgrade and use at every rift, no matter what.


    And as you might already guess, they were the following: Domination and Focus, though these are passive, Aura Smash, Clone Frenzy, Invincible Dodge, Crimson Spears, Crimson Ball Transmission, Crimson Purification and Wielding Cross.


    These were the skills he would always use in rifts, or the "BIG ONES" in that regard.


    ''New perks,'' Stark excitedly thought as he looked at the panels that appeared before him.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Crimson Spears lv10]


    [New Perk: Spear Block]


    [Description: Essentially, these spears could only be used as attacks and projectiles to enemies, dealing good and piercing damage to them, but now, you can order up to three spears to spin around, and with the right timing they can block one attack each, though remember that if the attack is too powerful, the spears will break and you will still be hit!]


    ¡­


    ''Oh¡­'' so it served as some other kind of shield, interesting.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Crimson Ball Transmission lv5]


    [New Perk: More balls]


    [Description: You get two crimson balls instead of one, that''s all, you can throw both at the same time, and when you snap your fingers think about the one you want to teleport at, making it easier to trick enemies.]


    ¡­


    An even better perk!


    He hadn''t believed it at first, but crimson ball transmission quickly became a favorite because of all its different usages, and getting another ball could only be good.


    And so, Stark moved on to the final perk, the one he had been waiting for the most.


    [You now have a choice, Host.]


    Before him appeared the same panel that did when he upgraded [Crimson Purification], when he got the legendary perk that helped him, or when he got the choice for an [EPIC] perk for [Crimson Purification].


    [Since you used 10 stat points on ''Aura Smash'', you can choose to either: get two normal perks, or get an EPIC one!]


    [So, which do you choose?]


    And below it appeared two panels.


    [Two normal perks] or [One EPIC Perk]


    Stark understood how this system worked by now: one upgrade is equal to a normal perk, two upgrades at once was an epic perk and three was a legendary perk.


    Was there the possibility to get a mythical or godly perk if he upgraded a skill from 1 to its max instantly, though?


    "Epic," he made his choice, since these perks were always so much better than normal ones.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Aura Smash lv25]


    [New Perk: Aura Storm (EPIC)]


    [Description: The amount of crimson fists you can use went up to 5, and so now, by merging all 5 of them around you, you create a small storm of energy around you, which will pull in nearby enemies and m them into the ground, dealing massive damage to them. The storm will also slow down enemies caught within it, making it easier for you to follow up with other attacks.]


    ¡­


    "!!!!" Stark''s eyes actually widened.


    This might not seem much, but if he could now summon five fists, and it took all five to cast [Aura Storm], then doesn''t that essentially mean that it''s a straight-up much better version than [Aura Smash Merge], which used up three fists to create a giant one?


    "Oh well, that''s¡­ great," though this almost meant that he would need to master it, as trying to use it without trying could result in it exploding in his face.


    And so, Stark finally moved on to the final and most important panel of all.


    [ss Wheel avable!]


    "ss Wheel!" he mumbled, and the colorful wheel appeared before him.


    "Alright, let''s do this," it was time to get a new ss, one he had been waiting for after realizing how powerful the merge between exorcist and domination was, and surely this ss could only be a bonus to his stats and skills, even if he used it less, much like [Alchemist].

 Chapter 278: The Fourth Class

    "ss Wheel," Stark activated his skill, and the giant colorful wheel appeared before him, now only 7 sections on it.


    [Pull me!]


    The lever was still beside it, its aura ordering him to pull it and discover what he would be getting.


    This was like gambling, but a next level one though, as it determined life and death.


    What would have had happened to Stark if he didn''t get the [Domination] ss instantly? He didn''t know, but surely he wouldn''t be as strong as right now.


    You need to suffer to be stronger, heh?


    But, right as Stark was about to pull down the lever¡­


    [Wait!]


    A crimson panel appeared in front of him.


    "???"


    [Aren''t you tired of the same stuff happening over and over: you reach the designated level, you can only spin the wheel once and hope for the better, rince and repeat!]


    "What?" Stark was confused, he had only done that thrice until now, so it wasn''t that repetitive.


    Though when something like this happened, it was just like with the [Legendary] perk: it was his ss trying to help him out and make things easier.


    [Introducing a new perk of the ss wheel: ss Removal! Woohoo!


    "Ah shit¡­ here we go again," he knew where this was going, but still waited to see what it was about.


    [You can now decided to remove up to three sses from the wheel¡­ PERMANENTLY!]


    [Meaning that you can remove one, two or three sses that you believe you wouldn''t want to get no matter what, either because they would be useless in ordance to your current ones, or because you just don''t like them at all!]


    "Oh!" and Stark actually LOVED this perk.


    Of course, as the holder of the ss wheel, he had thought for hours about all the different sses and which ones he wanted to get and those he didn''t, so this was a good thing.


    And so¡­


    [Select the sses you wish to remove from the ss wheel, all choices are permanent and cannot go back!]


    This perk was mainly here to do one thing:pletely remove the sses Stark didn''t want, thus meaning that his chances of getting those he wanted increased tremendously.


    [7 sses avable: Magus, Beast Tamer, Warrior, Assassin, Archer, Soul Wielder, Incubus.]


    And I''ll be honest with you: Stark didn''t like most of them.


    Yes, that''s right, the only sses he actually wanted were Soul Wielder and Incubus, all others served zero purpose.


    Why would he be a magus if [Domination] already allows him to use magic, why would he be a warrior or assassin when his fists deal much more damage than a weapon, why would he be an archer as it meant staying at the back, andst of all, why would he be a beast tamer, when he already struggled so much to keep up with [Alchemist], only using it for the basic potions!


    If he had the choice, he would remove all those sses, only keeping those he wanted.


    But as his choice was limited to three, he needed to make a choice.


    And he made one within thirty seconds.


    Ding!


    [Are you sure you want to permanantly remove "Warrior", "Assassin" and "Archer"?]


    These were the only sses that required a weapon to be used, meaning useless, beast tamer and magus on the other hand could still be useful as it just meant additional skills and help.


    "Sure," he sighed.


    Ding!


    [You have PERMANANTLY removed "Warrior", "Assassin" and "Archer" from the ss wheel, meaning you will NOT be able to get them.]


    You would usually maybe think that you could have made a bad decision at such times, especially with one this big, but right now, Stark didn''t feel anything but relief.


    Boom! Boom! Boom


    The three sections he chose were instantly erased from the wheel in front of him, only keeping four: Magus, Beast Teamer, Soul Wielder and Incubus.


    Stark couldn''t help but feel a bit of excitement as he stared at the ss wheel.


    He had finally removed the sses he didn''t want, meaning that his chances of getting the ones he did want were much higher.


    And now, all that was left was to spin it and see what fate had in store for him.


    Ding!


    [Spin the wheel!]


    Stark took a deep breath before grabbing onto the lever next to the wheel with both hands and pulling it down.


    The wheel spun around and around, its segments shing by in a blur of colors.


    And then¡­ after a thirty seconds, it stopped.


    Stark held his breath as he looked at the segment that pointed directly at him.


    And it was¡­


    [You have obtained "Soul Wielder"! Congrattions!]


    [You can spin the wheel again at level 100!]


    He let out a sigh of relief, feeling incredibly happy that he had managed to get one of the sses he actually wanted.


    This meant that he could now focus on improving his skills in this area, which would undoubtedly help him in his fight against the apostles and domination trial.


    But there was still one more ss left on the wheel¡­ Incubus. Would he be able to get it? Only time would tell.


    But for now, Stark was content with what he had already achieved.


    Another reason why he wanted [Soul Wielder] was because¡­ of his family.


    He clearly remembered how they treated him, they were a [Soul Wielder] family, and Stark not having that ss was a shame to them, treating him like a dog.


    But now, what could happen if he suddenly came back with the [Soul Wielder] ss?


    The image of their shocked expressions excited Stark so much he had to stop himself fromughing out loud.


    But it didn''t matter for now, and so he moved on to checking out his new ss.


    ¡­


    [ss: Soul Wielder]


    [Description:] Your soul/heart powers you up, summon it before you to allow yourself to use your abilities, you can use weapons, magics or even have a beastpanion, it all depends on the heart you get, which mostly changes depending on your personality and attributes.


    [ss Effect:] Summons your very own unique heart to help you in battle.


    [ss w:] None, it is one of the best.


    [Basic Skills:] You do not need any, Domination has already absorbed it.


    ¡­


    Stark''s smile grew wider the more he kept reading the panel.


    And at the end, once he reached [Basic Skills], it disappeared.


    "¡­Of course," he sighed.


    Of course, this wasn''t a bad thing at ALL, [Exorcist] being the proof of that as [Domination] actually enhanced it with his aura.


    But what about [Soul Wielder], would it also be enhanced with his aura? Would it be much stronger that it already is?


    "Didn''t you say that you absorbed Exorcist because it was ''weak'' and that it would be a ''burden?''" Stark raised his eyebrows, talking to [Domination] itself, as it overtook all others, "But Soul Wielder is the second strongest ss, it just doesn''t make sense."


    [Domination will make it stronger.]


    [Domination is currently absorbing the ''Soul Wielder'' ss¡­]


    Stark had already experienced it once, so he didn''t say anything, instead just looking at the small bar that formed and that was slowly filling up.


    And after a minute.


    Ding!


    [100/100]


    [Absorptionplete!]


    [The ''Domination'' ss has absorbed the ''Soul Wielder'' ss, thus inheriting its aura and powers!]


    "Status Window," Stark mumbled.


    ¡­.


    [Level:] 77


    [Health:] 87000


    [Bloodline:] Human


    [sses:] Domination; Alchemist; Exorcist (Absorbed by Domination); Soul Wielder (Absorbed by Domination).


    [Talent:] Chosen one


    [Attributes:] Strength 8361; Speed 9837; Mind/Soul 10348; Stamina 7421; Defense 10245


    [Skill Points: 0 Avable!]


    [Current Tier: Silver, upgrade to ''Gold'' avable!]


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv25; Focus lv25; Aura Smash lv25; Clone Frenzy lv25; Invincible Dodge lv10; Double Assault lv10; Crimson Spears lv10; Heaven''s Wrath lv5; Alchemist lv5; Potion Crafting lv5; Target Maniption lv1; Dodge Control lv5; Crimson Ball Transmission lv5; EGO lv5; Crimson Purification lv25; Wielding Cross lv10; Crimson Healing lv1; The Void; Banish¡­


    ¡­


    Yep, it was now confirmed, Soul Wielder had been absorbed by [Domination].


    [As Soul Wielder has been absorbed, you have been granted one skill!]


    And of course, absorption still granted Stark a new skill.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Domination Soul]


    [Tier: Godly]


    [Description: Every Soul Wielder has their own soul, and this soul has its own unique, in your regard, your soul is called the [Domination Soul], you can use it to m your heart into the enemies (yes, literally), and control it as you like, the more you use it, the more possibilities.]


    [Note: your soul CANNOT be leveled up, meaning that it is only up to you to see how you want to use it, since ''Soul Wielders'' actually do not get these many skills!]


    [Double Note: Basically, being creative is the most important part, and you can even merge it with your already existing attacks!]


    ¡­


    The panel already said all the information, but to resume it quickly: soul wielders each have a unique soul, and they can use it however they like, only restricted by the power of their soul and their imagination, and that also means that they don''t get as many skills as other sses.


    Plus, much like skills like [The Void] and [Banish], it couldn''t be leveled up.


    Basically¡­ Stark got a weird new ss.

 Chapter 279: The Soul Heart

    ''Domination Soul,'' plus, his new basic godly skill didn''t have ANY kind of cooldown, so he immediately decided to use it.


    Fwish! Ding!


    [Your soul is being designed, please wait¡­]


    "Oh?"


    As stated before, every soul is different from the other, meaning much like talents or domination weapons, each was unique and based on the host''s feeling and intentions.


    If he could remember right: his mother''s in this world was pink, with hearts surrounding it, while his father''s was ck, with asional zaps of lightning.


    His brother''s was yellow with asso around it, and his sister''s was red with pulsating veins.


    Basically: all hearts were indeed different.


    [¡­]


    [¡­]


    [¡­.


    [Creation of ''Soul Heart'' isplete! You can now summon it!]


    "Alright!"


    "Domination Soul," he used his skill again, and something materialized in front of him, or more like in front of the exact spot his normal human heart should be.


    It was obviously crimson in color, was beating strongly, the sound echoing in Stark''s ears.


    But¡­ what made it so different from the others¡­ was the face at the front.


    All his heart had was a white mouth and eyes that kept smiling like this: =) but vertically.


    It was basically acting like his clone, and now that Stark thought about it, the face was so simr it was weird and also couldn''t be a coincidence either.


    In the end though, what his soul heart looked like didn''t matter.


    Ding!


    [You soul heartughs, ready to smash his enemies!]


    And just as this appeared, and crimson stringe appeared in each of the heart''s sides, going directly into Stark''s hands, meaning he was able to grab them.


    "This is¡­" he could move his heart using those almost invisible strings.


    Instinctively though, Stark ready the panel again.


    ''Smash his enemies¡­?''


    Of course, soul hearts are all different, and it meant their abilities were as well: because while how you used your heart can be decided by you, there was still a limit based on it could or couldn''t do from its basic perks.


    And Stark''s heart¡­


    Fwish! BOOOOOOOM!


    Stark''s used the strings to spin around smash his heart on the ground three meters away from him, which seemed to be the limit, and unexpectecly, not only did it create a small crater, but the domination aura followed to create a small crimson explosion too.


    ''HOLY!'' that thing was powerful, Stark could see it!


    But wait a minute¡­ doesn''t that mean that he just got a weapon?


    I mean, if [Domination Soul] is directly from [Domination]''s aura, then it meant his attacks and this skill used the same amount of aura to be cast, and so this also meant that he could use it as a weapon without any drawbacks, RIGHT?!


    He had only been using his fists until now, so the idea of actually being able to fight with something else was terrifying.


    Yes, this was a short-ranged weapon that couldn''t even go beyond the three meters mark because of the size of the strings, meaning that it was essentially fists but upgraded and did more damage, but who cares!


    He would also need to adapt his control over it, since using fists meant he was able to do whatever he wanted, but with his soul heart he still needed to control it and the strings to move it around meaning the chance to be hit.


    [If your soul heart is hit, it will disintegrate to protect itself, and only will be usable after three minutes!]


    This was surprising: this usually doesn''t happen at all to not a single one of the other soul wielders!


    Other [Soul Wielders] all have hearts obviously, and they also fight with them, but there wasn''t anything as restrictive as their heart disappearing every time it was hit: otherwise, opponents could just aim at it to make it disappear and thus render their users weak.


    Not at all, this wasn''t what happened, instead, Soul Hearts actually have way more HP than their users, taking several dozens of hits to begin to corrupt, and then if it receives too much damage then it disintegrates, which is why their host''s themselves decide to remove them and think about strategies to survive.


    If a [Soul Wielder]''s heart doesn''t disintegrate even after receiving too much damage, and it is hit, then there is a chance that it can be destroyed = literal instant death of the soul for its host.


    I mean, [Soul Hearts] are basically your hfearts, so it made sense.


    Maybe it was to put an EXTRAyer of protection on Stark that it disappeared after one hit? After all he still had other sses, so risking it for [Soul Wielder] wasn''t a good idea at all!


    Smash! Boom! Smash! Boom:


    Stark tried several times to attack in different ways, either smashing directly to ground, an explosion following, or trying to do some sort ofbo with it, but not having a clear target didn''t help, meaning that using the [Memories Museum] would be useful in this case.


    ''Alright, time to go,'' Stark nodded as he took a step forward.


    But right at that moment¡­


    ''Heh?'' his head began to hurt like hell, and so in single vibration of pain that was sent through his entire body, he fell unconscious.


    Yes, he couldn''t even find it: vibration of pain, then instant knockdown as his body fell, hitting the ground with the water, his face half submerged under the water., though thankfully his nose was out of it.


    ''What the hell?''


    It was like all his exhaustions from before had actually finally kicked in once he saw his ss and rced, the domination adrenaline that was constantlty pumping through his body catching up to him.


    He had just met the [The Great Serpent], a universal level 800 apostle, his aura overwhelming Stark to the point all he thought about was to run, and then he met the rest of the apostles and the [Godless Demon], which would already made most people go unconscious.


    Then he was forced to fight some insane monster with immortal abilities and berserker strength, even killing him once anding back to life, forcing Stark to literally [Execute] it to kill it for good.


    Oh, and by the way, that [Execution] of Stark, the one where he jumped on the ape''s neck and used its own sword piercing the back of its head to decapitate it, had already been sent to people in the ouside world, screens all over the world now ying the start of fight between Stark and the ape as it disyed everything.


    [ssifier S vs Guardian Ape] was the name, and they were currently at the halfway point, even Lana and Sora watching right now, both already recognizing who the boy in the video was simply by his hair and figure.


    Surely the world would go on a frenzy when the [Execution] actually happened, because even he knew that what he did was probably insanely cool.


    But until then¡­


    Thud!


    Stark fell, sleeping.


    ¡­


    This time, there wasn''t any particr setting for when he woke up in the ck void, [Alchemist] and [Domination], who now had a small beating heart in front of his chest in addition to his crimson aura body with golden strands and the golden halo above his head.


    He had indeed merged with [Soul Wielder].


    "Almost makes me feel left out," but it was indeed that alchemist was the only one who couldn''t be absorbed.

 Chapter 280: 3 Months Coma

    "What can I say, I''m just too good," Alchemist sighed it with a wide grin on his face.


    "Quit lying, it''s just that I literally couldn''t at that moment!" Domination sighed, the heart beating in front of its chest sending vibrations through the void, "Well, doesn''t matter."


    "Host!" Domination looked directly at Stark, "So how was the apostle and godless experience?"


    "A good 2 out of 10, only giving the two points because it felt good to see their faces when I defeated the ape."


    "Makes sense," the crimson doppelgangerughed.


    The three kept exchanging small discussions among themselves, speaking of the apostles, the godless demon and how he knew about Stark''s existence, as well as all the apostles they currently knew off/had the location.


    He couldn''t see the rest of the apostles because those he hadn''t seen were hidden by some sort of shadow veil, while those he saw weren''t, but if you think about it, there were only 4 apostles he currently didn''t know anything about.


    All those on the second line had their locations revealed to him, and he actually even knew the exact moment he would be able to get to them.


    The first three when the [Devil''s Abyss] was found, the fourth when the second semester of the academy starts as that was when the colosseum would open, and thest was in thest [Domination] trial.


    And even though he didn''t know where the [Great Serpent] was or when he would fight it, the fact he saw it and its abilities was enough to judge how bad this would get.


    And so just like this, an hour, then two, passed


    "Huh¡­ isn''t this taking too long?" he had never stayed this long in the void, because usually time passed much quicker than in the real world.


    Weren''t just twenty minutes in this ce equivalent to a week in the real world¡­?


    "Do not worry," Domination''s expression darkened, "One more hour and you''ll be able to leave."


    "Huh?" Stark was confused.


    "Aura is like a toxin," Alchemist exined, "And you were exposed to so much of it that its already a miracle you didn''t instantly pass out, any other domination users even at your level would have surely been knocked out and killed, which is why they were probably so surprised when you stood your ground and even killed the guardian ape."


    "HUH?!"


    "Basically, you need to rest so that your very own aura takes over the other, and it should take around 3 hours in here."


    "But wait a minute¡­ three hours here means¡­"


    "Yes, 3 months in the real world."


    "OH COME ON!"


    "Don''t worry, when you wake up, there will be around two days before the second semester, you should be fine," Domination shrugged.


    "That''s not the problem- you know what forget about it," maybe they couldn''t understand that losing three months of your life was bad, but to be honest a ssifier''s age with the [Domination] ss doesn''t go that far, so he guessed he shouldn''t worry.


    Maybe using [Domination] took some of his life span away each time he used it, who knows, but for now he didn''t care.


    Another hour passed, one where the doppelgangers as well as Stark discussed future strategies.


    And when it was finally time to leave¡­


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    "Alright, time to get up, host," Alchemist and Domination smiled, "Be sure to destroy those apostles."


    "¡­" Stark didn''t answer.


    Domination and Alchemist faded, and soon enough Stark lost consciousness.


    ¡­


    Stark opened his eyes, for him it had been only three hours, so he remembered perfectly, but in the outside world it had been three months, and he immediately noticed it by the smell and color of the water.


    The massive amount of blooding out of the guardian ape tained the water in weird redish color, and the smell from the decaying corpse was overwhelming.


    Surprisingly no items had dropped from the boss, and he was thankful since he really didn''t want to look for them, immediately leaving by going through the portal at the end of the sunken valley.


    The aura from the apostles and godless demon should have disappeared, that''s what domination said as it was overtaken by his own aura, yet Stark could still feel this feeling around him: a chilling one, the feeling of death.


    He didn''t know why or what, but something inside of him had snapped.


    His face darkened, and his eyes looked more tired, and it was''t even from tiredness: this was just his new look from now.


    Was it because he saw the power of those he needed to fight? Or was he just fed up?


    In the end, none of it mattered, because something was certain: Stark was tired of this shit, and from now on he would kill all of them without a hint of hesitation, and much faster than before.


    "¡­" be it human, monster or apostles, he wasn''t going to y anymore.


    Did he lose emotions? No, otherwise this feeling of excitement of going back to meet Lana wouldn''t be there, but strangely, he didn''t have any feelings towards the concept of fighting.


    Fwish!


    Stark passed the portal, and found his way back to his apartmentplex.


    The excitement of battling was almost gone, and now all he wanted was to end all of these battles quickly.


    Fighting the apostles? He would absolutely obliterate them before they even realized.


    The academy? Not even a challenge at this point, anyone who tried to get in his way was dead.


    Domination trial? Didn''t matter, he just needed to survive, just like before.


    Stark felt such a strange calmness it was scary.


    But one thing was for certain: Stark would remain normal on the outside, but the moment he entered a rift/battle, he wouldpletely change, disying a ruthless version of him no one would want to meet, not even the godless demon.


    Click! ck!


    He opened his apartment''s door using his keycard, and immediately was greeted by the sight of a cooking Lana.


    "S¡­S-¡­STARK?!" she dropped everything in her hands and rushed toward him, hugging him tightly, "ITS YOU, RIGHT! RIGHT? I''M NOT IMAGINING IT?!"


    "¡­" Stark didn''t say anything for a few seconds as he looked down at Lana, who was crying, then he breathed in and out and changed his expression to a more "Stark-like" one, "Yeah, It''s me," he smiled.


    "OH MY GOD, I-IT''S BEEN THREE MONTHS!"


    "Yeah, my bad."


    "A-And that execution three months ago was insane, even now people are talking about it, where in the hell did you go?!"


    He couldn''t tell her he met with the apostles of the godless demon, and the big boss himself, so he invented, "You know¡­ huh¡­ just fighting and leveling up, I got stronger!"


    This was technically not a lie!


    And Lana could definitely sense it in Stark''s aura: he was much stronger than before for some strange reason, and also¡­ more handsome.


    Her emotions got the better of her, and so she rushed in for a kiss.


    "¡­?!" Stark was taken aback, but after going through everything, he still kissed her back.


    After around a minute of intertwining their tongues, Stark pulled himself out as Lana would have probably kept going, "What about¡­ the food?"


    "O-Oh yeah," she blushed, "Let me finish dinner then we can¡­ um¡­ continue."


    ''¡­?''


    What the hell does she mean by continue, wasn''t this all?


    Or maybe she wanted to¡­ Oh!?

 Chapter 281: Deepened Relationship, The Second Academy Trial

    Stark and Lana ate dinner, and as soon as they were finished¡­ well¡­ they did the deed as Lana immediately pounced on the boy who just wanted to rest even though he had slept for 3 months, somehow still tired.


    Lana at first wanted to lead and prove to Stark that she could make him feel good, but in the end the roles were totally reversed.


    You cannot dominate a [Domination] user after all! Only another one can match with them!


    So in the end, she was the one that ended up feeling the best from Stark''s¡­ techniques?


    He didn''t even restrain himself, because the moment she dered she was ready, then he abandoned all his restraints and went full on hard mode, going faster and faster with not a second to rest.


    And so like this, they kept going for the entire night, Lana experiencing a feeling she had never felt before since it was both their first times.


    She copsed by the time the sun came up, and all Stark did was sigh as he looked at her stunning figure, now lying on the bed.


    "¡­"


    His body was filled with hickeys and kissing marks, but oh well, he couldn''t have expected Lana to like this so much when she was in ''submissive'' mode.


    "What the fuck am I even doing..."


    Morning came, and Stark slept like a baby, waking up a few hourster and preparing breakfast.


    Lana then woke up, remembered everything that happenedst night, and her face flushed with embarrassment.


    She couldn''t believe she had actually done it with Stark, and why the hell was he so good at it?


    ''Maybe he¡­ did it a lot before¡­?'' she thought to herself, but decided not to ask him as it would be embarrassing.


    "Come on, eat," Stark appeared out of nowhere suddenly, pointing at the toasts and eggs on the table, "Tomorrow is the big day."


    Yes, as stated before, tomorrow was the start of the second semester for the academy, meaning they would receive their second ''trial''.


    Oh; and by the way; his [Execution] of the guardian ape went viral all over the world, so pretty much everyone saw it.


    But Stark didn''t care that much: he simply did it because he was forced to, anything else wouldn''t have even scratched the ape.


    And so just like that, the day passed quickly.


    They didn''t do anything that night though, Lana feeling a bit overwhelmed and Stark a bit tired, so they just slept in the same bed as apromise.


    When did they be so close? Even Stark didn''t know, but being¡­ loved, didn''t feel that bad when he knew what wasing.


    He needed to be as serious as ever before, but he also just made sure to enjoy it a bit, because at least now they couldn''t say he died a virgin!


    He lived his life to the fullest, or at least he thought so!


    ¡­


    Beep! Beep! Beep!


    The rm rang, and both Stark and Lana prepared, leaving their apartmentplex and heading toward the academy.


    Just like during their entrance ceremony though, the roads were COMPLETELY packed with people, making it impossible to take a ride as it would take too long, and so as Stark was way faster, he carried Lana and did the same thing as before: run through the roofs and jump into the academy from above.


    It was currently 7:53 am, and the ''second semester'' ceremony was happening at exactly 8 am.


    There had actually been only 23 groups out of the 50 thatpleted their rift, meaning that even though 30 groups could havepleted it, it hadn''t been the case at all.


    Stark couldn''t imagine the amount of deaths, but oh well, hepleted his rift alone, so who cares.


    He and Lana entered the academy, arriving yet again in the lobby.


    "Squares again," the blonde-haired girl mumbled as she looked at the ground.


    This time there were 3000 squares set up because, well, 30 groups could win with 100 ssifiers per group, so the academy put them all even though they knew a situation where everyone survived is impossible.


    7:57¡­ 7:58¡­ 7:59¡­


    Everyone had arrived by now, and yet again Lana and Stark ced themselves in squares right beside one another.


    These squares were also slightly bigger than the previous ones since they had more space thanks to the decrease in the amount of people.


    And suddenly¡­


    Fwish! Ding!


    8:00 am!


    The door of the academy closed in a thud, and all students who had survived andpleted their respective rifts quieted down.


    Stark just noticed it, but only some of the strongest-looking ones remained now, and all of them looked more serious than before, experiencing a rift at such a difficulty probably making them realize how bad this was.


    And so¡­


    BOOM!


    An explosion happened on the stage at the very end of the room, and Theodore, as well as the teachers of the academy, appeared, a wide smile on his face and wearing his uniform.


    "Did you all enjoy yourselves?" he asked whileughing, but no one answered, "Alright," Theodore snapped his fingers, and the giant holographic screen that was so iconic appeared.


    It was the thing that had exined the rules to them and showed constant images to make it clear what they needed to do.


    [Students Who Pass to Second Stage¡­ 1763 out of 5000!]


    Of course, 23 groups surviving didn''t mean every member of the group survived, as there were bound to be some casualties.


    [This is way more than the previous years, congrattions to this batch of students!]


    Yet surprisingly, even though the number was already low, it seemed that was usually even lower!


    "All thanks to you," Lana smiled at Stark, and he found her adorable, though he quickly looked back at the screen.


    [Here is the ''Group Ranking'' for fastest riftpletion!]


    [Group 8, Leader: Stark Heartsouls]


    [Group 13, Leader: Karl Spikeford]


    [Group 27, Leaders: Punkz Brothers]


    .


    .


    . Continue reading on m|v-l''e-NovelBin


    This kept going, showing all the groups, but Stark was actually surprised: the three punks that had tried to hit on Lana back at the stations were actually strong, managing to finish third.


    Of course, they couldn''tpete with him though, no one could in this room, not even Sora now that he knew about what awaited him.


    Soon enough, the ranking disappeared, the holographic screen disying something else.


    [Well, there isn''t anything to exin, is there? You all know how this work from now on, right?]


    People nodded, knowing they still had two trials to go through before finishing the FIRST year of this academy, remember that there are two.


    [Very well, then let us introduce the second trial, and oh boy I pray you all manage because it is much harder than the first!]


    Some ssifiers gulped as they saw and heard that, but the vast majority remained calm, neutral expressions on their faces as they fully expected it.


    Stark was actually the only one smiling.


    After all, he perfectly knew what this second trial would be: Sora hade to his apartment specially to tell him, and he also read about it in the [ApostleDex].


    And it was¡­


    [Second Trial: The Colosseum]


    The image of a massive circr ancient-looking tower appeared, it was in the middle of the desert.


    [The colosseum is not a rift, but a tower, the academy has found and taken this one for the sole purpose of giving it to their students for this year!]


    It really seemed they went all in on this!


    [Towers differ from rifts simply by the fact that instead of going from zone to zone to find the boss, you will need to go up from floor to floor, this tower having 10 floors!]


    [This is an new group trial, by the way, meaning that all groups are disbanded!]


    Theodore''s voice continued, "Now, I''m sure most of you are familiar with towers as some may have even entered some, but if you don''t know, each floor holds at least one elite THAT needs to be defeated to go to the next one, at floor 5 is a mini-boss, and at the tenth floor is the boss!"


    Images appeared on the screen as Theodore spoke.


    [Your objective is simple: reach floor 10 with your party and defeat the boss!]


    [All those that do not defeat the boss of the tenth floor will be considered as expelled!]


    In retrospective, this should be pretty damn easy, shouldn''t it, after all, they could just form massive teams and the weakest of the lot can follow the pack and climb up!


    [The colosseum is, as stated in the name, a colosseum, meaning that there aren''t any monsters in the tower beside the elites, mini-boss and boss!]


    Yes, this meant that the moment you entered, it was only strong monster after strong monster.


    Floor 1 = Elite.


    Floor 2-4 = Elite.


    Floor 5 = Mini-Boss.


    Floor 6-9 = Elite


    Floor 10 = Boss


    With nothing in between you and these monsters.


    [Though note that after each monster is a safe-zone you can use to go back to the real world and rest, entering the colosseum again will resume you at the floor you were previously at!]


    [You can form parties of up to three ssifiers to aid you, which means the three of you will be alone to defeat all the monsters of the colosseum, so choose wisely!]


    [The Colosseum is a level 200-250 tower!]


    [This is all.]


    This was all the information they would be getting, and it was a lot to process.


    "Oh, and here," Theodore snapped his fingers, and in every student''s hands appeared a small golden token, "Use this to enter and leave the colosseum whenever you feel like it!"


    And so just like this, the principal and the teachers, as well as the holographic screen, disappeared, and the door of the academy opened.


    This was a rather quick introduction to the second semester, almost seeming like the chairman really wanted to see them fight quickly, or that defeating all the elites would take a long time.

 Chapter 282: Entering The Colosseum

    Stark, Lana, and Sora stood among the thinning crowd in the academy''s lobby, the tension in the air almost palpable after Theodore''s announcement


    And although this announcement was much quicker than the first since they had already introduced most of the rules already, only needed to inform the students of their task, its difficulty, how to get to it, and the penalty of failure.


    But basically, they had just learned about the second trial: The Colosseum, a tower of ten floors where survival depended on defeating increasingly powerful enemies.


    Stark stood tall, his eyes scanning the group, and soon enough he found the person he was looking for: Sora!


    The white-haired girl spotted him at the same time, and he could swear she ALMOST let out a small smile before going back to her original expression.


    Sora was the first to break the silence as she approached them.


    "We should create our group now, right?" Her tone was level, but there was an eagerness in her voice.


    She rarely showed such initiative, but this trial had clearly sparked something in her.


    Stark nodded, pulling up the system prompt with a flick of his wrist. "Yeah, let''s form the group."


    Ding!


    [Do you want to ept party invitation from ''Stark Heartsouls''?]


    They epted the invite as the system prompt shed before the three of them.


    [Party: Stark Heartsouls, Sora Gardenis, Lana Moonless]


    [Party: 3/3]


    Lana and Sora joined simultaneously, the shimmering text confirming their team. Stark let out a satisfied breath. They were ready.


    Immediately, some of the students around them began to activate their Colosseum tokens, teleporting away in shes of golden smoke.


    The suddenness of it caught Lana off guard, and she nearly stumbled.


    "Holy!" Lana eximed, eyes wide as she saw the golden mist vanish. "Looks like we can teleport at any point, huh, even now!"


    People weren''t wasting any time, and if they knew that they could handle the first few elites, then no reason to sit back and do nothing, thest trial did inform them that even though they had 4 months, their time was counted!


    "Yeah, seems so," Stark replied, folding his arms over his chest.


    His gaze flickered between Lana and Sora, considering their options.


    "Want to go...?" Sora proposed unexpectedly. It was rare for her to be the one to speak first, yet she had done it for the second time in a row, taking both of them by surprise.


    Stark grinned, his usual confidence shining through, "Of course, let''s test it out, and don''t worry, Lana, with me and Sora here, no chance in hell anything happens. Sit back and rx!"


    Lana''s smile faltered for a split second.


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    She knew she wasn''t as strong as Stark or Sora, but hearing it so casually from Stark stung a little.


    Sure, she wasn''t at their level, but she wasn''t weak either. But what hurt more was the dynamic between Stark and Sora.


    Even though Stark hadn''t meant it, hisment left Lana feeling overshadowed, as if her presence was less significant now that Sora was with them.


    She had always enjoyed Stark''s protective nature of her, actually, she loved it, but now that Sora was in the picture, she couldn''t deny she was jealous of her strength.


    "¡­Sure," Lana finally replied, her voice quieter than usual.


    So basically: Sora was jealous of Lana''s carefree attitude and how close she was to Stark, and the other was jealous of how mysterious and strong she was, since she thought this would attract Stark to her.


    What a weird duo.


    "Well, I think it''s better to go immediately," Stark mumbled.


    But before he could do that, the three heard a voice from behind, and once they turned, they saw that it was the "Punkz Brothers", the three brothers who ended up as the top 3 in the first trial.


    "Hey there," their colorful (and absolutely horrible) hair stood out from the rest, and they advanced toward the trio, and their leader didn''t waste any time in asking the question he wanted, "How about it, Lana? Join us instead of these two. We could use someone like you."


    Lana crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. "Thanks, but no thanks."


    The Punkz Brothers weren''t deterred, "Heh¡­ even though we''re stronger?" The leader smirked, leaning in slightly as if he was confident he was speaking the truth.


    But Stark couldn''t hold back hisugh, it was too ridiculous.


    "Stronger? You''ve got to be kidding me. Didn''t you see the video of the Death Rift? You do know it was me who took out those undead alone, right?"


    "Doesn''t matter," one of the brothers scoffed, his tone dismissive, "Those monsters were weak. We''d have destroyed them too."


    Stark''s amusement grew more as he heard them speak about their powers: these guys were delusional, and they had no idea the sheer difficulty of what he had faced.


    Even if they multiplied their strength five times, they wouldn''t havested a minute against the monsters he had fought.


    But arguing with them was pointless.


    Without another word, Stark activated his Colosseum token, Lana and Sora following suit.


    [Do you wish to enter the Colosseum?]


    [You will not be able to leave until you defeat the first floor elite at least.]


    Stark selected yes without hesitation, and within seconds, the golden light enveloped the trio, whisking them away from the academy as the Punkz Brothers cursed behind them.


    "THESE LITTLE¡ª"


    "Calm down, brother. We''ll get them!"


    ¡­.


    In an instant, the world shifted around Stark, Lana, and Sora, and they found themselves standing inside the Colosseum.


    The ancient structure was imposing¡ªmassive stone walls surrounded them on all sides, towering high into the sky.


    The room they stood in was dimly lit, the air heavy with the scent of age and dust, as though no one had stepped foot in this ce for centuries.


    In front of them was arge stone door, and above the door, written in thick crimson letters, was the text: "Floor 1."


    "Well," Stark said, his voice steady and confident. "Let''s go."


    Lana, wanting to feel included, nodded quietly. She nced at the towering door ahead of them, her fingers tracing her bow''s form to reassure her.


    Sora, on the other hand, wasposed, her eyes focused and sharp as ever. She hadn''t said much since arriving, but it was visible that she was ready.


    The trio approached the massive door together, their footsteps echoing off the floor.


    [Wee to the Colosseum!]


    Without another word, they stepped forward, prepared to face whatever the Colosseum had in store for them.


    Based on what the chairman and holographic screen at the academy lobby said, less than twenty minutes ago, there were ten floors, and each of them had no monsters except for an elite, and at floor 5 would be a mini-boss, then at floor 10 would be the boss.


    But based on what the information he got thanks to the [ApostleDex], Stark knew that in the floor 10 was a second boss, and it was a godless demon apostle.


    His goal was to find and kill that thing, otherwise all of this would be useless.


    "Let''s go," Stark looked at the two girls as he began to push the door open, his strength enough to slowly push the ancient door.

 Chapter 283: The Elites of the Colosseum are SO Easy!

    Stark, Sora, and Lana stood before the ancient door marked with "Floor 1," its towering frame making it obvious that whaty beyond was powerful.


    Stark took a deep breath before pushing it open, the heavy stone door groaning as it revealed a sprawling arena.


    Sand covered the ground, and towering stone walls surrounded the area, leaving no room for escape.


    The silence was eerie, and in opposition to when he fought Lother and Reaper, there were no spectators in the stands, it was just the party.


    Then, suddenly, with a loud thud, a massive shadow dropped from above,nding in the center of the arena.


    Dust and sand flew into the air, obscuring the figure, but as it cleared, they saw it: a towering level 200 [Minotaur] elite, around eight meters tall.


    Its muscr frame glistened in the dim light of the arena, thick ck fur covering its hulking body.


    The beast held a massive, battleaxe in its hands, easily twice as tall as all of them, blood visible on the de, maybe from killing other awakeners?


    Its eyes glowed red with fury, and its nostrils red as it snorted, the ground beneath it trembling with each breath.


    "Level 200, huh?" Stark muttered under his breath, eyeing the creature''s health bar.


    500,000 HP, and he didn''t even bother checking its stats.


    At this point, anything below level 225 was nothing but child''s y to Stark.


    He wasn''t worried about himself or Sora; both of them were more than capable of handling this brute.


    But his eyes flicked to Lana.


    She had a bow and some skills, but this kind of directbat would be a challenge for her.


    Lana, however, wasn''t about to back down.


    Determined to prove herself, she quickly notched several arrows onto her bowstring, her fingers glowing with energy as she activated her skill.


    "Moon Arrow!" she called out, sending a dozen shining arrows flying toward the Minotaur in quick session.


    ng!


    The beast reacted faster than expected, nting its massive axe into the ground and ducking behind it.


    The arrows bounced harmlessly off the axe''s thick metal surface, not a single one hitting its target.


    "¡­" Lana stared in disbelief at the Minotaur''s effortless defense, "That thing cheated, just wait until I hit it for real."


    But Lana wouldn''t get another chance to attack¡ªSora had already begun to take action.


    With a graceful wave of her hand, she summoned her skill, [Evergreen Resilience].


    The entire arena floor shifted and rumbled as lush green grass suddenly sprouted beneath their feet, stretching out to cover the entire battlefield.


    Vines grew rapidly from the ground, twisting and writhing as they encircled the Minotaur''s legs.


    Stark raised an eyebrow, impressed.


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    "Your skill''s improved," hemented, watching the vines'' rapid growth, "I remember it wasn''t this strong before."


    Surely with those, Sora would have easily won against Warden, locking him in ce.


    But to be honest, Sora didn''t seem that affected by her defeat against Warden, she probably moved on already.


    The Minotaur roared in frustration, its red eyes glowing brighter as it attempted to charge forward.


    But the [Evergreen Resilience] domain had already taken hold, thick vines wrapped around the beast''s legs, restraining its movements as it struggled to break free.


    The more it fought, the tighter the vines held.


    Sora gave Stark a brief nod, her silent way of telling him to finish the job.


    He smirked, raising his hand as crimson energy flickered around him.


    "AURA SMASH!" three crimson fists materialized beside him.


    And without hesitation, he began merging the three fists into one, the minotaur could sense the deadly power, but nothing he could do about it, as he was restrained, and he could only watch as Stark powered up his fists.


    "RAWWWRRR!" The Minotaur roared again, swinging its axe wildly, but the vines continued to hold strong.


    Sora''s nts had evolved to the point where they could restrain even the most powerful enemies at her level, and the Minotaur was no exception.


    ~FWISH, BOOM~


    And so, after finishing to power up his attack, Stark sent the enormous crimson fist flying toward the Minotaur.


    It collided with the beast''s chest, the force of the impact reverberating through the arena.


    -504381!


    The damage number shed above the Minotaur''s head, and in an instant, its HP bar dropped to zero.


    "HOLY SHIT!" Lana eximed, her eyes wide.


    She''d seen Stark fight before with all the videos about him that were constantly being uploaded, but witnessing his raw power in person was something else entirely.


    The Minotaur''s body exploded into a cloud of crimson energy, its remains disintegrating into the sand.


    [You have in ''Floor 1 Minotaur Elite'', gained 750,000 experience points!]


    Ding!


    [Your level has increased to level 78, granting you four skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Experience: 379,300/4,500,000.]


    Stark barely reacted to the notification.


    He nced over at Lana, who was still processing the fight.


    Oh, and by the way, even though she had done no damage, she still gained experience as well since they were in a party.


    "Don''t worry," Stark said with a grin, "You''ll get your chance to shine," though even he didn''t believe that.


    Lana only nodded, though a small part of her felt frustrated. She wanted to help, to prove that she could contribute to the team beyond being carried.


    The group continued forward, pushing through the second door.


    ¡­


    On the second floor, they encountered another elite monster¡ªthis time a [Stone Golem], its hulking frame made of boulders and rocks.


    Stark didn''t even bother checking its HP.


    The moment it stepped into the arena, he activated [Crimson Spear], summoning five glowing red spears of energy that hovered around him.


    Sora also acted immediately, her [Evergreen Resilience] once again covering the battlefield. Vines shot up from the ground, winding their way around the golem''s massive legs.


    And unlike the Minotaur, the golem''s heavy, rocky body couldn''t even attempt to fight back, too slow to counter, as it mainly focused all of its energy in its strength.


    Yet, now that its high strength wasn''t useful, it was pretty much dead.


    With a simple motion, Stark sent his crimson spears flying, each one striking the golem with precision.


    BOOM!


    "-112482! -128491! -117363!"


    The golem''s HP bar plummeted, and just like that, it crumbled into a pile of rubble.


    ¡­


    They moved on to the third floor, where they faced a [Fire Elemental]. The creature, made entirely of swirling mes, floated above the ground, its molten body radiating intense heat.


    Lana took her chance this time, attempting to shoot her arrows at it, but they phased right through the monster.


    "Elements of Nature," and Sora was the one to finish it off with her skill, each of the energy balls she summoned hit the monster like a truck before Stark could even act.


    He and Sora were making an incredible team, and Lana was an amazing cheerleader too!


    ¡­


    The fourth floor brought a [Frost Ogre], its massive body covered in thick ice.


    Sora took control again, her vines proving even more effective against the ice-covered monster, slowly strangling it until it fell. Stark barely had to intervene, sending only a single crimson spear to finish the job.


    After defeating the Frost Ogre, the trio finally reached the fifth safe zone, the tension easing as they came to a halt in front of another massive ck door.


    Above it, inrge crimson letters, read:


    [Floor 5: Mini-Boss]


    "Well, here goes nothing," he nor Sora had broken a single drop of sweat, so they would probably be able to keep going until thest floor.


    "You''re nning to beat the mini-boss today too?!" Lana asked in shock.


    It had been less than thirty minutes since they had entered, and already they were standing before the fifth-floor door, nearly halfway through the trial.


    Stark stretched casually, his confidence unwavering. "I mean, duh. The quicker we clear this, the better. Who knows? Maybe we''ll get some information about the next trial if we finish early."


    Lana looked skeptical, but Sora simply nodded in agreement.


    She, like Stark, had a calm confidence that suggested they could take on anything.


    "Alright¡­" Lana sighed, readying her bow, though she almost wanted to just drop it on the crowd.


    With a determined grin, Stark stepped forward, cing his hand on the ck door, and then pushed it without hesitation just like all the others, ready to easily defeat the mini-boss too.

 Chapter 284: Meeting with the Colosseum Apostle!

    Before anyone else too, since it had been less than two hours since this entire second semester trial started.


    Everyone would surely cry when they realized half the colosseum was beaten in such a short amount of time, heh.


    The door shut behind them with a thunderous boom, sealing them inside the massive arena.


    It was muchrger than the previous floors, the stone walls towering higher, the air colder.


    The ground beneath them was no longer simple dirt or sand; it was ck, like polished obsidian, reflecting the faint light that flickered from the walls.


    The air was thick with an oppressive energy, and they could all feel it, the presence of the mini-boss.


    "Maybe it''s finally gonna be a challenge," he mainly spoke to Sora, and Lana gulped as she feared for her life.


    A low rumble echoed through the room, the sound growing louder as something massive stirred in the darkness at the far end of the arena.


    Stark''s took his usual stance, with his fists in front of his face, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the room, looking for the source of the noise.


    Sora stood beside him, her hands already glowing with the energy of her nt abilities, ready to act at a moment''s notice.


    Lana, bow at the ready, drew a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves, though she knew her arrows wouldn''t do much.


    Maybe putting on a cheerleader outfit and dancing would be more useful than what she was currently doing, heh?


    Suddenly, the ground beneath them trembled violently.


    The obsidian floor cracked, and from the cracks, glowing red fissures spread like spider webs.


    A massive figure slowly emerged from the shadows.


    "¡­" so much presentation for a floor 5 mini-boss?


    At least, that is what Sora and Lana believed after the former demolished all the bosses that came before.


    Everyone believed that¡­ except for Stark, who''s eyes widened in shock.


    "Hey there¡­ Chosen¡­"


    Because if the creature at the end of the room was the mini-boss, then what the fuck was that thing?


    And that''s when Stark realized something else as he focused, because the mini-boss wasn''t actually hiding to make some sick entrance or whatever: that thing was trembling fear.


    Its figure was hidden from him, impossible to see what it looked like, but Stark knew it, deep inside.


    [Olikar, The Colosseum Warrior (GODLESS DEMON APOSTLE)]


    [Level 400]


    "HOLY SHIT, GET THE FUCK OUT," he shouted to Lana and Sora, but mainly Lana.


    "If you want to fight me," Olikar pointed upward, "At the top of the tower is where you need to go, have fun."


    Olikar was looking at him, as if judging him, "Hey, you," he pointed at the mini-boss, "Get rid of the other two."


    And once Olikar snapped his fingers, the mini-boss suddenly went crazy.


    [Wrought Iron Gargantua has received the ''Berserk'' effect from ''Olikar''s Colosseum Authority'', it willst until the end of the battle!]


    "Hahaha¡­" the apostleughed as he disappeared into the darkness, leaving the three ssifiers and the mini-boss, which now had the power of a boss, alone.


    And now, they needed to face what was left: the floor 5 mini-boss.


    It was a [Wrought Iron Gargantua], a hulking monstrosity that stood over ten meters tall, its entire body encased in dark metal, polished and jagged.


    Thick iron tes covered its body like armor, and its head was adorned with a twisted crown of rusted metal.


    Its eyes glowed with an ominous red light, and its entire body radiated an aura of ancient power.


    The massive creature''s arms were unnaturally long, ending in enormous hands with spiked, wed fingers.


    It carried a colossal iron hammer in one hand, its head almost asrge as a boulder.


    Stark quickly checked its stats.


    [Name: Wrought Iron Gargantua]


    [Level: 225]


    [HP: 700,000]


    [Strength: 4847 (+3000 from berserk state)]


    [Stamina: 4365 (+3000 from berserk state)]


    [Speed: 2371 (+3000 from berserk state)]


    [Defense: 18371 (=3000 from berserk state)]


    [Skills: Irond Skin, Earthquake Hammer, Shockwave, Metallic Regeneration, Maic Pull, Iron Spikes, Tremor, Steel Rampage, Crushing Strike, Titan''s Will¡­]


    "This one''s no joke," Stark muttered, already calcting their approach, "And fucking hell¡­ 21000 defense¡­"


    That thing''s armor was pretty much imprable, abandoning all of its other stats in exchange for a defense that would take them hours to break through.


    Sora clenched her fists, her nts blooming under her feet, "Doesn''t matter, just kill it."


    Without warning, the [Wrought Iron Gargantua] let out a deafening roar, raising its hammer high.


    The ground beneath them trembled as it brought the massive weapon down with a devastating force, unleashing its first skill: [Earthquake Hammer].


    BOOM!


    The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the arena, cracking the ground and sending debris flying into the air.


    Stark immediately activated [Invincible Dodge], rolling out of the way just in time as a massive chunk of stone flew past where he had stood.


    Sora, too, managed to sidestep the attack, her agility enhanced from countless battles.


    But Lana, less experienced in directbat, wasn''t as fast. She stumbled, losing her footing as the shockwave knocked her to the ground.


    "Lana!" Stark sighed, a bit concerned.


    But before he could move, the Gargantua activated its second skill: [Maic Pull].


    The iron spikes jutting from its body began to glow, and an invisible force yanked Lana toward the monster, her metal-tipped arrows and gear dragging her closer to the beast.


    The Gargantua raised its massive hammer again, preparing to crush her beneath its weight.


    Sora acted quickly.


    With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a flower from the ground¡ªthe delicate bloom of [Flower Analysis]. The petals shimmered, and the flower whispered to her, revealing the creature''s stats as well.


    But that wasn''t all that small flower said.


    "Shoot for the joints! Its iron armor is weakest at the elbows and knees!" Sora called out just as calmly as before, almost making it seem like they weren''t in a life or death situation.


    Lana scrambled to her feet, narrowly dodging the hammer''s descent as it mmed into the ground where she had been.


    She nocked an arrow and aimed for the creature''s knee.


    "Got it!" she shouted, releasing the arrow.


    The arrow flew through the air, striking the Gargantua at the joint of its knee. It nged against the iron but didn''t pierce through.


    -371!


    "Dammit, it''s still too tough!" Lana growled, frustration bubbling up.


    Stark, seeing the opportunity too, summoned the five spears of [Crimson Spears], each glowing with a fierce red energy as they span around him.


    Heunched them at the Gargantua''s exposed knee, aiming to break through the weaker joint.


    The spears mmed into the monster''s leg with a thunderous impact, shattering the armor slightly but not breaking it.


    -4727! -5481! -4938!


    "¡­" he didn''t say anything, but they just need to keep going.


    The Gargantua roared in anger, lifting its leg and activating another skill.


    "IRON SPIKES!"


    Dozens of long, jagged iron spikes shot out from its body, aimed at the trio.


    "Get down!" Stark shouted, rolling to the side as the spikes embedded themselves into the ground. Sora managed to dodge in time, the spikes grazing past her, but Stark was forced to take a hit to protect Lana.


    -7361!


    Thankfully enough the damage was low, and if Lana had been hit, she would have probably bleed out, making it worth it.


    "This isn''t working," Sora said calmly, because even though she tried to use [Evergreen Resilience] and [Vine Surge], the vines couldn''t hold down or hurt the massive beast.


    Which meant that they couldn''t use their usual ''strategy'' to beat it.


    Stark nodded grimly, "It''s built for defense, just keep hitting it in the same spot."


    Sora''s eyes narrowed as she summoned her next ability, [Elements of Nature].


    The ground beneath them rumbled as five massive flowers erupted from the earth: a sunflower, a tulip, an iris, a poppy, and a lily.


    Each flower bloomed to an enormous size, their petals glowing with energy.


    "¡­" Sora was focused, not speaking at all.


    After a few seconds, the flowers began to generate energy balls, powered by the petals. The energy pulsed, growingrger and more potent.


    With a simple gesture from Sora, the flowers fired their energy balls in unison.


    The glowing orbs of energy shot through the air like meteors, mming into the Gargantua''s iron body with explosive force.


    BOOM!


    The impact caused the Gargantua to stumble, its iron armor dented and cracked in ces. Its HP bar dropped significantly, but it wasn''t enough.


    -73781!


    "Nice job," he was happy Sora managed to do damage, because it meant he could as well!


    The Gargantua roared in fury.


    "STEEL RAMPAGE!"


    The iron spikes on its body began to spin, turning it into a whirling mass of metal and destruction.


    It charged forward, the spikes tearing through everything in its path.


    Stark quickly activated Invincible Dodge, rolling out of the way just as the Gargantua barreled past him. But as the monster turned, one of its spikes grazed Lana''s side, sending her flying across the arena.


    "Lana!" Stark''s heart dropped as he saw her crumple to the ground, blood trickling from her side.


    She wasn''t dead, but she was hurt¡ªbadly.


    A cold rage surged through Stark as he saw her lying there.


    His usual calm demeanor gone.


    His hands clenched into fists, and the crimson energy around him red brighter than ever.


    "That''s it¡­" Stark growled, his voice low and dangerous.


    He could feel the power of his new ability surging through him¡ªthe ability he hadn''t fully tapped into yet.


    [Crimson Soul].

 Chapter 285: Beating the Mini-Boss

    "CRIMSON SOUL!"


    Stark''s body glowed with a crimson light as his soul manifested in front of him: a pulsating crimson heart with a smiley face on it.


    Without hesitation, he took the two chains that controlled the heart, and from his single rage determination mmed it into the mini-boss''s body twice.


    The Gargantua screeched, its iron body shuddering as Stark''s soul heart hurt it badly.


    -124714! -132379!


    Even with its defense, the damage was insane.


    The creature roared, struggling against Stark''s control, but it was toote.


    "ITS OVER!" Stark gritted his teeth and activated [Aura Storm], summoning the five crimson fists, which instant merged into a violent whirlwind of energy.


    The storm pulled the Gargantua in, its massive iron body mming into the ground as the crimson energy tore through its defenses.


    The iron tes cracked and shattered under the relentless assault, the Gargantua''s HP plummeting.


    FWISH¡­


    And when it was almost at the heart of the [Aura Storm]¡­ it exploded.


    BOOOOOM!


    -543713!


    Its defenses were already most shattered from the hits of his soul, so its defense had plummeted.


    The Gargantua let out one final, pained roar before the storm crushed itpletely.


    Its body copsed to the ground, its once-imprable armor shattered into pieces.


    [You have in ''Wrought Iron Gargantua''. You have gained 2,200,000 experience points!]


    Ding!


    [Your level has increased to level 79, granting you four skill points and a boost in stats.]


    Stark stood over the defeated creature, his chest heaving as thest remnants of his soul heat gradually seeped back into his body.


    His heart returned to his body, and the crimson aura around him disappearing.


    He turned, his eyes immediately searching for Lana. She was conscious, but clutching her side in pain.


    Sora was already beside her, healing her wounds with [Regenerative Drop].


    After thirty seconds, a single golden drop emerged from a giant flower above Lana''s head, the drop hitting her forehead and fully healing her.


    "+70000!"


    Lana got up almost immediately, the healing abilities of the flowers working wonders!


    [You have beaten the fifth floor!]


    [You are the first team to reachplete the first half of the colosseum!]


    ¡­


    Across the Capital


    The sudden notification that appeared in front of all the students¡ªand even the teachers¡ªsent shockwaves through the capital. Every student stopped in their tracks as the message shed in front of them.


    They were getting ready to final enter to attempt to beat the first floor with their teammates, some others wanting to rx before risking their lives.


    And some crazy fuckers were already halfway done?!


    The entire academy fell into chaos as students stared at their status screens in disbelief.


    The Colosseum Trial, a grueling test of endurance and skill, was designed to be a challenge that would push students to their absolute limits.


    A challenge where most teams would take weeks to reach even the third or fourth floors.


    How in the world had someone managed toplete five floors so fast?


    Inside the faculty lounge, the teachers and staff looked at one another, stunned.


    The chairman, Theodore, sat silently at his desk, his fingers joined as he stared at the notification hovering before him.


    "This is... outstanding," one of the senior instructors muttered, shaking his head in disbelief, "No team has ever done this so quickly not in¡­ ever¡­?"


    Theodore''s expression remained neutral, but his mind was racing. Deep inside, he knew.


    Only two people could have possibly done this.


    "Stark and Sora," he muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing in contemtion, "It has to be them."


    Back to the Trio, inside the safe zone after the fifth floor.


    As the notification disappeared, Stark, Sora, and Lana were suddenly teleported away from the battlefield.


    The familiar golden light of the system wrapped around them, pulling them to their next destination: the safe zone at the halfway point.


    They blinked, finding themselves standing inside a luxurious room.


    It was vastly different from the others, which all mimicked the harsh environments of the previous floors.


    A table in the center of the room was filled with an assortment of food, drinks, and healing items. Plush couches lined the walls, inviting them to rest.


    "Wow..." Lana whispered, her eyes wide with amazement. "This is... amazing."


    Without hesitation, she plopped down onto one of the couches, sinking into the soft cushions with a sigh of relief. S


    tark, on the other hand, was more focused.


    He nced at the healing items scattered across the room, grabbing a few potions and downing them quickly.


    "We deserve a break," he muttered, copsing into a nearby chair and leaning back, his head resting against the cushions.


    He didn''t even bother questioning why there was such a ce in a colosseum.


    [This ce only appears to users whoplete the first five floor in a row, otherwise it will be a normal room.]


    ''Makes sense,'' he sighed.


    Sora, the quiet one, simply sat on the floor near the table, sipping from a ss of water.


    She didn''t say much, but she didn''t need to. Her presence alone was enough.


    For thirty minutes, they rested infortable chatter: Lana and Stark chatted lightly about the trials they''d faced so far, and though Sora didn''t contribute much to the conversation, she listened intently.


    Despite her usual stoicism, there was somethingforting about being here with Stark and Lana, hearing them speak.


    She didn''t express it outwardly, but deep down, she realized that this was the first time in a long while that she felt truly¡­ at ease.


    Sora, who had once felt a bit of jealousy towards Lana for being so close to Stark even though she was ''weak'', felt relieved now: that jealousy inside of her disappeared.


    Thirty Minutes Later.


    Stark suddenly stood up from his seat, cracking his neck.


    His eyes burned with a deep crimson color, the aura around him sparking to life once again.


    "Let''s go," he said, his voice filled with determination. "I want to get this over with."


    Sora was already on her feet, her expression as calm andposed as always. She nodded silently, ready to follow him to whatever awaited them beyond the sixth-floor door.


    But as they moved towards the door, Lana stayed back, hesitating.


    She fidgeted with her fingers, biting her lip.


    "Um..." she mumbled. "I think I''ll just stay here..."


    Stark stopped, turning back to her with a confused expression.


    "I... I''m just not good enough to be fighting with you two," Lana admitted, her voice trembling slightly, "I feel like I''m holding you both back... and... I wouldn''t even be here without your protection, Stark. I''m already grateful for that."


    She looked down at the floor, her face flushed with embarrassment.


    For a moment, Stark didn''t say anything: he didn''t know what to say.


    He tried to open his mouth, but before he could speak, Sora quietly stepped forward.


    Sora''s hand reached out, gently stroking Lana''s hair.


    "It''s fine," Sora said softly, her voicecking its usual coldness, "You can just wait here. We''llplete the tower before you even realize it."


    She offered Lana a small, reassuring smile, something most people would call an actual miracle, it was faint, but it was enough to make Lana''s eyes well up with tears.


    "...Thank you," Lana whispered, her voice cracking.


    And at that moment, she too, realized that Sora wasn''t a rival, not at all, and so she also lost that jealousy she had with her. Find your next adventure on m_v l|e-NovelBin


    Now, maybe they could find a middle ground concerning Stark?


    Afterward, Lana gave Stark a quick hug, which he returned, and then she went back to sit on the couch.


    With that done, Stark turned and pushed open the doorbeled with the sign [Sixth Floor].


    The heavy door creaked as it swung open, revealing the next arena.


    Lana stood back, watching as the two disappeared into the arena, the door slowly closing behind them with a heavy thud.


    ¡­


    The air was thick with tension as Stark and Sora stepped into the massive, circr arena.


    Before them stood their next opponent: a hulking figure d in dark armor. Its face was hidden behind a helmet with glowing red eyes, and its body radiated an aura of pure malice.


    The elite let out a low growl, its hands tightening around a massive sword.


    Stark and Sora exchanged a nce, their respective auras ring to life around them: Stark''s crimson and frenzied, while Sora''s remained calm and green.


    The elite shifted its stance, and it almost seemed like it was¡­ trembling.


    "Gulp," it audibly gulped, clearly aware of the overwhelming power in front of it.


    Even though it was an elite, it knew itself that facing these two awakeners was a battle it couldn''t win.


    And so, the fight began.

 Chapter 286: Speedrunning to the Tenth Floor

    The fight began and¡­ it ended just as quickly as it has started.


    "AURA SMASH! CRIMSON SPEAR! WIELDING CROSS!"


    He sent five spears, five crimson fists, and swung his cross three times at the elite.


    Let''s just say that it didn''t survive even half of these attacks, the wielding cross was just overkill at this point.


    Ding!


    [You have beaten the ''Elite Phantom Warrior'' from the sixth floor!]


    [Gained 870,000 experience!]


    The arena was quiet after the quick destruction of the elite phantom warrior.


    The system notifications shed before them, but they paid little attention.


    [You can now ess the seventh floor.]


    "Let''s go," Sora stretched her neck slightly, her expression unchanging, as if taking down a powerful enemy was nothing more than a daily routine.


    Stark, however, cracked his knuckles, the crimson glow in his eyes slowly fading as the energy from the fight disappeared, he wasn''t bothered either.


    At this point, level 225 monsters were bing nothing to them, might as well reach level 300 monsters to make a difference.


    "We''re getting close," Stark muttered, his eyes narrowing at the distant door that led to the seventh floor. "I can feel it."


    Sora simply nodded, her green aura shimmering faintly around her.


    Without a word, they both walked forward, heading toward the next challenge.


    Killing the seventh, eight and ninth elites was also a piece of cake to them, all bosses trembling once they noticed who they were facing, and unable tounch a single attack before dying;


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    [You have defeated the ninth floor elite, "Pilgrim Swordmaster", gained 1,200,000]


    [Experience: 4,377,200/4,600,000]


    He was close to leveling up too, and him being at level 79 meant that he would be able to get a new skill!


    They reached the FINAL safe zone, which was even more luxurious than thest.


    [Completed all floors (except boss) in a row, incredible achievement!]


    Yet again, there were potions and items everywhere to heal them, though they couldn''t take them out in the real world.


    But this time, Stark and Sora didn''t even bother to wait around, they just headed straight to the final door, which was ck with a skull on it.


    As they approached the door, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble slightly.


    Stark paused, his eyes flicking toward the floor in confusion.


    He could feel something, an unsettling presence.


    It was different from the creatures they''d faced before, this was colder, more malicious, yet strangely familiar.


    Suddenly, the air in the room grew thick with darkness, and the temperature plummeted.


    A low chuckle echoed through the safe-zone.


    "He''s back," Stark informed Sora as he pointed at the middle of the room, and there was some kind of dark portal on the ground, from it appearing a weird figure.


    "Well, well, well," a voice sneered from that hole, "Looks like you lots just don''t give up, do you?"


    "In a safe zone?" Sora titled her head, even she was confused, weren''t safe zones supposed to be¡­ you know¡­ safe?


    But this time, Stark was able to see the apostle''s appearance a little better thanks to the light.


    Hovering above the floor, encased in dark, swirling energy, was a red-skinned man d in tattered, battle-worn armor, with horns on his head, one of them broken.


    His eyes were ck voids, swirling with chaotic energy, and his mouth twisted into a mocking grin.


    In his hand, he held a jagged spear that crackled with dark energy.


    "Olikar¡­" Stark spoke calmly, not even scared of that thing.


    Why would he be scared of the apostle he would soon enough kill, anyway.


    The Colosseum Warrior, Olikar, an apostle of the godless demon.


    His mere presence was enough to make lesser beings fall to their knees, driven mad by his chaotic energy, and he was one of themanders of the godless demon, meaning that he controlled one of therger amount of monsters.


    I''m ttered that you''re so excited to see me, really. But you should be more concerned about what''s about to happen next."


    His dark eyes flicked toward the tenth-floor door, as if sensing whaty beyond.


    "The final boss, huh? You two have been quite the amusing show, but do you really think you can defeat what''s waiting for you without a little¡­ assistance?"


    With a casual wave of his hand, dark energy exploded from Olikar''s palm, shooting toward the tenth-floor door.


    Stark and Sora watched, helpless to intervene, as the energy seeped through the cracks and disappeared into the depths of the arena beyond.


    The air shifted again, and for a moment, the oppressive feeling seemed to lessen.


    Then, Olikar turned back toward Stark, his grin widening as if enjoying some private joke.


    "I''ve just boosted the power of your final opponent," he said with a chuckle, "You''ll find him¡­ much less forgiving than the others. I do hope you survive long enough to at least entertain me a little longer."


    "¡­You know I''m still gonna win, right?" Stark raised his eyebrows, "Just like against all your previous friends, just like against the ape, and just like against all the future ones."


    Olikar merely shrugged, unimpressed by Stark''s talk, "Haha¡­ I''d love to see you try, I saw the power you had, there is no chance you can defeat me if you struggled against the ape."


    Without another word, Olikar vanished, his body dissolving into a swirl of shadows that disappeared into the dark hole.


    "You seem¡­ to know a lot about these things," Sora questioned, her face emotionless.


    "Just look time enemies stuff, you know," Stark smiled, unbothered, "Let''s go, shall we?"


    They stood in front of the tenth-floor door, knowing that beyond it awaited their final trial: the culmination of everything they''d faced so far.


    Stark could feel the intensity of the boss''s energy even through the door, it was probably stronger than all other elitesbined.


    But he wasn''t scared.


    With a firm push, Stark opened the door, and they stepped into the final arena.


    ¡­


    The tenth-floor arena was vast, muchrger than the previous ones.


    The ground beneath their feet was made of dark stone, cracked and scorched as if countless battles had taken ce here.


    In the center of the arena stood the final boss: a towering figure d in thick, obsidian armor.


    Its face was hidden behind a monstrous helmet, and its hands gripped a colossal sword that crackled with dark energy, the same energy Olikar had used.


    [Colosseum Final Boss: Abyssal Warbringer]


    [Difficulty: Cmity]


    [Level: 250 + 50 (shadow boost)]


    [HP: 1,200,000]


    Stark could feel that this thing was powerful, maybe even more powerful than the ape, but he remained focused, his crimson energy swirling around him.


    The Abyssal Warbringer wasn''t scared like all the others though, he just stared at the human, then positioned his bloodied sword sideways, as if ready to attack.


    Sora remained calm beside him, her green aura swirling gently around her, though she could sense that this thing was strong.


    The Warbringer let out a deafening roar, shaking the very foundations of the arena.


    And then his sword mmed into the ground, sending shockwaves of dark energy spiraling toward them.


    Without missing a beat, Stark summoned his [Crimson Soul], the familiar pulsating heart with the eerie smiley face appearing beside him.


    He gripped the chains attached to it, preparing to attack.


    "Let''s do this."

 Chapter 287: The Abyssal Warbringer, The Final Boss of the Colosseum

    "Perception," Stark activated his skill the moment the fight began.


    [Name: Abyssal Warbringer, The Colosseum''s Strongest (CALAMITY)]


    [Level: 250 + 50 (boosted)]


    [HP: 1,200,000]


    [Strength: 13532 + 5000]


    [Stamina: 12182 + 5000]


    [Speed: 13281 + 5000]


    [Defense: 10462+ 5000]


    [Skills: Warde of Dread, Abyssal Surge, Colossus Shield, Crushing Despair, Shadow Wave, Cmity Storm, Deathcall Frenzy, Shadow Phase, Malice Burst, Phantasmal Barrage, Ruinous Leap, Armor of the Abyss]


    The stats alone were terrifying, but with the level boost from Olikar''s interference, the Warbringer was effectively level 300.


    But more importantly: that thing was a tank, a fighter, fast and had stamina, it was extremely bnced across all its stats!


    Sora''s green aura red around her, calm and steady as always, "¡­"


    The Warbringer didn''t give them time to gather themselves.


    With a roar that shook the arena, he used [Shadow Wave], mming his sword onto the ground to send shockwaves of energy toward them.


    "Vine Barrier," but Sora was prepared, using a new skill Stark had never seen before to summon HUNDREDS of vines, blocking the attack easily.


    ''¡­Oh yeah, I''m not the only one that gets new skills, I''m dumb,'' Stark mocked his stupidity as he got ready to continue.


    But then the monster charged forward, faster than anything that size should be able to move.


    Its massive sword, [Warde of Dread], was already swinging downward, a blur of obsidian steel aimed directly at Stark.


    Stark barely had time to react, his body moving on instinct.


    His [Crimson Soul] activated instantly, the pulsating crimson heart appearing before him, and he grabbed its chains, swinging it up to meet the iing strike.


    The collision sent a shockwave through the arena, forcing Stark''s feet to dig into the ground as the sheer power of the Warbringer''s attack pushed him back several feet.


    [Your crimson soul has been damaged slightly.]


    It seems that because the enemy was stronger and dealt more damage, even though he was countering his soul would still receive damage.


    "Too strong!" Stark grunted, his arms trembling from the force of the impact.


    But before he could recover, the Warbringer''s free hand thrust forward, activating [Malice Burst].


    A st of dark energy erupted from its palm, mming into Stark and sending him flying across the arena, crashing into the stone wall with a sickening thud.


    "-28471!"


    "Stark!" Sora''s voice cut through the air, though still emotionless, but she couldn''t afford to help him.


    The Warbringer was already on her, its [Abyssal Surge] skill ring to life.


    Dark tendrils of energy shot from its body, expanding outward in all directions.


    Sora leapt into the air, her green aura flickering as she narrowly avoided the tendrils.


    But the Warbringer was relentless.


    He activated [Crushing Despair], and an invisible wave of oppressive energy swept over the battlefield.


    Sora felt it immediately¡ªher movements slowed, her body feeling heavier with every step.


    Her green aura flickered, struggling to maintain its strength under the weight of the attack.


    This attack used one simple power: despair, and to make that happen, he basically made Sora remember the crushing fight she had against the warden.


    She barely had time to react as the Warbringer''s massive sword swung toward her again, the de moving faster than her sluggish body could manage.


    But at thest second, Stark appeared in front of her, grabbing two of his [Crimson Spears] in his hands while using the [Spear Block] perk he got at level 10 and meeting the Warde with a resounding sh.


    The force of the collision sent another shockwave through the arena, and his two spears broke, but Stark didn''t falter, punching the Warbringer away.


    "-74261!"


    "Be careful, we don''t want another warden incident!" Stark barked, breathing heavily as he got in position again after punching the boss.


    Sora nodded, her face calm but serious. "I underestimated it."


    The Warbringer, seeing its attacks blocked, let out another deafening roar and activated [Colossus Shield], summoning a massive, dark shield of energy that enveloped its body.


    It charged forward, using the shield to ram into Stark and Sora like a living battering ram.


    But this time, Stark was ready.


    Stark activated [Crimson Spears], sending his three remaining spears to intercept the Warbringer, but the shield was too strong.


    The spears mmed into the shield, but the Warbringer didn''t even flinch, continuing its charge.


    "Move!" Stark yelled, grabbing Sora by the arm and pulling her out of the way just as the Warbringer''s shield smashed into the ground where they had been standing.


    The impact sent chunks of stone flying in all directions, creating a crater in the floor.


    Stark and Sora regrouped, breathing hard. Find your next adventure on m_v l|e-NovelBin


    The Warbringer''s speed and strength were overwhelming, and its defenses were imprable.


    They needed a new strategy.


    "I''ll distract it," Stark said, his crimson aura ring to life again, "You go for its weak points."


    Sora nodded, her green aura pulsing in agreement.


    She dashed forward, her movements precise and calcted.


    Stark followed, his [Wielding Cross] skill activating as the massive crimson cross appeared in the air above him, and with a roar, he swung it down, crashing into the Warbringer''s shield.


    The force of the attack cracked the shield, but it didn''t break.


    The Warbringer retaliated immediately, activating [Void Maelstrom].


    A swirling vortex of dark energy erupted from its body, expanding outward and pulling everything toward it.


    Stark and Sora were caught in the pull, their bodies struggling to fight against the vortex''s gravitational force.


    "Damn it!" Stark growled, digging his heels into the ground as he fought to stay upright.


    The vortex was too strong, pulling them closer and closer to the Warbringer''s deadly reach.


    But then, he had a sudden idea.


    Didn''t he also have a skill simr to this one already¡­?


    Of course, he did.


    "AURA SMASH¡­ AURA STORM!" he summoned his five crimson fists and began to merge them to activate thetest perk.


    After a few seconds of being pulled, the attack was ready to be activated.


    Fwish! Bang!


    But before, he grabbed Sora from behind as she was closer andunched her away from the attack''s range since [Aura Storm] didn''t differentiate between ally and enemy.


    "AURA STORM!"


    Boom!


    A storm of energy surrounded both him and the warbringer, surprising him as he was suddenly being pulled toward Stark as well, his body struggling to resist the powerful pull.


    And so now that the monster was also struggling, Stark summoned his [Crimson Soul] again, swinging the pulsating heart toward the Warbringer.


    The heart mmed into the Warbringer''s shield, and this time, it shattered.


    The Warbringer roared in rage, its red eyes burning brighter as it tried to swing its sword at him, but Stark used [Invincible Dodge] several times to get out of the pull''s way, returning to safety.


    Boom! m!


    Once the warbringer reached the center of the [Aura Storm], he was suddenly mmed onto the ground, as if the gravitational pull had been massively increased around that area.


    -244813!


    The Warbringer quickly got up, though, more enraged than ever.


    "DEATHCALL FRENZY!"


    The Warbringer''s movements became a blur, his sword swinging wildly in a flurry of deadly strikes.


    Stark barely managed to block the first few, but the speed of the Warbringer''s attacks was too much: one of the strikes slipped through his defenses, cutting across his chest and sending him stumbling backward.


    And then¡­ another attack came rushing at him, reaching his neck.


    "SHIT!" Stark''s pupil shook: that thing was too fast, impossible to dodge!


    Would this be the end?

 Chapter 288: Completing the Tenth Floor

    Stark couldn''t avoid the uing attack, but before the Warbringer couldnd it, Sora darted in from the side, her fists surrounded by spiky vines.


    "VINE SMASH!" She struck the Warbringer''s exposed side, sending a burst of green energy into his body, and essentially saving Stark.


    -173162!


    The Warbringer staggered, but it wasn''t enough to stop him.


    The Warbringer turned his attention to Sora, his eyes burning with fury, then he activated [Ruinous Leap], jumping high into the air before crashing down toward Sora with his massive sword.


    The ground beneath him shattered from the impact, but Sora was already gone, her speed saving her from the deadly strike.


    What she didn''t expect, though, was the aftermath of the attack as the Warbringer anticipated her movement, and with lightning speed, activated [Phantasmal Barrage], sending a flurry of shadowy des in all directions.


    Sora tried to dodge, but one of the des hit her, sending her crashing to the ground.


    "Sora!" Stark shouted, his heart pounding as he saw her fall.


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    Without thinking, he rushed forward, his crimson aura ring as he leapt into the air, intercepting the Warbringer''s next strike before it could finish her off.


    "Get away from her!" Stark roared, mming a crimson fist into the Warbringer''s chest, then mmed his soul downward, hitting him in the head.


    The crimson fist exploded on impact, then the heart added to the damage, sending the Warbringer stumbling back as he fell to his knees on the ground, clearly wounded from all these attacks.


    Sora, bruised but alive, staggered to her feet, her eyes filled with determination. "I''m not done yet."


    But before she could do anything.


    "This is it," Stark growled, his mind racing as he thought of the one move that could end this.


    He traced a circle in his palm, his fingers glowing with a soft crimson light.


    Then, he pointed to the sky.


    "Heaven''s Wrath."


    The sky split open.


    For a moment, everything seemed to stop, the storm, the Warbringer, even time itself.


    Then, with a blinding sh, a beam of pure, crimson energy shot down from the heavens.


    It mmed into the Warbringer, engulfing the colossus in a blinding explosion of light and energy.


    The Warbringer let out a final, deafening roar as the beam tore through his body, obliterating himpletely, along with his armor and sword.


    The ground beneath it cracked and shattered as the Warbringer''s HP plummeted to zero.


    -472811! -538219!


    The damage was out of this world.


    BOOM.


    The beam faded, leaving nothing but a massive crater where the Warbringer once stood.


    Ding!


    [You have defeated Abyssal Warbringer, The Colosseum''s Strongest (CALAMITY)]


    [You have gained 18,500,000 experience points!]


    Stark stood on his legs, firm and calm, as he received the notification.


    This wasn''t as much experience as the [Guardian Ape], but it was still a lot!


    "We did it," he muttered, a tired smile creeping across his face as he fell to his knees, the blow to his side clearly hurt.


    Sora, still standing, looked down at him and offered a rare, small smile, "Yes. We did."


    "Wow," she was beaming, and the light from her small, however small it was, almost blinded him.


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    [Your level has increased to level 80, granting you four skill points and a boost in stats.]


    .


    .


    [Your level has increased to level 83, granting you four skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Experience: 877,200/5,000,000]


    "Phew¡­"


    And so of course, he got a new skill, which he picked from one of the cards!


    Ding!


    [Skill: Revenant''s Fury]


    [Tier: Mythical]


    [Description: Only activates after three deaths, have fun!]


    [Description will be revealed the third time the user dies!]


    ''Damn,'' that skill was talking about death as if it was a game!


    If it wasn''t for his talent that brought him back to life, then anyone would riot over such a useless skill.


    A skill that only activates after death? Seriously!


    Sora nced over at him, sensing the sudden change in his aura. "New skill?"


    "Yeah," Stark nodded, his tired grin widening, "And it''s a weird one."


    Before they could celebrate further, a voice boomed from above.


    [Congrattions!]


    [You havepleted the colosseum in¡­ the first position!]


    A deep, powerful voice echoed through the arena.


    But not only: it was broadcasted to everyone in the academy.


    "DUDE, WHAT?!"


    "ARE THEY SPEEDRUNNING?"


    Other normal students were bbergasted that the colosseum waspleted 3 hours after its announcement, even though they were given 4 months to do so!


    "Huh¡­" even the teachers and principal were surprised, "Maybe it was too easy?"


    "No, sir," Breach, the vice-chairman shook his head, "This is actually one of the most difficult trials in this academy''s history, each elite able to stop a group of students by itself, and the mini-boss and boss almost impossible to defeat.


    Plus, taking into ount the breaks from wounds, 4 months would not even be enough for most."


    "Then how?"


    "¡­Don''t know," he shook his head again.


    "Damn."


    Inparison to the other trial, they wouldn''t receive a recording of the fights of the students, meaning that all they knew was that Stark''s group had done it.


    ¡­


    The announcement echoed through the entire tower, obviously, reaching even those that had gone inside after seeing the mini-boss announcement an hour ago.


    In the safe zone, where Lana waited, the booming voice reverberated in the small luxurious room. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and she stood up suddenly.


    "Already?" she muttered, a mix of shock and relief on her face.


    Less than an hour had passed since Stark and Sora had left for the final floor, yet the announcement confirmed it¡ªthey had won.


    "Those two¡­" Lana sighed, shaking her head with a relieved smile, "Of course they would," she mumbled as she began climbing the floors now that it was fully safe.


    ¡­


    However, as the celebration built, the air around Stark and Sora changed in thest arena, and a familiar, menacing presence descended upon them.


    A slow p echoed through the arena, "Impressive... Very impressive."


    Stark''s blood froze at the voice.


    He had already it twice already.


    Turning around, his eyes narrowed as he saw Olikar, the apostle of the tower, standing before them once again.


    His ck cloak billowed as he stepped forward, his cold eyes gleaming with amusement.


    "Well done," Olikar said mockingly, his lips twisting into a cruel smile, "You actually managed to defeat the Abyssal Warbringer, I''m almost impressed."


    Stark''s fingers tightened as he summoned his [Soul Heart], his crimson aura reigniting as he stood up, ready for another battle.


    "If you''re here for another fight, I''ll take you down right here," he spoke.


    Olikar chuckled darkly, "Fight you here? Oh no, Chosen. You misunderstand."


    Before Stark could react, Olikar raised his hand, and with a swift, terrifying motion, he sent a st of energy toward Stark.


    The force of the attack was overwhelming.


    Stark barely had time to block before it mmed into him, sending him flying across the arena, his back hit the stone wall with a sickening crack, and he fell to the ground, gasping for air, blood dripping from his mouth.


    "-59271!"


    [Stark HP: 5258/93000]


    It wasn''t just an attack¡ªit was a near-fatal blow.


    "This is all I can do for now," Olikar said calmly, as though the near-deadly strike was a trivial matter, "I can''t fight here because of the Colosseum rules, but that doesn''t mean I can''t teach you a lesson," His eyes shifted to Sora, who had already stepped forward, her fists clenched and her green aura ring.


    "If you want to fight me," Olikar continued, his voice dripping with malice, "you''ll have to find me in my domain: the top of the tower, I''ll even give you a hint¡ªit''s somewhere within the tower, but you''ll need to find the hidden path."


    Sora moved protectively in front of Stark, her body tense and ready for a fight, but Olikar simply smirked.


    "Oh, and one more thing," he added. "Whether you reach me or not is irrelevant. You''re already toote.


    Master Godless will soon emerge, and this world will plunge into chaos, so now, it''s either you witness the world falling within the next year, or youe to me and I kill you myself."


    With a finalugh, Olikar vanished, leaving only his chilling words behind.


    Stark, barely conscious, struggled to get up, but his strength failed him.


    The blow from Olikar had been too much.


    "Stark, stay still," Sora said softly, kneeling beside him.


    Her green aura wrapped around him, beginning the process of healing, but Stark was already slipping into unconsciousness.


    As Sora began to transport him back to the safe zone, she couldn''t help but feel a rising unease.


    Olikar''s words¡­ Godless appearing¡­ what did it all mean?


    Why were these things even after Stark to begin with?!

 Chapter 289: The Chains of the Apostles

    Sora carried Stark carefully, her pace steady but urgent, as she made her way back to the safe zone, she didn''t know what happened, but it didn''t matter for now!


    The weight of his unconscious body wasn''t a challenge for her strength, but she was worried: the usual Stark wouldn''t pass out from this, no matter how small his HP pool was!


    He had survived TWO deaths to save her from Warden after all!


    She pushed open therge double doors to the safe zone, greeted by the luxurious room.


    But surprisingly, there was someone inside!


    Lana stood just inside, having just arrived from climbing the tower herself.


    Her eyes widened the moment she saw Stark slumped over Sora''s shoulder.


    "What happened?" Lana asked, her voice filled with worry.


    She rushed forward, she was always the more emotional one.


    "We fought a thing that shouldn''t be here¡­ or at least, a monster showed up right after we defeated the Colosseum boss," Sora exined, her voice firm, "He attacked Stark. Badly. I had to get him out before¡­ well, you can see."


    Lana gasped, her hands hovering over Stark''s face.


    Without wasting another second, she grabbed a few potions from the table with the sofas around and sat on one of them as she ced his head gently on herp, supporting him as she carefully poured the potions into his mouth.


    "Come on, Stark," Lana muttered softly, running her fingers through his disheveled hair as she applied the healing potions, "Wake up. Please wake up."


    [Stark''s HP is fully maxed out!]


    "Sigh¡­" she sighed in relief, because if his HP were maxed out it meant that he didn''t die, just asleep.


    The atmosphere quickly recovered afterward, as both girls knew that he wasn''t in danger.


    Sora knelt down beside them, watching Stark''s peaceful face, "I wonder what he''s dreaming about," she murmured, her gaze intently fixed on him.


    For someone who was constantly fighting, constantly on edge, his expression now was serene, almost peaceful, "So... peaceful,pared to his normal face."


    She extended a finger and gently touched his cheek repeatedly.


    Lana giggled, "Heh~ he''s probably thinking about us. Or maybe he''s just happy hepleted the Colosseum!"


    Both of them agreed with their theories, believing them to be true.


    They couldn''t have been more wrong.


    ¡­


    Inside Stark''s Mind...


    Stark opened his eyes, expecting to see the usual dream world: the dimly lit void, the doppelg?ngers of himself ying or doing whatever to pass the time.


    But¡­ the space around him waspletely ck, darker than usual, almost suffocating.


    And for the first time, there were no doppelg?ngers.


    No sign of the Domination or Alchemist, who usually toyed with the environment.


    He called out, his voice echoing in the void.


    "Domination? Alchemist?"


    But no answer.


    It was unsettling.


    Worse, when Stark tried to move, he found himself bound by iron chains, thick and cold, wrapped tightly around his arms, legs, and torso.


    "What the fuck?" he sweat a bit, his eyes widening.


    He struggled against them, but they didn''t budge.


    There were ten chains in total, and they stretched out into the darkness, disappearing beyond his line of sight.


    But there was more: five additional chains, unlike the ones binding him,y t on the ground, pointing in different directions into the void too.


    Stark watched them intently, his mind racing to figure out what was happening.


    An hour after that, an entire hour where Stark was just¡­ sitting idle, waiting for something to happen, anything.


    But right as he was about to give up, maybe bite his tongue to forcefully wake up¡­ slowly, he began to notice shapes emerging from the darkness, where the chains led.


    Ten figures stepped forward, each one holding one of the chains that restrained him, some with their hands, others legs, and some with their mouths.


    His blood ran cold as he recognized the first few shapes.


    "The apostles...!" Stark''s eyes widened in shock.


    He only recognized them because the [Crimson Moon Trio], [Olikar, The Colosseum Warrior], and [The Great Serpent]''s figures weren''t covered in darkness, meaning that the other apostles were those he didn''t and couldn''t see.


    But for the first time, he could actually make out what they looked like: one of them looked like a giant wolf, another was normal-sized with pointy ears, yet another had giants wings, as big as a dragon.


    They were all here, and he could see their white eyes looking at him.


    The five chains that weren''t around Stark on the other hand went toward apostles who were currently on the ground, dead: Mkar, Judicator, Sierra, Lother and Reaper.


    Why were they here? Why were the apostles holding him in ce?


    It didn''t take him much more to figure it out.


    Because then, the ground beneath him shook and the chains rattled as a massive figure emerged from the darkness.


    Its towering form, covered in an imprable ck mist, loomed over Stark.


    Crimson eyes glowed through the void, piercing him with their gaze.


    "GODLESS DEMON," he immediately shouted, he could recognize him from anywhere.


    "Oh, wow, you''re a fan?" Godless mocked him.


    Without thinking, Stark tried to rush forward, his crimson aura ring, his rage surging.


    Because if this was his mind, he should still be able to control it, to attack and to hurt that monster!


    But the moment he moved¡­ the chains pulled tight, stopping him in his tracks.


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    The apostles tightened their grip on the chains, holding him back, preventing him from reaching the demon.


    "You''re weak," one of the apostles sneered, their voice echoing in his mind, "You don''t even understand the power we wield, do you?"


    Another apostle, one with massive wings, leaned forward, a cruel smile ying on their lips, "Pathetic. You think you can challenge Godless? You''re not even close to ready."


    Godless took a step forward, his immense presence pressing down on Stark, suffocating him.


    "You can''t fight me, Chosen," he said, his voice filled with contempt, "You''re nothing more than a puppet, dancing on the strings I control. And your friends? Your world? All of it will crumble before me."


    Stark clenched his teeth, his fury building with every word.


    He strained against the chains, but they held him fast.


    The apostles continued to mock him, theirughter ringing in his ears, amplifying his frustration.


    Godless reached out a massive hand, its shadowy fingers stretching toward Stark.


    "You can''t escape this. You can''t stop what''sing," the demon growled, his hand drawing closer and closer.


    "I''M GOING TO FUCKING DESTROY YOU-" Stark''s aura was about to break everything in this void.


    But just as Godless''s hand was about to reach him, a familiar voice echoed through the void.


    "Malfunction."


    The world around Stark flickered. The apostles, the chains, Godless¡ªeverything began to dissolve into nothingness.


    "Wake up."


    The voice belonged to Domination.


    He appeared beside Stark, nodding once before snapping his fingers.


    Instantly, the entire scene vanished, erasing the apostles and Godless from Stark''s mind like a bad dream.


    "Malfunction," the doppelganger repeated calmly, "My bad."


    Before Stark could respond, his vision blurred, and he felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness.


    "W-What the-?" He tried to speak, but his mind went nk as he fell, thest image he saw being his doppelganger smiling.


    *****************


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    Enjoy.

 Chapter 290: Trying to Find the Secret Area

    When Stark woke up again, he was in his apartment.


    The familiar smell of warm food and the soft light filtering through the windows weed him back to consciousness.


    But before he could fully take in his surroundings, he felt something, or rather, someone, cling to him tightly.


    "YOU''VE BEEN OUT FOR TWO WEEKS AGAIN!" Lana''s voice rang in his ears as she practically tackled him into a hug.


    Sora followed right behind, though not as bold as she just gently grabbed his arm, "It is nice to know you aren''t¡­ gone."


    Stark blinked, trying to process the sudden rush of emotions, ''Oh yeah, I''ve been stuck in that void for a while, haven''t I¡­''


    "Two weeks, heh¡­"


    Lana nodded, her expression a mix of relief and annoyance, "Yes! Two weeks, Stark! We''ve been taking turns watching over you every single day."


    "That''s¡­ okay," Stark didn''t need it, as his aura itself preserved him from dying of hunger or thirst, he had passed out for 3 months at one point after all!


    Stark scratched the back of his head, trying to recall the dream he''d had.


    The apostles, Godless¡­ it all seemed so real.


    But looking at Lana and Sora now, he couldn''t help but feel a strange sense of peace, "I guess I should thank you both," he muttered awkwardly.


    Lana smiled warmly, brushing her hair behind her ear, "Just¡­ try not to scare us like that again, alright?"


    Stark shrugged as he knew this wasn''t possible, but inside, his mind was already racing.


    The void¡­ the chains that stopped him from kicking Godless''s ass¡­ the apostles¡­ it wasn''t over yet.


    He could feel it in his bones. And now, there was something he had to do.


    Something urgent.


    Without a word, Stark reached into his inventory and pulled out the [Colosseum Token].


    "H-Hey, what are you doing?!" Lana suddenly shouted while pulling out from the embrace, and even Sora seemed surprised.


    "Need¡­ to¡­ do something¡­" he mumbled, more to himself than them as he stared at the token, a vortex of aura forming in his eyes.


    The atmosphere of the room suddenly darkened as Stark woke up, his aura spreading everywhere.


    After such a dream, after sensing the power of the Godless Demon, after knowing that he would soon descend, he couldn''t stay idle.


    The quicker he got rid of those things, the quicker he would be able to get rid of Godless, for in the end, only one of them can live.


    The air shimmered around him as the token''s magic began to work, pulling him back into the Colosseum''s tower.


    "You¡­" Sora''s eyes widened slightly, "You''re going to find ''him''?"


    "HUH?!" Lana was terrified, "Where is Stark going?!"


    Stark gave her a serious look, "I have to find the apostle," he said firmly and extremely fast, "If I don''t kill him before the second trial ends, I''ll neverplete the ApostleDex."


    And with that, he vanished, leaving behind a room filled with the faint glow of magic.


    "What the fuck?" Lana was bbergasted, "Kill the apostle? The ApostleDex? Did he finally go crazy??!"


    "¡­" Sora didn''t say anything, maybe she understood a bit of it with the information she got until then, but she still couldn''t get the full picture yet.


    ":(" Lana was sad that he left as soon as he got up, "This s-stupid idiot!"


    "It''s fine," but Sora patted her head, "I am sure that Stark thinks fondly of you, he will be back."


    These were all the reassuring words she could give, or rather the only ones she could find in herself, as she usually wouldn''t say stuff like that.


    ¡­


    Stark materialized in the Colosseum Tower''s ninth-floor safe zone, his shoes touching the familiar stone ground as the token''s magic dissipated.


    The safe zone was quiet, and it looked just as luxurious as two weeks ago.


    Without wasting a second, he set off.


    His goal was clear: find the secret area where thest apostle was hiding, and teach that asshole a lesson by making him eat the ground.


    The Colosseum Tower was vast, but each floor consisted of one safe-zone and one arena, whether it was big or decent-sized depended on the elite/boss though.


    [No secret areas in safe-zones, by the way,] he was informed, which was good.


    Hours passed after that.


    Hours where Stark searched meticulously through all ten of the arena zones, but found absolutely nothing.


    "Maybe¡­ I didn''t search hard enough?" he had mostly just looked around and searched the walls.


    Surely, he would need to look deeper if he wanted to find it.


    [3 months and 2 weeks left!]


    The secret area was well-hidden, as expected.


    Stark gritted his teeth, frustration gnawing at him as the clock ticked down without finding anything meaningful.


    "Dammit¡­" Stark muttered to himself, wiping the sweat from his brow as he stood in the center of yet another empty arena.


    His crimson aura flickered faintly, reacting to his growing frustration. "Where the hell is it?"


    Despite his best efforts, the secret area remained hidden.


    Stark paused, staring into the distance, his mind racing. Find exclusive stories on m_v l|e-NovelBin


    With ten floors to explore, he realized this would take much longer than he had anticipated.


    Even with his speed and determination, the task felt monumental.


    Finally, after six hours of fruitless searching, Stark sighed heavily.


    He needed to reassess his approach.


    He had more than three months, so he needed to think about his strategy better, maybe spend one week searching every floor?


    In the end, he decided to think about itter, and so he reached for the token once more, activating it with a quick thought.


    ¡­


    "This is annoying¡­" he bit into his nail while remembering the structure of all ten floors.


    "STARK!" but then he heard a shout beside him, and arms wrapping tightly around him. "You came back quickly! Did you miss me, perhaps?"


    Stark blinked, momentarily caught off guard by Lana''s enthusiasm.


    He opened his mouth to exin why he had returned so soon but quickly decided against it.


    Instead, he gave a half-smile. "Yes, I missed you both."


    Lana beamed, clearly pleased with his response, though Sora, who was sitting at the kitchen table sipping on a cup of coffee, wasn''t so easily fooled, "It is great to see you think so highly of us."


    Still, it didn''t matter, Stark was back, and for the moment, that was enough.


    "Of course, anything for my friends."


    He hadn''t found any clues for the secret zone, but this sight appeased him slightly.


    ''Yeah, be positive, Stark, still more than three months remain!''


    For now, they hadpleted the second trial.


    With more than three months remaining before the next one began, there was literally nothing for them to do except wait.


    Not a single other group had managed toplete the trial yet, and so the trio had time to rest.


    Time began to pass like that.


    ¡­


    Every day, Stark returned to the Colosseum Tower, spending up to five hours searching for the elusive secret area.


    Each day, hebed through different floors, testing every possible theory, every hint of a hidden passage.


    But it was slow-going, and after each day of searching, he would return to the apartment empty-handed.


    Lana would often ask him what he was doing, her curiosity piqued by his mysterious outings.


    "Where do you go every day?" she asked one morning over breakfast, her eyes narrowing slightly, "You''ve been vanishing for hours everyday inside the tower!"


    "Secret thing," Stark replied, his tone casual as he took a bite of his food.


    And it wasn''t even a lie, he was quite literally searching for something secret.


    Meanwhile, Sora had started visiting more frequently, often staying overnight at Lana''s apartment.


    The two women had grown closer, bing good friends, tt was a strange butforting dynamic, and Stark appreciated the calm that came with it.


    Every night, before sleeping, he would close his eyes and think of the floors, imagining anything he could have possibly missed.


    Just like that, the trio had fallen into an easy rhythm.


    Stark continued his daily searches, while Lana and Sora spent their time rxing or doing their own hobbies.


    asionally, Sora would help with cooking, though Stark or Lana usually took over, their culinary skills better suited to the task.


    The days turned into weeks, the weeks into months.


    And then, three months and a week passed in what felt like the blink of an eye.


    There was now only one week before the trial ended.


    "Holy shit¡­" and Stark hadn''t found anything.

 Chapter 291: Following Olikar with the Target Set Perk

    Stark stood in his apartment''s iving room, his hand resting on the [Colosseum Token] once again.


    He had searched for months, and while he now knew the structure of each of the floors PERFECTLY, the secret area still eluded him.


    But now, with only a week left, he had no choice but to give it everything he had.


    "I''m going inside the Colosseum for a week," Stark said, his voice calm but resolute, "See ya."


    Lana, who had been lounging on the couch, shot up in rm. "Wait what? You''re going for a week?!" she asked, her eyes wide with surprise.


    Stark simply nodded, not bothering to exin further.


    He couldn''t afford to waste any more time.


    The next seven days would be crucial if he wanted to find the entrance to the top of the tower, where Olikar waited.


    Sora, who had been leaning against the kitchen counter, sipped her coffee quietly.


    She could sense the seriousness in Stark''s tone and knew better than to question him, "Good luck," she said simply


    With a final nod, Stark activated the token, his body disappearing into the shimmering light as he teleported back into the Colosseum Tower.


    This time, he wouldn''t leave until he found what he was looking for.


    The final week had begun.


    [7 days left]


    Stark''s body materialized in the familiar setting of the Colosseum Tower''s ninth-floor safe zone.


    The dim lighting and cold stone walls greeted him once more as he immediately set off, wasting no time in resuming his search for the secret area.


    For three days straight, Stark scoured the tower with single-minded determination.


    Each floor, each arena zone, every single one of them was scrutinized, but the secret area remained hidden.


    He had memorized the structure of each floor perfectly by now, down to the cracks in the stone walls and the patterns of dust on the floor.


    But none of it helped him find what he was looking for.


    "What the fuck am I doing wrong¡­" Stark thought, it just wasn''t working.


    The pressure mounted as time kept going, and his frustration grew just as much.


    Each passing hour was a reminder of how little progress he had made, and the deadline was getting closer.


    On the third night, Stark found himself on the ninth floor yet again, his energy more powerful: Stark was so enraged over time about his inability to find the secret area that his aura grew much more powerful.


    He leaned against a wall, catching his breath, the exhaustion from days of relentless searching finally starting to take its toll as he hadn''t rested at ALL.


    "Dammit¡­" he cursed.


    His body wanted to rest, his muscles sore and his mind filled with bad thoughts.


    But just as he was about to take a well-deserved break, a mocking voice echoed through the arena.


    "Haha¡­ not so smart, are we now, Chosen?"


    Stark''s eyes narrowed, immediately recognizing the voice.


    Olikar.


    The apostle emerged from the shadows, his sharp grin yet again visible.


    His aura was menacing, a heavy pressure that weighed down on Stark''s already tired body.


    Olikar then walked toward him, his golden eyes gleaming with malice.


    "Fuck off," Stark said, not even bothering to acknowledge him fully.


    He was too tired to engage in useless talking to this guy.


    Instead, he turned and started walking toward the tenth floor''s safe zone, where he knew there were some sofas he could crash on for a while.


    But Olikar wasn''t done. He kept pace as he followed Stark, his voice mocking.


    "Thank god you''re stupid. But even if you do find me, I''ll still kill you, y''know?"


    Stark rolled his eyes.


    Olikar was level 400, a terrifyingly strong opponent, far beyond Stark''s current level of 88 (he had leveled up a bit in the mean time, duh).


    Stark had focused too much on finding the secret area and not enough on leveling up.


    And even after using the [Breakthrough Stone] to reach Gold Rank (which Lana bought for him), raising his skill level limit to 30, he knew that Olikar was a formidable enemy.


    "Keep talking," Stark muttered, more to himself than Olikar, as he continued his walk to the safe zone.


    "Haha... you idiot," Olikar circled him, delighting in tormenting Stark as he walked, "In less than a year, the preparations will all beplete, and the Godless Demon assault will begin. Your world is doomed."


    Stark didn''t react at first, but Olikar''s words made him pause.


    Without turning around, he raised an eyebrow.,"Oh? How so?" he asked, almost sounding bored.


    Olikar looked at him, happy that he fell for the bait, then grinned, "What do you mean, how? Isn''t it obvious, or are you really this stupid?"


    Stark smirked back.


    "No... How are you going to take over the world when I''m going to kill you before you do that?"


    That threw Olikar off, his grin faltering for a moment.


    He hadn''t expected such confidence from someone so far beneath him in power.


    But he quickly recovered, his sneer returning, "I''d love to see that. Not that it matters, since you won''t ever know where to find me."


    Olikar began to sink into the shadows of the ground, his body phasing through the stone floor as if it were liquid.


    But Stark clenched his fist.


    This was his chance, he wasn''t about to let Olikar get away again.


    "FOCUS¡­ TARGET SET!" Stark shouted, thrusting his right arm forward like a gun.


    [Description: You can ce a target on an opponent, thus allowing you to observe their movements better and have your crimson ''eyes'' always following them, no matter what they do]


    His aura red, and a crimson light shot from his fingertips, hitting Olikar just as his body was about to fully disappear into the floor.


    ~DING~


    [Olikar has been set as a target!]


    A sharp ping sounded in Stark''s mind as his skill activated.


    Now, no matter where Olikar went, Stark would be able to track him, as long as he wasn''t out of range.


    ~BEEP, BEEP, BEEP~


    Through his crimson eyes, Stark could see the faint red outline of Olikar''s figure as he went deeper underground.


    Without wasting a second, Stark bolted after him.


    He followed Olikar''s red silhouette down¡­ one floor¡­ then two¡­ four floors¡­ nine floors!


    Stark''s heart raced as he realized just how deep Olikar was going.


    He wasn''t just retreating, he was heading somewhere specific.


    Stark''s eyes never left the crimson outline, even as Olikar passed through walls and floors like a ghost.


    Finally, Olikar''s figure reached the first floor, darting toward a seemingly random wall before disappearing entirely.


    Stark''s chest heaved as he reached the first floor, eyes scanning the area.


    The wall Olikar had vanished through looked unremarkable at first nce, and he was absolutely sure he had searched everywhere in this ce, but Stark''s senses suddenly told him otherwise.


    For some reason he didn''t know, he could actually feel somethinging from that wall.


    He decided not to take his break anymore, instead searching for the secret area for the next few hours.


    He knew it was here now.


    And suddenly, right as he turned around, right as he finished searching one of the other walls of this ce, unsessful¡­


    He looked back at the wall Olikar went through, and for a split second, no¡­ even less than that, his crimson eyes caught a faint shimmer, a distortion in the air.


    "¡­!" it was so quick in fact that he wouldn''t be surprised that nobody noticed it, only doing so thanks to his perception, and even then he himself wasn''t sure.


    It happened for 0.001 seconds, but Stark was so desperate that he saw it.

 Chapter 292: Final Preparations, The Skills Ultimate Forms

    Stark stepped forward, pressing his hand against the wall after seeing the small flicker in the wall.


    But nothing happened.


    And so he did something you shouldn''t do normally.


    Or maybe he should have done it from the start, who knows.


    ''Well¡­ at this point I was going to do it anyway.''


    What he did, you might ask, well¡­ he punched the wall, breaking it, revealing a flight of stairs that went down.


    This had been Stark''s final solution if he didn''t find the secret area: if two days remained before the end and he didn''t find it, he would begin destroying the tower from the inside.


    Even if it could crumble, he would still do it.


    "So that''s it¡­" Stark murmured, a grin forming on his face.


    He''d finally found it, the secret area.


    Without hesitation, he stepped through the passage, descending deeper into the Colosseum Tower.


    At the end of the passage, a massive stone archway awaited him, ancient runes carved into its surface.


    In the center of the arch was a glowing portal, pulsing with otherworldly energy.


    "This must be it..." Stark muttered to himself.


    But before stepping into the portal, he had some things he needed to do: upgrade his skills.


    [Skill Points Avable: 44]


    He hadn''t used any since leveling up to level 78, meaning that he had a ton of them.


    And it was good, he needed the best possible skills he could get to win against Olikar.


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv25; Focus lv25; Aura Smash lv25; Clone Frenzy lv25; Invincible Dodge lv10; Double Assault lv10; Crimson Spears lv10; Heaven''s Wrath lv5; Alchemist lv5; Potion Crafting lv5; Target Maniption lv1; Dodge Control lv5; Crimson Ball Transmission lv5; EGO lv5; Crimson Purification lv25; Wielding Cross lv10; Crimson Healing lv1; The Void; Banish; Domination Soul, Revenant''s Fury


    With 44 skill points and a level 30 skill limit, he had more than enough to upgrade whatever he wanted.


    And in addition to that¡­


    "Spatial Inventory," he pulled something out of the portal, and it was the [Max out Core] from it.


    It was the item he got it frompletly clearing the [Corpse Cemetery] rift during the first trial from all its monsters, not leaving a single one alive inside that rift.


    [Description: You can use this core to max out a skill, no matter what its level is, limit doesn''t matter either, the skill will reach its ultimate form.]


    "Huh," he had actually never read the full description of that item, but now that he saw it, what the hell was a skill''s ultimate form?


    He got no answer, and so he decided to just use itst anyway.


    After all¡­ he already knew the exact skills he needed to upgrade, it wasn''t even a choice at this point.


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    [You have upgraded ''Domination'' to level 30 (Gold-Tier Max)!]


    [You have upgraded ''Focus'' to level 30 (Gold-Tier Max)!]


    [You have upgraded ''Aura Smash'' to level 30 (Gold-Tier Max)!]


    [You have upgraded ''Crimson Spears'' to level 30 (Gold-Tier Max)!]


    [You have upgraded ''Clone Frenzy'' to level 30 (Gold-Tier Max)!]


    Upgrading these skills weren''t even his personal choice, he was just kind of forced, since they were the ones he upgraded the most among all of them!


    And with the remaining 4 he had, well, he couldn''t do much, so he decided to keep them forter.


    ''Well¡­ time to check those new perks,'' he smiled.


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    ¡­


    [Skill: Domination]


    [New Perk: Aura]


    [Description: You just get more aura ¡¥\\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥, be happy with it.]


    ¡­


    "Wow," Stark wasn''t impressed, but to be honest, Domination''s perks were never really that important to begin with, and neither were Focus''.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Focus]


    [New Perk: Flow (Legendary Perk)]


    [Description: Your focus is unwavering, and by focusing on an enemy for 10 seconds, grasping their movements and flow of aura, you are able to see their attacksing at least a second before theye, though if they attack you while you ''focus'', then the ''link'' is disrupted.]


    ¡­


    "Oh," looks like Focus didn''t let him down after all, this should be useful, but if he wanted to use it he would need to spare time at the start of the battle, since otherwise it is impossible to use.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Aura Smash]


    [New Perk: Fist Spam]


    [Description: Instead of summoning 5 fists to either send them at your enemies or merging them to do immense damage, you can instead decide to separate these fists into five distinct ones too, meaning 25 crimson fists.


    They do MUCH, MUCH, less damage, but if facing an opponent that requires hits instead of damage, then it is useful to overwhelm them, though do note that these fists cannot stun.]


    ¡­


    Pretty good, could have its use, and so he moved on to [Crimson Spears], eager to see what new power awaited him.


    He had the choice between a LEGENDARY perk or three rare ones this time, but he obviously selected the former.


    [Skill: Crimson Spears]


    [New Perk: Spear of Judgement (LEGENDARY)]


    [Description: You can now summon a singr, colossal crimson spear infused with pure energy (uses up your cooldown, though).


    When thrown, the spear locks onto a target''s aura and follows them until it hits or is destroyed, regardless of distance or barriers.


    The spear also pierces through any known defense or shield.


    Upon impact, the spear detonates, unleashing a wave of destruction around the point of contact.]


    ¡­


    "Wow," Stark muttered, clearly impressed.


    A homing spear that could pierce any defense was a game-changer, and even he could feel that this thing would be useful¡­


    The Spear of Judgement wasn''t just powerful¡ªit was practically unstoppable depending on the amount of aura he had.


    Olikar and the others wouldn''t know what hit them, though it did use up all of his cooldown and took a few seconds to charge up, so it had its downsides.


    "Well, one more and its over for upgrading my skills with skill points," he mumbled to himself as he stared at the panel disying [Clone Frenzy].


    But when he read it¡­ his eyes widened with shock.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Clone Frenzy]


    [New Perk: The Ultimate Clone]


    [Description: By merging five clones instead of the previous three, the Superior Clone transforms into the Ultimate Clone, which possesses the same strength, abilities, and skills as the original. This clone has the ability to act independently, thinking and fighting as if it were the true Stark.]


    ¡­


    A system notification followed after Stark read the description:


    [Clone Frenzy has reached its ultimate form. This skill can no longer be upgraded.]


    It was then that the meaning of the [Max Out Core] dawned on him.


    A skill''s "ultimate form" didn''t refer to reaching level 30, 40, or 50¡ªit was simply the point at which no further improvements could be made, regardless of the current level.


    Clone Frenzy had hit its cap at level 30, but other skills could go much higher depending on them.


    Stark''s eyes widened as he realized the power behind the Ultimate Clone.


    Essentially, he could have another "himself" fighting alongside him.


    And with the new revtion about the ultimate form, he felt a renewed sense of urgency to use the [Max Out Core].


    Without wasting any time, he put the [Max Out Core] on his palm, activating its powers.


    [Which skill do you want to upgrade to the max?]


    "Alright¡­ let''s see what you can do," Stark muttered.


    He had several skills to consider, but after a quick mental debate, he made his decision.


    He chose [Crimson Healing], knowing he needed strong support skills if he were to get betterter, plus it was the only skill beside [Target Maniption] that was level 1, making it very cost-effective!


    [You have used the [Max Out Core] on ''Crimson Healing''!]


    [Crimson Healing has reached level 70 (Ultimate Form)!]

 Chapter 293: Second Chance (Immortal-Level)

    [You have used the [Max Out Core] on ''Crimson Healing''!]


    [Crimson Healing has reached level 70 (Ultimate Form)!]


    Stark stared at the notification, his eyebrows shooting up. "Level 70?! What the¡­?"


    He hadn''t expected it to jump all the way to 70, but apparently, the [Max Out Core] was more powerful than he''d realized.


    What''s more, it hadn''t just upgraded the skill to its current rank''s maximum¡ªit had taken it all the way to the skill''s true, ultimate limit.


    "DAMN IT!" Stark shouted in frustration. He hadn''t realized the core could push a skill to such a high level, "I could''ve used it on Domination or Focus!"


    But before his frustration grew, the system came to the rescue again.


    [No, you wouldn''t have been able to use the core on most of your powerful skills. The core would have broken.]


    "Oh," Stark grumbled.


    He didn''t fully understand how the system worked, but if it said so, then maybe there was more going on than he realized.


    Still, he was curious about the new perk for his maxed-out [Crimson Healing].


    As a reminder, the levels for ssifiers went like this: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, tinum, Diamond, Ascendant, Prodigy, Immortal and ssified.


    Level 70 would mean having to upgrade your level to [Prodigy] or [Immortal] at least, you can already imagine how long this would take, don''t you?


    And so, you can also imagine just how powerful the ultimate perk of such a skill would be, right?


    ¡­


    [Skill: Crimson Healing]


    [New Perk: Second Chance (Immortal-Level)]


    [Description: When the host''s health reaches zero, Crimson Healing activates automatically, restoring the user to full health instantly.


    This effect can only be triggered once per day.]


    ¡­


    "WHAT THE FUCK?" Stark blurted out, eyes wide with disbelief.


    Second Chance was essentially a free revival, meaning that with his current talent, he could basically revive himself twice in battle!


    He couldn''t believe his luck.


    This perk was insanely powerful, even being at the max level a perk/skill can ever be, even above [Godly]: Immortal.


    This perk meant that even if Olikar or any monster managed to bring him down after being revive his talent, Stark would get a full reset.


    In a fight against such powerful opponents, that could be the difference between life and death.


    With his new skills upgraded and his perks unleashed, Stark took a deep breath, feeling his power surge within him.


    His aura had never felt stronger, his abilities sharper.


    He was ready¡ªtruly ready¡ªto face Olikar.


    "This is going to be fun," he said with a mischievous grin.


    Taking onest nce at the portal ahead of him, Stark stepped through, the swirling energy engulfing him as he teleported to the top of the Colosseum Tower.


    ¡­


    A rush of cold air hit Stark''s face as he materialized at the top of the Colosseum Tower.


    He stumbled slightly, the sudden change in environment disorienting him for a moment.


    The top of the tower wasn''t enclosed like the other floors. Instead, it was open to the sky, the dark clouds above swirling ominously.


    Stark looked around, taking in the vast, open arena-like structure.


    The stone tform stretched out before him, surrounded by towering pirs that reached up very high in the sky.


    "What the?!"


    But his attention quickly shifted when he heard a familiar voice.


    Olikar stood at the far end of the tform, his eyes wide with shock.


    He hadn''t expected Stark to find the secret area, let alone teleport to the top of the tower so quickly.


    Only minutes ago, he had mocked Stark for being too slow, too dumb to figure it out.


    And yet here he was.


    "COME ON, APOSTLE," Stark called out instantly, his voice echoing across the tform.


    His aura red around him, crimson light flickering as it surged from his body. He clenched his fists, his confidence renewed, "LET''S SEE WHO CAN WIN, YOU''VE BEEN ACTING REAL CONFIDENT ALL THIS TIME!"


    And this time¡­ Olikar actually felt nervous, just a little bit.


    "Flow¡­" Stark INSTANTLY activated the new perk of [Focus], focusing on his enemy as the air around him became colder, his eyes zooming on Olikar.


    But while this was happening, he needed to waste the boss''s time, since he could see he was already ready to attack, sensing something was wrong.


    "Looks like you aren''t as smart as you thought you were, heh~" Stark mocked, though inside he was nervous.


    "What do you mean?"


    "I mean, I just followed you, don''t you see the target on your shoulder?" Stark smiled.


    "¡­!" Olikar looked at his shoulder, thinking the human was lying, but he wasn''t, there was actually a target on his shoulder, disying his position.


    And he, the great ''Colosseum Warrior'' hadn''t even noticed it!


    "YOU LITTLE-" Olikar instantly dashed toward Stark, summoning his [Colosseum Sword], which was gifted to him by Godless himself after his victories in the [Demon Colosseum], transforming him into one of the apostles.


    But it was already a done deal for Stark.


    [''Flow'' has been activated, now able to see monster''s attacks better, keep up with his speed!]


    "INSTANT STRIKE!" Olikar used the attack that had won him several battles in the [Demon Colosseum], as his instant strike allowed him to close the distance and attack instantly.


    But it wouldn''t work on Stark, as he saw iting with [Flow].


    If he hadn''t used it, he would have surely lost instantly, because of Olikar''s overwhemingly high speed, which was his strongest feature, but now¡­ they were at equal level.


    "=)" Stark moved to the side, avoiding the attack.


    "Huh?" and Olikar was so shocked by that, that he actually stopped moving for a split second, allowing Stark to punch him in the head, sending him flying in the other direction.


    BOOM!


    -74628!


    "¡­" Olikar instantly got up, abandoning his confident attitude, instead focusing on getting rid of the human.


    He was so confident in his speed that he hadn''t actually believed for a single second that the human could actually keep up with him.


    But¡­ he wasn''t even at the start of his surprises.


    [Ultimate Clone] was there, and he was ready to use it whenever he felt like it, protecting the clone with his life if needed now that he had two of them.


    Plus¡­ he had [EGO].


    [EGO Meter: 100/100]


    He hadn''t used it all this time because he was waiting for this very moment, and the meter was already full, so if the boss went into a second phase-like transformation, he would use it to destroy it.


    "How does it feel, apostle?" Stark asked, the crimson around that came out of him overwhelming even the level 400 apostle.


    Normally, a level 88 fighting a level 400 was IMPOSSIBLE, like actually, even for someone with the [Domination] ss.


    But Stark had four sses, not just one, and his determination and anger level pushed past anything the others could do.


    "You''re getting cocky, human," Olikar mumbled, his eyes set on him, "My shadows will reign supreme."


    Olikar was red-skinned demon d in tattered, battle-worn armor, with horns on his head, one of them broken, his eyes were ck voids, swirling with chaotic energy, and his sword was made of that very same aura.


    "I have fought too many opponents stronger than you to be scared, Godless and the others won''t have to think of you anymore once I get rid of you," he positioned his sword sideways, meaning that he was now taking this battle seriously.


    "I''ll collect your head and EXP just like all the others, you won''t be different," but Stark responded by giving an almost impossibly wide smile, making him look terrifying even to the apostle.


    The battle could now begin.

 Chapter 294: Facing Olikar, The Colosseum Warrior

    The wind howled atop the Colosseum Tower, and the tension between Stark and Olikar hung thick in the air.


    Stark stood, his eyes locked on the towering figure of Olikar, the apostle.


    Olikar would be his strongest opponent yet, a level 400 apostle.


    ''I''m skipping some steps, but oh well,'' Stark shrugged, and by that he was referring to the fact Olikar was the 4th apostle of the second line, meaning that he skipped the three first that resided in the [Devil''s Abyss] rift.


    The warrior''s aura was suffocating, waves of chaotic energy radiating from his battle-worn form.


    Stark clenched his fists, feeling the energy coursing through him.


    "PERCEPTION!"


    ¡­


    [Name: Olikar, The Colosseum Warrior (GODLESS DEMON APOSTLE)]


    [Level: 400]


    [HP: 2,025,372/2,100,000]


    [Strength: 20,556]


    [Stamina: 17,812]


    [Speed: 16,393]


    [Defense: 19,377]


    [Skills: Shadow Cloak; Abyssal Chains; Void sh; Spectral Dash; Titan''s Guard; ck Hole Edge; Phantom de; Terror Gaze; Dark Ascendance (MYTHICAL); Colosseum Sword (MYTHICAL); Eclipse st (GODLY), The Colosseum Strongest (GODLY)¡­


    ¡­


    His heart pounded, and though his face bore a grin, he couldn''t deny the pressure settling on his shoulders.


    That monster, if you could call it that, was stronger than he was: speed, defense, attack, whatever, it was stronger he knew it.


    But thanks to [Flow], he was allowed to avoid his attacks, giving him the second he needed not to die instantly.


    "Come on, apostle," Stark taunted, the words sharper than the wind whipping around them, "Show me what you''re made of!"


    Olikar''s ck, chaotic eyes glowed, and he took a single step forward, the ground beneath him cracking under the sheer force of his aura.


    His voice rumbled like thunder,"You don''t understand the power you''ve challenged, human. You''ve only caught a glimpse of what I''m capable of."


    "SHADOW CLOAK!"


    Without warning, Olikar disappeared.


    Stark barely had time to register the shift in the air before the apostle reappeared right in front of him, his sword already slicing down with terrifying speed.


    "VOID SLASH!"


    ''Flow!''


    But Stark''s mind had already calcted the movement.


    Thanks to the [Focus] perk, he anticipated the attack just in time and dodged to the side, but Olikar''s sword still grazed his arm, the dark energy searing his skin.


    "You''re fast, but I''m faster!" Olikar snarled, already following up with a spinning strike that Stark barely avoided by ducking.


    The air screamed as the de passed inches from his head.


    But for the first time, Stark decided to retaliate.


    "Crimson Spears!" He summoned a set of spears made from condensed crimson energy and hurled them toward Olikar.


    The apostle grinned, raising his sword to block.


    But instead of colliding, the spears vanished just before impact.


    Olikar''s eyes widened in surprise.


    "Spear of Judgement!" Starkmanded, and a single, massive crimson spear reappeared behind Olikar, locking onto his aura and shooting forward with deadly precision.


    This was something he had just tried to do: summons his spears, send them toward an enemy, cancel them right before they hit, and right as the opponent is confused, summon the spear of judgement behind them!


    Olikar turned just in time, throwing up a shield of ck aura.


    "TITAN''S GUARD!"


    The spear collided with the barrier, but instead of shattering on impact, it drilled through, piercing Olikar''s defense and sending him staggering back.


    "RAAGH!" Olikar roared, his eyes zing with fury as the spear detonated, a wave of destructive energy sweeping across the arena.


    "-342372!"


    Stark barely had time to shield himself with his aura as the force hit him like a freight train, though it did no damage since, well, it was his own aura.


    For a moment, Stark thought he had the upper hand¡ªuntil the dust cleared.


    Olikar stood, battered but far from beaten, his red skin glowing with renewed rage, "Impressive. But you''re nothing more than a minor inconvenience."


    Before Stark could react, Olikar mmed his sword into the ground, and dark shadows erupted from beneath him.


    "Abyssal Chains!" ck tendrils shot out from the ground, snaking toward Stark with lightning speed.


    Stark leaped back, trying to avoid the chains, but one wrapped around his ankle, pulling him toward the ground.


    He cursed under his breath, quickly summoning his [Clone Frenzy].


    Three clones materialized beside him, each grabbing the tendrils and cutting them off before they could drag Stark to the apostle.


    "Come back clones, I need you all safe," he snapped his fingers, and the clones disappeared as they had done their job.


    "You''re not the only one with tricks, demon!"


    "Aura Smash!" Stark unleashed a torrent of energy, five massive crimson fists materializing around him, then he sent them toward the apostle.


    "Heh¡­ interesting¡­"


    "FOOL!" Olikar roared, activating Phantom de.


    Ghostly des appeared around him, cutting through Stark''s fists with ease.


    The five were destroyed instantly, their forms dissipating into crimson mist before the remaining des dashed toward him.


    "Spear Block," he had regained one of his spears from the cooldown and used it to deflect all des before it crumbled.


    But as Stark advanced, ready to follow up, he felt the ground beneath him tremble.


    As if reading his thoughts, Olikar disappeared into the shadows again, using Shadow Cloak to blend into the darkness.


    Stark''s senses were on high alert, his heart pounding as he tried to track Olikar''s movements.


    The apostle was toying with him, circling like a predator waiting for the right moment to strike.


    "Where are you?" Stark muttered under his breath, but before he could react, Olikar reappeared right in front of him, using Spectral Dash to close the distance in an instant.


    "BLACK HOLE EDGE!" Olikar swung his sword instantly, a vortex of gravitational energy forming at the tip.


    The force pulled Stark forward, dragging him into the path of the attack.


    "NO!" Stark tried to activate Invincible Dodge at thest possible second, phasing out of the attack''s trajectory.


    But the vortex exploded, sending chunks of the stone tform flying in every direction.


    And he was hit.


    -103826!


    He received the entirety of his health from that explosion, even while protected with aura.


    Even though he had dodged, the shockwave still caught him as he was way too close, sending Stark skidding across the arena.


    Stark''s vision blurred as his health plummeted. He could feel his consciousness fading, the overwhelming power of Olikar too much to handle.


    In that moment, everything went dark.


    And then¡­ it didn''t.


    [Crimson Healing activated, Full Health restored.]


    Stark gasped, his eyes snapping open as the system reset his health.


    Olikar''s eyes widened slightly as Stark''s wounds closed instantly, his body surging with renewed life.


    "What?" he spoke, though not scared, just surprised.


    "Surprise, asshole!" Stark grinned, his fist already flying toward Olikar''s face.


    The punch connected with a sickening crack, sending Olikar reeling back.


    -164731


    But Stark didn''t stop there as he backed away.


    He called upon his trump card.


    "Ultimate Clone!" he summoned his five clones, then ordered them to stay at the back of the arena to merge while he upied the apostle.


    "YOU THINK THIS IS GONNA SCARE ME?" Olikar shouted, not even bothering to acknowledge the clones, "FEAR ME, HUMAN!"


    "TERROR GAZE!"


    Fwish¡­ Plop.


    [Sorry, Olikar, but fear doesn''t work on a "Domination" user, at least, not this one.]


    "FUCK!" Olikar shouted in anger, "WELL, THEN¡­"


    Fwish! FWISH!


    The air around Stark changed as Olikar closed his eyes.


    ''Yeah¡­ keep wasting time,'' Stark nced at his clones, only five more seconds and the ultimate clone would appear.


    But¡­ who said Stark was the only one that could charge attacks?


    "COLOSSEUM SWORD!" he summoned his sword from the shadows, throwing the one he was currently wielding back into the shadow realm and grabbing the new one, far stronger.


    And then, without wasting any time.


    "ECLIPSE BLAST!" he used one of his godly skills, charging up a beam of darkness that could kill both Stark and his clone instantly.


    [The Ultimate Clone is ready!]


    Stark looked beside him, and it was already there, taking up a fighting stance while smiling.


    "¡­!" the clone didn''t look that different, though it was smiling.


    "=)"


    "What do we do?" Stark asked it while pointing at Olikar, who was charging up his attack, even if they rushed at him to try and cancel the attack, it wouldn''t work.


    They were pretty much fucked for sure.


    "FACE THE WRATH OF THE BEAM OF DARKNESS, NO ONE HAS EVER SURVIVED IT," Olikarughed as he got ready to unleash it.


    But, suddenly¡­ the clone opened its mouth.


    [Use¡­. E¡­G¡­O¡­]


    It was capable of speech!


    Though only a few words, already struggling with those two, but it was able to speak to Stark in battle!


    [EGO Meter: 100/100]


    And Stark decided to follow its advice, perfectly knowing why it asked him to summon it.


    "COME FORTH, EGO, THE DEMON!"


    And so, the giant demon above Stark appeared, staring down at Olikar, who wasn''t fazed.


    With one opponent having a Godly skill charging up and the other a Mythical, just what could happen!

 Chapter 295: Eclypse Blast Negation

    Stark stood firm, facing the apostle, Olikar, whose form seemed to darken the very sky, crimson clouds appearing above.


    The wind howled between them, but Stark''s focus never wavered as the battle between human and apostle reached its critical point.


    Hovering above Stark was the manifestation of his inner power: [EGO], a demon formed from his aura and raw will.


    Its giant form loomed like a dark guardian, ready to strike at Stark''smand.


    The [EGO] demon''s eyes glowed with the same crimson intensity as Stark''s, and the anticipation for what was toe filled the air with a near-electric charge.


    Olikar, in contrast, was unyielding.


    His [Eclipse] st continued to charge, a godly skill capable of erasing anything in its path.


    The apostle''s eyes gleamed with malicious confidence as the dark energy swirled around him, growing stronger with each passing second.


    "Do you think your demon will make a difference, human?" Olikar''s voice boomed, taunting Stark with arrogance, "This Eclipse st will obliterate everything, demon, clones, and you along with them!"


    Yet Stark remained unfazed.


    His grin, wide and audacious, only grew more intense.


    Olikar didn''t know what wasing.


    ~FWISH, DASH!~


    And he did something crazy: instead of trying to escape the st, he rushed toward it.


    Olikar almost believed that he wanted tomit suicide of desperation at this point.


    "HAHA, THINK THAT THING CAN HURT ME?" he noticed that giant demon above Stark ready to swing, "DOESN''T MATTER, MY ECLIPSE BLAST WILL TAKE YOU ALL!"


    Meanwhile, the [Ultimate Clone] wasn''t doing nothing.


    Actually, it was preparing the terrain for what was bound toe in the next thirty seconds.


    First of all, it summoned the crimson [Wielding Cross] above it, then used [Crushing Gravity] to send the cross in the air, and as Olikar wasn''t moving, it was much easier to aim directly aim.


    Then the clone charged up [Aura Smash Merge] to send a giant crimson fist made out of three fists toward the apostle, and finally, it summoned the [Spear Judgement] from the [Crimson Spears], sending it at the apostle.


    And to finish all of it, it sent a [Crimson Transmissino Ball] too, creating the small crimson ball in its hands and throwing it.


    The ballnded behind Olikar, unnoticed by the apostle, whose focus was solely on charging his godly attack.


    [Teleport point set]


    But Olikar, too consumed with the power of his Eclipse st, merelyughed as he saw all the attacks.


    "Futile! Send everything you have! It''s all meaningless! My Eclipse st will erase it all!" His voice boomed with certainty, dark energy swirling faster around his colossal form.


    The apostle was no stranger to overwhelming power.


    This skill had been the ace up his sleeve in countless battles within the Colosseum, a ce where even the most hardened warriors had fallen to its devastating force.


    It was a godly-tier ability, one that had earned him the title of the strongest within this tower, and to be acknowledged by the Godless Demon.


    He knew it wouldn''t let him down.


    [Eclypse st is fully charged!]


    With a maniacal grin, Olikar prepared to unleash the destructive force.


    "GOODBYE, HUMAN!" he roared, his voice echoing across the tower''s top.


    The beam of utter darkness started to form in his hands, pulsating with raw, lethal energy.


    But Stark remained undeterred.


    His grin didn''t falter. In fact, it widened.


    "Goodbye? No¡­ Goodbye to you."


    Enjoy new adventures from m-v l''e|-NovelBin


    In an instant, the [EGO] demon that hovered above Stark acted.


    The massive being sped its hands together, mirroring its master''s intention.


    Both Stark and the [EGO] demon''s eyes red with an ominous, crimson aura as they prepared to unleash something truly catastrophic.


    "NEGATE EXPLOSION!" Stark shouted, his voice cutting through the wind.


    [Description: By using the user''s will, he can make his own body errupt and thus negate any ability surrounding him in a close radius thanks to the EGO demon.]


    A shockwave erupted from Stark''s body as his aura red, surging outward in a violent eruption.


    The small explosion hit Olikar directly, that is one of the reasons Stark got closer after all.


    "Wha¡ª?!"


    Before Olikar could react, his Eclipse st flickered, then faltered.


    His expression twisted into disbelief as the beam of dark energy he had painstakingly charged was abruptly canceled, shattered by Stark''s perk.


    [Eclipse st has been negated by EGO.]


    Olikar''s mouth opened, shock stered across his face, "What the fuck¡ª"


    BOOM! BOOM! BAM!


    Before he could recover, Olikar was bombarded by every attack the Ultimate Clone had prepared.


    The [Crushing Gravity] cross smashed down from above, the aura fists pounded against him relentlessly, and the [Spear of Judgment] impaled him with devastating force.


    "-1,058,213!"


    The damage was staggering, and for the first time, the apostle was genuinely hurt.


    [Olikar HP: 434,684/2,000,000]


    His powerful body, built through centuries of battle, trembled as cracks began to appear on his armor.


    Olikar roared in agony, his massive frame momentarily buckling under thebined assault.


    But the assault wasn''t over yet.


    ~SNAP~


    With a swift motion, the clone snapped its fingers, activating the teleportation it had set up moments before.


    In an instant, the clone materialized behind Olikar, grabbing the apostle''s head in a death grip.


    "YOU LITTLE¡ª" Olikar snarled, but before he could even swing his sword to kill both humans¡­


    FWISH! PUNCH!


    Stark''s fist came crashing into Olikar''s face, the force sending the apostle flying across the arena.


    -125271!


    [Olikar HP: 309,413/2,000,000]


    Olikar''s massive form mmed into one of the tower''s walls, the impact spreading cracks across the stone surface.


    He nearly toppled over the edge, his body barely clinging to the crumbling tform.


    The very ground beneath their feet trembled, unable to withstand the intensity of the fight.


    The fissures widened, threatening to shatter the arena entirely.


    [Warning: The Colosseum Tower may copse if you continue.]


    But Stark didn''t care, he was far from done.


    His aura surged as he charged toward Olikar, ready to deliver the finishing blow.


    The apostle was battered, bleeding, and for the first time, truly cornered.


    This was it. Victory was within reach.


    But as Stark closed in, something changed.


    Olikar''s eyes snapped open, zing with an intensity Stark hadn''t seen before.


    The apostle''s lips curled into a savage grin, blood running down his face.


    "You think¡­ this is the end, human?" he growled, rising to his feet despite the damage.


    "Let me show you¡­ why they call me the Colosseum''s Strongest."


    Without warning, Olikar''s body began to radiate a godly, overwhelming energy.


    His injured form straightened as the air around him shifted, thick with the weight of pure chaos power.


    The dark aura surrounding him multiplied, swirling with chaotic fury as his muscles bulged.


    Olikar lifted his sword high into the air, and the atmosphere itself seemed to bow under the weight of his transformation.


    "BEHOLD!" Olikar roared, his voice echoing across the battlefield; "THE COLOSSEUM''S STRONGEST!"


    With a blinding sh, his form shifted, growing evenrger, his red skin now a deep, glowing crimson, veins of shadow energy coursing through his entire body.


    His sword, now twice asrge, crackled with godly energy, ready to decimate anything in its path.


    Stark skidded to a halt, his eyes narrowing as he gazed at Olikar''s new form.


    The apostle''s transformation wasplete, his aura now nearly suffocating in its intensity.


    This was Olikar''s true power, a form that had earned him the title of the Colosseum''s Strongest.


    For a moment, the two warriors stood still, their auras shing in the storm of energy that now engulfed the tower.


    Stark clenched his fists, feeling the weight of the challenge before him.


    This was it¡ªthe final test. A true battle between a human who had defied fate and a godlike apostle who ruled the Colosseum.


    And neither was ready to back down.

 Chapter 296: The Colosseums Strongest Form!

    Olikar stood in his ultimate form, towering over the ruins of the Colosseum Tower, his colossal sword humming with chaotic energy.


    The transformation had made him unstoppable.


    His once red skin now glowed a deep, sinister crimson, veins of dark energy pulsing beneath the surface like the lifeblood of a god.


    His eyes burned with fury, and his confidence was palpable.


    "You think you can stand before me, human?" Olikar''s voice was a deep, "I''ll show you the true power of a god."


    "Damn, so many of these apostles consider themselves as gods, it''s insane," Starkughed, "Yet¡­ all of them die in the end."


    Before Stark could even react, Olikar moved.


    His speed was blinding, far faster than any awakener at even level 500 could hope to match.


    The apostle closed the distance between them in a heartbeat, his de raised high, shimmering with a deadly aura.


    "Die."


    The de sliced through the air with a sharp whoosh, and before Stark could even process the attack, he felt it.


    An immense, searing pain flooded his body as Olikar''s de cut through him, splitting his form into thousands of tiny, shimmering pieces.


    His body shattered like ss, fragments scattering in all directions.


    Stark''s world went ck.


    The sensation of pain vanished as quickly as it had arrived, reced by an overwhelming stillness.


    He was dead.


    In the endless void, Stark floated, suspended in nothingness.


    No sound, no sight, no sensation.


    Just darkness.


    But suddenly, a prompt materialized in front of him, glowing in the abyss.


    [Do you want to be revived?]


    "Damn¡­" Stark exhaled, his voice echoing in the nothingness.


    Olikar had killed him.


    Instantly.


    Effortlessly.


    The realization hit him hard.


    On the screen before him, he saw his clone, his [Ultimate Clone], still standing in the ruined tower.


    The clone was taking a defensive stance, its fists clenched and its form ready, even as Olikar slowly advanced with his Colosseum Sword raised.


    The clone was buying time, holding its ground, but even Stark knew it wouldn''tst long.


    Stark clenched his fists, frustration flooding his mind.


    There was no way to win this.


    Olikar was beyond powerful now, his strength, speed, and aura far surpassing anything Stark had faced before, his current stats matching those of a level 500 monster.


    The apostle''s transformation had made him nearly invincible.


    Stark''s revival wouldn''t change the fact that he was no match for this monstrous foe.


    His mind raced, thoughts spinning through his head like a whirlwind.


    "I can''t win¡­" Stark muttered, his voice heavy with defeat, "He''s too strong. Even if Ie back, he''ll just kill me again. There''s no point¡­"


    But then, something caught his eye.


    He looked at the screen again, watching the clone try to dodge Olikar''s slow, menacing approach.


    The clone was still alive.


    Still fighting.


    And below it was the cracked ground of the tower.


    "Wait¡­" Stark''s brow furrowed, realization dawning on him, "The cracked¡­ ground?"


    A grin crept across Stark''s face.


    An idea began to form, something wild, something absolutely reckless.


    But that''s what Stark was best at.


    "I think¡­ I got an idea," Stark whispered to himself, "It''s definitely gonna be an ''Execution'' if it works though¡­ haha¡­"


    The prompt appeared again, glowing brighter now.


    [Do you want to be revived?]


    [Final attempt, not answering will result in game over.]


    Stark''s grin widened.


    He had no other choice. No other chances. It was all or nothing.


    "YES!" he dered.


    Reality snapped back into ce.


    ¡­


    Olikar advanced slowly, his towering form dominating the clone''s.


    The apostle''s sword was raised high, ready to deliver the killing blow.


    "This ends now, human," Olikar rumbled, his voice filled with finality.


    The de crackled with chaotic energy, its edge glowing as it neared the clone''s neck.


    But then, suddenly, Olikar stopped, remembering something important.


    Why was the clone still alive if Stark was dead, it should have disappeared if the host is truly dead¡­ right?


    And more importantly, hadn''t he seen Stark revive himself during the battle with the ape? He had witnessed it with his own eyes!


    "...!" A realization dawned on Olikar, and his eyes widened.


    He turned, his massive frame pivoting just in time to see it happen again.


    Stark''s body reformed before his very eyes.


    The thousands of pieces of his shattered form slowly reassembled themselves, each fragment drawn back to the main body.


    His body knit itself back until finally, Stark stood there, whole and very much alive.


    And he was smiling.


    "You think returning will save you?" Olikar spat, swinging his sword in a wide arc, the chaotic energy bursting from it, "You cannot win in this space, human. This is my domain!"


    Stark''s smile didn''t falter.


    In fact, it only grew wider.


    "That''s true," Stark said, his voice calm, yet filled with confidence. "I can''t win here."


    Olikar''s expression twisted in confusion, but before he could question further, Stark pointed down.


    "Let''s change the scenery, shall we?"


    Olikar''s eyes widened as he stared at the ground, almost fully destroyed from their battle.


    "?!" His mind raced, but he was too slow to react, "WAIT, DON''T YOU EVEN DARE¡ª"


    But it was toote.


    Both Stark and his clone mmed their fists into the ground beneath them with all their might.


    CRACK!


    The floor beneath them shattered with a deafening crash, and the Colosseum Tower''s topmost tform gave way, crumbling under the force of theirbined strength.


    The ground beneath Olikar vanished, and the entire battlefield changed now.


    ¡­


    Fwish!


    Bothbatants fell through the air, hurtling toward the next floor below.


    Stark twisted in mid-air, eyes locked on Olikar as the two descended together.


    BAM!


    They crashed into the tenth floor of the tower,nding hard amidst a storm of rubble.


    Stark barely had time to catch his breath before Olikar was on him again, swinging his Colosseum Sword with deadly precision.


    "VOID SLASH¡­ ULTIMATE!"


    Every single one of Olikar''s had gained the ''Ultimate'' perk once he transformed, making them much more deadly.


    Stark dodged, narrowly avoiding the blow.


    One hit would be fatal, he only had one HP left after reviving, he couldn''t afford to make a single mistake.


    The fight continued, intense and brutal.


    Every sh sent shockwaves through the tower, the structure groaning beneath their fury.


    With each exchange, Stark ducked and weaved,nding blows when he could (though they did less than 1000 damage), but always careful to avoid Olikar''s deadly strikes.


    [WARNING! WARNING! THE TOWER WILL CRUMBLE!]


    For some strange reason, one he didn''t know, Olikar''s movements seemed so much slower than before.


    He knew the apostle was going at full speed, but maybe thanks to [Flow], or something else he didn''t know of, he could now avoid more easily than before.


    Again and again, they smashed through the floors, descending deeper into the tower, either by the floor finally giving after Olikar''s attacks, or by Stark smashing the apostle through the ground.


    By the time they reached the fifth floor, both were exhausted, their auras flickering with the intensity of the battle.


    If anyone saw him right now, they surely wouldn''t be able to know who was the monster and who wasn''t, the [EGO] demon and his clone still behind Stark, both assisting him.


    Stark''s breathing was ragged, sweat dripping from his brow, but he knew he couldn''t stop.


    He had to push through.


    He had to win.


    Finally, after a few minutes they crashed into the first floor of the Colosseum Tower, the ground beneath them cracking from the impact.


    Stark could feel it: the end was near.


    His entire body screamed in pain, but he pushed forward.


    He had one final move, one final chance.


    His eyes locked on Olikar, who was equally battered, his form flickering as the toll of his transformation weighed heavy on him.


    "This is it¡­" Stark muttered to himself, gathering everyst ounce of his strength.


    Olikar raised his sword onest time, his massive frame trembling with exhaustion, but still unrelenting in his fury.


    "You¡­ can''t win¡­" Olikar panted, his voice strained but filled with defiance, "Lord¡­ Godless¡­ will reign."


    Stark clenched his fists, his aura ring around him.


    "You''re right¡­" Stark said, his voice low but steady, "But I don''t need to win fairly."


    Stark couldn''t do real damage to that thing in its current form, he would surely die before it did.


    And so he chose the next best solution.


    Stark''s aura surged, filling the entire space with a blinding light.


    His eyes glowed with a deep crimson color as he raised his hand high, preparing to unleash his final skill, a vortex of aura forming in his eyes.


    All of his power, all of his remaining strength, focused into one moment.


    Into a skill he had never used until now.


    A skill that could either save him, or kill him.


    And so¡­ he shouted its name.


    "BANISH!" he screamed at the apostle while pointing at him.


    The word echoed through the tower as the light exploded outward, consuming everything in its path.


    Ding!


    [The Banish Game shall start!]


    [Whoever''s aura gets consumed by the other will be cast into the void!]


    [Good luck!]


    Both opponents read that panel, and suddenly¡­ their auras surged from their bodies, shing against one another.

 Chapter 297: The Banish Game, Defeating Olikar

    The moment the Banish game began, Stark and Olikar stood frozen in the air, their bodies locked in ce as their auras erupted around them like violent storms.


    [The Banish Game shall start!]


    [Whoever''s aura gets consumed by the other will be cast into the void!]


    [Good luck!]


    Olikar''s eyes red wide in disbelief, "What the hell is this?! I''ve never seen something like this!"


    He tried to dash toward Stark, but his movements were blocked by the strange force of the Banish Game.


    His body, despite its immense strength, wouldn''t respond.


    [Hey! The Banish Game has started. You cannot leave or attack. Use your aura to defend and attack the opponent''s!]


    "HUMANNNNNN!" Olikar roared, but no amount of shouting would change the rules of this strange game.


    He red at Stark, realizing the stakes.


    Whatever trick Stark had pulled, he had to y along now.


    Suddenly, with an earth-shaking BOOM, both their auras collided.


    Stark''s crimson aura, crackling with raw, destructive energy, surged forward like a tidal wave, crashing against Olikar''s dark, malevolent force.


    The two stood, locked in this battle of wills, neither able to physically attack, but their auras now the tools ofbat.


    [You can form shapes rted to your skills with your aura in the Banish Game!]


    As soon as that notification shed, the battle shifted.


    Stark''s mind raced.


    He was the first to figure it out, and so with a determined look, he concentrated hard, imagining a form for his aura.


    The crimson energy surrounding him suddenly twisted and swirled, shaping itself into a rough doppelg?nger of Stark himself.


    The aura clone clenched its fist and, with a booming impact, mmed it into Olikar''s dark aura.


    BAM! BAM!


    The blows reverberated through the battlefield, pushing Olikar''s aura back, causing it to shrink slightly.


    Olikar''s lips curled into a snarl. "YOU THINK YOU''RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO THIS?!"


    Fwish!


    His dark aura responded instantly, twisting and forming into the shape of a massive de, mirroring the Colosseum Sword he wielded in battle.


    The dark energy de shed at Stark''s aura doppelg?nger, cutting through it and regaining lost ground.


    This was how [Banish Battles] went, a truly¡­ phenomenal thing, you need to gain space by attacking the opponent''s aura.


    A whole new type of battles!


    And so the battle unfolded, their auras transforming into shapes, representations of their power.


    Stark formed his aura into fists, spears, and even tried to mimic a [Heaven''s Wrath] to sh with Olikar''s dark aura.


    But Olikar actually fought back, their auras at a fairly same level.


    But Stark wasn''t giving up.


    Olikar was relentless, his dark aura pressing forward with terrifying force, pushing Stark''s crimson energy back inch by inch.


    The apostle''s face twisted with rage, "I AM A TRUE GOD OF BATTLE! YOU CANNOT WIN!"


    Stark gritted his teeth, sweat running down his face as he focused harder, pouring everything into his aura, "I don''t have to be a god to beat you."


    He pushed back with a surge of crimson energy, forcing Olikar''s dark aura to halt its advance.


    The battlefield of auras fluctuated, the bnce constantly shifting, but Stark wasn''t done yet.


    [WARNING! WARNING! ONE MORE PUSH AND THE TOWER WILL CRUMBLE!]


    Their auras were destroying the tower, the very foundations sumbing.


    But Stark didn''t care, He had onest trick up his sleeve.


    "You''re nothing but a false warrior who follows orders!" Stark shouted, his eyes zing with determination.


    His crimson aura shifted once more, forming a massive demon-like figure, an embodiment of [EGO],rger than any form he had created yet.


    The aura demon roared and mmed into the dark aura Olikar had crafted into a grotesque, twisted version of himself.


    The impact was thunderous.


    BOOM!


    The sh sent shockwaves through the space around them, and Stark''s aura surged forward, overpowering Olikar''s defenses.


    The crimson energy washed over Olikar, consuming him piece by piece.


    And then¡­ what had to happen happened: Stark''s aura engulfed the apostle, locking him in ce.


    Olikar''s eyes widened in horror as his dark aura waspletely overtaken, "Huh? W-What?!" He tried to resist, but it was already over the moment the aura reached him.


    [You have lost the Banish Game!]


    [Winner: Stark Heartsouls]


    Olikar''s face twisted in disbelief, "WHAT? HOW? I CANNOT LOSE! THIS IS STUPID!" Continue reading at m|v-l''e -NovelBin


    On the other side, Stark was smiling, his face radiating with triumph and malice.


    He knew it was over.


    "Adios, idiot," heughed.


    Fwish... FWISH...


    Crimson tentacles of Stark''s aura tightened their grip on Olikar, dragging him down toward the ground.


    Below him, a swirling portal of darkness appeared, the gateway to the void.


    Olikar struggled, wing at the air, trying to resist the pull, but it was futile.


    He couldn''t fight against the overwhelming force of Stark''s aura.


    "No! This cannot be!" Olikar shouted as the portal consumed him, piece by piece, dragging him down into its infinite depths.


    And then, just like that, Olikar was gone, erased, cast into the void.


    Ding!


    [You have ''Executed'' Olikar, The Colosseum Warrior!]


    Stark''s eyes widened in surprise.


    An execution. That meant¡­


    [''Execution'' broadcast has been sent throughout the world!]


    This would surely cause an uproar, but it had been more than 6 months since hisst execution, so who cares.


    Ding!


    [You have in ''Olikar, The Colosseum Warrior,'' gaining 47,600,000 experience points!]


    [+20,000,000 Execution Bonus!]


    Stark blinked in disbelief.


    A total of 67,600,000 experience points from this single fight.


    It was an astronomical amount, far more than he had ever earned in one battle, and he could hardly process it.


    It didn''t take much more time for him to hear the level up notifications.


    DING! DING! DING! DING!


    [Your level has increased to level 89, granting you four skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Your level has increased to level 90, granting you four skill points and a boost in stats.]


    .


    .


    [Your level has increased to level 99, granting you four skill points and a boost in stats.]


    Stark''s mind went into ''what the fuck'' mode.


    He had jumped eleven levels in one battle, nearly reaching level 100.


    It was unheard of.


    "I-Incredible¡­" Stark muttered, his body still buzzing from the aftermath of the battle.


    A level 400 monster (or 500 in this case because of the stat boost, you know) like Olikar had been beyond powerful, but now Stark had gotten everything.


    It was sooo worth it!


    "Skill!" Stark''s eyes immediately sparkled as he expected to see the cards appear before him.


    But¡­


    [From now only, you will get skills every 20 levels!]


    He was put on yet another restriction¡­


    "Oh well, can''t have it all," he shrugged.


    But as Stark caught his breath, he noticed something glowing near the spot where Olikar had been dragged into the void.


    Three shimmering lights floated where Olikar''s body had been.


    "Items!" Stark smiled as he approached them, he thought that he wouldn''t get anything because Olikar''s body was dragged into the void, but looks like he was wrong!


    The glowing objects solidified, revealing three pieces of equipment left behind by the fallen apostle:


    Colosseum Champion''s de: A massive greatsword imbued with Olikar''s dark energy. It boosts the wielder''s strength by 50% when used inbat arenas or colosseums and grants the passive skill "Aura sh," allowing energy-based ranged attacks.


    Aegis of the Fallen: A legendary-grade shield that generates a powerful aura-based barrier around the user, deflecting iing attacks. It passively increases defense by 30% and regenerates 0.2% of maximum health every 10 seconds duringbat.


    diator''s Chainmail: An enchanted piece of armor that boosts agility and endurance by 20%. When taking a hit, it has a chance to temporarily increase the user''s speed, making them harder to strike.


    Pretty good, heh?


    Well, the world said "FUCK YOU" to Stark.


    [ss: Warrior]


    Because only the warrior ss could use these three legendary or above items, and guess what, Stark had decided to remove the [Warrior] ss from his [ss Wheel] option PERMANANTLY!


    Who''s the real clown now, heh?


    "There''s nothing we can do," Stark sat on the ground while looking above at the destroyed floors, breathing in and out and able to see the sky from his current position.


    But these weren''t all of the announcements, there was still one as Stark could still see a panel floating in front of him.


    He decided to open it, and what he saw was quite¡­ shocking.


    Ding!


    [As a reward for purging an entire tower, you have been granted a ''Max out Core''!]


    Eliminating Olikar meant killing EVERY monster in the tower, so he was rewarded with another [Max Out Core]!


    The reason no one else was able to get it was because, well, Olikar counted as one of the monsters, and Stark was the only one able to kill him.


    "Very good," the boy smiled mischievously, "I''ll use itter," he put it into his [Spatial Inventory] for now.


    Then he sat down and waited, wanting to recover some of his stamina.


    But of course, the universe wouldn''t let him rest.


    [The tower is crumbling, you should really get out!]


    "Oh."

 Chapter 298: Leaving The Colosseum, Third Academy Semester

    The ground trembled beneath Stark''s feet as he stood amidst the crumbling remnants of the Colosseum Tower.


    His battle with Olikar had pushed the structure to its limit, and now, the tower was moments away from total copse, like actually, they had destroyed EVERYTHING.


    "Hmph," Stark muttered, his eyes narrowing as he gripped the [Colosseum Tower Token] in his hand.


    He activated it without hesitation, a burst of crimson energy enveloping his body.


    The familiar sensation of teleportation surged through him, and in an instant, the chaotic sounds of destruction faded.


    Just as Stark disappeared from the copsing structure, the tower gave one final, earth-shattering groan.


    Then the entire thing shattered like ss.


    Just like Olikar, that thing died.


    ¡­


    Back in his apartment room, Stark reappeared in the exact same position he had been in before teleporting to the Colosseum Tower.


    His eyes blinked as he adjusted to the sudden shift in scenery.


    The familiar warmth of his apartment greeted him, a stark contrast to the cold and deadly battlefield he had just left behind.


    Across the room, Lana and Sora sat on the couch, their eyes glued to the television screen.


    Both of them looked tense, anxiety painted on their faces (yes, even Sora, a bit) as they watched the massive Colosseum Tower crumble on live television.


    "STARK!" Lana screamed, jumping to her feet as the tower copsed, tears streaming down her cheeks, her voice filled with desperation.


    She thought he was still inside.


    "Yes?" Stark''s calm voice came from behind.


    Lana froze mid-sob, slowly turning around as her eyes met Stark''s calm expression.


    Her jaw dropped, and for a second, she couldn''t believe it was really him standing there.


    Her face was a mess of tears and snot, but none of that mattered. The next moment, she rushed toward him, hugging him.


    "You... you''re okay!" she cried, clutching him tightly. "I thought- I thought you-"


    "Did you expect me to stay inside and take it?" Stark raised his eyebrows.


    "N-No..." Lana sniffled, slowly pulling back from the hug, trying topose herself, "B-But we saw the whole battle live on TV! We thought you were trapped in there!"


    Stark''s eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, what? The battle was... live on TV?"


    "Yes," Sora confirmed as she stood from the couch, approaching them with her usual calm demeanor, but there was a glint of relief in her eyes.


    She smiled softly and extended her arms, as if expecting a hug as well.


    Stark didn''t know what this gesture meant, as it was Sora we were talking about, and so he put the [Colosseum Token] in her hands.


    Sora blinked in confusion, her very small smile faltering slightly, "You hugged Lana, aren''t you going to do the same for me?"


    "Oh..." Stark scratched the back of his head, "I just... didn''t expect it from you, my bad."


    He awkwardly opened his arms, and Sora stepped into the hug.


    Unlike Lana''s emotional embrace, Sora''s was way calmer and less excited.


    As they hugged, Sora''s cheeks flushed slightly, and she realized how strange this sensation was to her.


    Human contact... that didn''t repulse her, that didn''t fill her with disgust.


    ''No... disgust...'' Sora thought, her mind racing as the hug lingered longer than she expected.


    It felt...forting.


    She had never touched anyone like this before without feeling the urge to pull away immediately.


    This feeling was intoxicating to her, and if she didn''t watch out she could definitely be a ''Stark Addict''.


    Stark stepped back, looking between the two girls, "So... does that mean the whole world saw the battle?"


    "Yes," Lana and Sora replied in unison.


    "The TV literally turned itself on," Lana exined, "and your fight was being broadcast everywhere. We checked the forums, and it was the same for everyone. People were forced to watch your battle."


    "Oh, wow," Stark muttered, running a hand through his hair, "That''s... special."


    Find exclusive stories on m_v l|e-NovelBin


    He was thankful that his face had been hidden by his aura for most of the fight, but it was still strange to think that the entire world had been watching him take down Olikar.


    Curious, Stark pulled out his phone and quickly navigated to the forums. Sure enough, the discussions were aze with his name.


    [WarriorKing98]: Yo, did anyone else see that dude rip through the tower?! What the heck was that battle?!


    [ArcaneMaster10]: Bro, it was INSANE. That crimson aura was unreal. I can''t believe that guy took down an apostle like that.


    [OlikarFanatic]: Nah man, Olikar was supposed to win! This guy came outta nowhere. This isn''t over!


    [JustAnotherSpectator]: Did anyone notice how the entire tower just... exploded? If it happened in a city it would soooo over!


    Stark smirked, shaking his head, "Damn."


    ¡­


    The next two days passed quietly, a stark contrast to the chaos of the battle. Stark spent most of his time resting and recovering, though Lana seemed intent on... other activities.


    One night, Lana made her move, slipping into Stark''s bed while Sora was sleeping nearby.


    She nudged him gently, her eyes gleaming mischievously in the dark.


    "Hey... want to... have some fun?" she whispered, her lips brushing against his ear.


    Stark turned to her, half-asleep, and frowned, "You make too much noise," he said, rolling over and pulling the nket over his head.


    But surprisingly, Lana didn''t feel rejected, instead she chuckled, "If Sora''s going to stay here for a while, how are we supposed to have any alone time?" she teased, poking him in the side.


    "I don''t know," Stark muttered, his voice muffled by the nket, "Just... not when she''s around."


    Lana chuckled quietly, though she couldn''t hide her disappointment, "Fine, fine. But don''t think you can keep dodging me forever."


    "Don''t n to, you''re submissive as hell anyway."


    "¡­" her face turned red.


    What they didn''t know was that Sora, who they assumed was asleep, had her eyes wide open, listening to every word.


    Her face was flushed as shey there, her heart pounding, ''They''ve already gone this far...?'' she thought, feeling a mix of emotions she couldn''t quite ce.


    Jealousy? Curiosity?


    If Stark had already been with Lana, what chance did she have to... win him over?


    Lana was her friend, and yet... the thought of Stark being out of her reach made her think that the possibility of ''stealing'' him wasn''t far-fetched.


    She scolded herself for even thinking that way.


    ¡­


    Two dayster...


    [The third semester/trial of the academy starts today!]


    Stark, Lana, and Sora hurried to get ready, tension in the air as they prepared for the new semester.


    A new semester in this academy wasn''t filled with excitement, just dread.


    As usual, Stark carried both girls, jumping from a building andnding smoothly past the academy gate.


    They entered the academy lobby, where arge assembly of students was gathered.


    But this time, things were different.


    There were only 2,000 squares set up on the floor, much fewer than the previous trials.


    And of those squares, not even half were filled with students: the rest were empty.


    Stark, Lana, and Sora stood together on three squares close to one another.


    The atmosphere heavier than before.


    The remaining students seemed stronger, more focused, and far more dangerous.


    At precisely 8:00, the academy doors closed with a loud THUD, and the chairman, Theodore, appeared on stage alongside the instructors.


    "Beautiful day, ain''t it, folks?" Theodore grinned, his eyes scanning the room, "You can imagine my surprise when I saw the Colosseum Tower was destroyed by one of you, a true... shocking event."


    His gaze locked onto Stark, the knowing glint in his eyes impossible to miss.


    It didn''t take a genius to figure out who had caused this at this point anyway.


    "Well, it doesn''t matter," Theodore continued, pping his hands together, "Let''s get on with the third and final trial announcement, shall we?"


    A holographic screen descended from the ceiling, casting a glow across the room as the details of the next trial began to disy.

 Chapter 299: Daniel Pridel is back, Third Trial Announcement

    Theodore''s voice boomed over the hall.


    "Congrattions on surviving," he began, his eyes scanning the room, "All of those currently in this room are truly the one deserving of being called Rift Conqueror Students!"


    The holographic screen lit up.


    [837 students remain out 1763!]


    "Holy shit!" one voice echoed from somewhere in the back.


    "Less than a thousand..."


    "Well, we survived, didn''t we?" another student answer, trying to sound cheerful, though the undertone of anxiety was unmistakable.


    Stark nced around the room, taking it all in.


    The chatter around him was incessant, but to him, all of these people were just coping.


    Despite the noise, the weight of those numbers wasn''t anything special to him.


    Nearly 4000 students had fallen between the first and second trials.


    And there was still one more trial to go.


    "Calm down, people," Theodore''s voice cut through the noise like a de, his aura spiking to silence the room, "I know it''s scary, but as said before, only the strongest shall survive this academy."


    "¡­" no one dared to say anything.


    But Stark clenched his jaw, biting back a curse.


    ''Fuck off,'' he thought.


    He didn''t care about the death''s either as Lana and Sora were alive, but Theodore''s indifferent attitude toward all of this infuriated him.


    It was as though the deaths and failures were nothing more than a side effect of the academy''s grand n to create the ultimate fighters for the second year.


    The silence deepened as the holographic screen behind Theodore flickered to life again, disying a massive leaderboard.


    Stark''s group, unsurprisingly, was ranked first.


    The names of the Punkz Brothers appeared second, their obnoxious grins from a few months back ying on his mind.


    And third ce belonged to Karl Spikeford''s group, also expected.


    The rest of the rankings blurred out in Stark''s mind, irrelevant to him.


    Theodore''s grin widened as he watched the students absorb the information.


    "Well¡­ just as before, I guess it''s time to introduce your next and final trial for this first year," he said, practically buzzing with excitement, more excited than the students themselves for what was about toe.


    The screen began to change.


    "But before any of that..." Theodore''s smile twisted into something more devious, "We shall introduce a transfer student!"


    And just like that, the room erupted.


    "WHAT?!"


    "TRANSFER STUDENT AT THE END OF THE YEAR?"


    "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!"


    Outrage spread like wildfire across the hall.


    Students began shouting over each other, disbelief evident on their faces.


    It was unheard of for someone to be brought in thiste, after the trials had already imed so many lives.


    How was that even fair?


    Theodore, however, seemedpletely unbothered by the uproar, "Calm down, my fellow students, you will understand why once you see him," the chairman smiled, not caring about any of their opinions, after all he ruled this ce.


    "Never!"


    "Let''s beat up that guy!"


    "He must think sooo highly of himself."


    Theodore turned to the screen, and with a wide grin, he finally spoke the name that silenced the roompletely.


    "Wee¡­ Daniel Pridel!"


    The exact moment his name was uttered, the moment thest syb escaped Theodore''s mouth,, the entire room went quiet, all of them, even the Punkz Brother, turning cold and fearful.


    "???" Stark was confused.


    Of course, Stark remembered Daniel vividly.


    He was the first real opponent Stark had faced after reincarnating into this world, a memory etched into his mind.


    Daniel was the one who pushed Stark to spin the [ss Wheel] to unlock his [Domination] ss, setting off everything that had happened since.


    But as far as Stark knew, Daniel had been nothing more than a minor nuisance at best.


    Yet the atmosphere in the room told a different story now.


    "Holy shit¡­"


    "Don''t piss him off¡­"


    "Fuck, I didn''t think it would be him¡­"


    The whispers of fear spread like wildfire through the remaining students.


    Stark was puzzled, turning to Lana for rification.


    "Is he that famous?" he asked, genuinely confused.


    The Daniel he remembered had been a stepping stone, nothing more.


    Lana''s expression was serious, her eyes flicking toward the screen, "Are you serious? Daniel Pridel is¡­ different now. You need to see what he''s been doing the past year or so since you beat him," she said, her voice low.


    "What''s he been up to?" Stark asked.


    Before Lana could exin, the lights in the room dimmed, and the stage was illuminated.


    Daniel stepped into the light, and Stark''s eyes widened in shock, his aura almost instinctively making him take his fighting stance.


    The Daniel standing before them was unrecognizable from the boy Stark had once fought.


    Daniel was muscr before, but now he was a legitimate beast, standing at around 190cm tall.


    His chest was bare, littered with scars, and his aura was suffocating, while wearing pants that clearly didn''t fit his size.


    Stark noted the dried blood still clinging to his torso, his unkempt appearance making him look more like a savage beast than a person.


    His gaze was murderous, and his aura was overwhelming.


    "Heh." Stark couldn''t help but let out a smallugh, though he hid it better than back at the first announcement.


    How the hell did he transform this much? No one really knew.


    "D-Don''tugh," Lana pleaded Stark, "I''ve seen articles and even the news refering him as the ''warrior prodigy of today''s society''!!"


    "And why is that?"


    "Well... its just rumors since we aren''t sure... but from what I heard all this guy did was fight over and over in rifts, risking his life, yet alwaysing back stronger, and experts have guessed that he is... at least level 500," she sighed, "At this level, I don''t even know if you can take him Stark..."


    "Nah, I''d win," Stark smiled, confident, though this guy indeed looked strong.


    Lana shot him a skeptical look but said nothing. She knew better than to argue with Stark when he got like this.


    On stage, Theodore continued, "No need for further introductions. Daniel, take your ce on a square and prepare for the third trial."


    Daniel nodded once, his eyes cold and focused as he moved to the front of the room, his presencemanding.


    No one dared speak as he walked past, his very aura sending waves of unease through the crowd.


    "Well, then let''s get to the reall good part!" Theodore pped his hands.


    The screen flickered once more, and the image of a massive dark and crimson hole in the ground appeared


    "!!!" Stark''s eyes widened in shock, could this be...


    [The academy has worked hard.]


    [They have found this rift called the ''Devil''s Abyss,'' an extremely dangerous rift they''ve been trying to unlock for over a year. And now, they''ve found one of the only two keys in the world to open it.]


    The screen zoomed in, showing the colossal entrance to the rift, an ominous ck wall with a glowing keyhole.


    [Third Trial: The Devil''s Abyss.]


    [The Devil''s Abyss is a level 250-400 rift from the ''DETERMINATION'' difficulty, and yes that might sound crazy, but do not fret, we will NOT be asking you to clear it.]


    [Your mission is simple: retrieve three ''Devil Flowers'' located in the second zone of the rift. Retrieve them, and you will sessfully graduate your first year.]


    [That is all, couldn''t be easier!]


    But Stark didn''t believe them: this seemed... WAY too easy.


    And the other students knew it


    "What''s the catch?!"


    "Not falling for that, old man!"


    [The catch is that the rift is difficult and filled with demons to brim, it was detected as one of the rifts with the highest demonic energy ever.]


    [The ''opening'' of the rift will happen right after these announcements, you will be teleported to the location where it will happen before your eyes!]


    [Of course, you can choose to leave now, as you will be granted a ''Devil Abyss'' token to be able to teleport to the location whenever you want, but you won''t be able to witness the opening!]


    [Have fun!]


    And then the holographic screen disappeared, leaving the students baffled.


    Especially Stark though, who''s jaw almost dropped to the ground.


    "That is all," Theodore smiled, "And as our little holo-friend said, we will begin the opening in exactly twenty minutes from now," he snapped his fingers, and suddenly the entrance of the school opened, "Those who want to leave may do so to prepare."


    And just like that... the third trial could now start

 Chapter 300: The Appearance of the Devils Abyss (Finally)

    Stark leaned back against one of the walls of the massive auditorium, arms crossed, his gaze flicking between the countdown timer on the holographic screen and his twopanions, Lana and Sora.


    The remaining twenty minutes before the third trial felt like an eternity, especially with the tension hanging heavy in the air.


    "Seems like they''re giving us time to think it over," Lanamented, her arms folded over her chest.


    Sora, always the quieter one of the group, just nodded.


    "Doesn''t matter," Stark muttered, "We''re not backing down."


    And it seemed that none of the students felt like it either: they had survived two deadly trials, and of course it wasn''t a [Domination Trial] level, but it was still difficult!


    "¡­"


    Nothing much happened for the first fifteen minutes, and everyone just waited.


    But suddenly, the atmosphere in the room shifted out of nowhere as Daniel, the one everyone was scared of, suddenly moved, arriving right behind Stark, looking down at the boy.


    "Holy shit!"


    "...What did he do to Daniel."


    "I would piss myself to be honest..."


    But of course, he wasn''t dumb: Stark could feel it, a presence, like a surge of pressure pushing against the back of his neck.


    His crimson eyes flickered with a sharp, instinctual awareness.


    Without even looking, he knew who it was.


    The room seemed to grow colder, and the chatter of the other students abruptly died down as they all looked at the event unfolding before their eyes.


    Lana stiffened beside Stark, her eyes widening as she stared over his shoulder.


    "Stark, watch out!" she warned, her voice trembling with urgency.


    Even Sora''s usual calm demeanor faltered a bit as she dropped into a defensive stance, her hand positioned as if to use [Vine Smash].


    Stark, however, remainedpletely calm.


    He slowly turned around, as if the intimidating presence behind him was nothing more than a mild inconvenience.


    His eyebrows raised slightly, and his gaze locked onto the man towering over him.


    It was Daniel Pridel.


    "Problem?" Stark asked casually, his voice filled with confidence, and his pupils glowing with a burning crimson aura, stronger than anything Daniel was putting out.


    Stark could feel Daniel''s violent energy trying to dominate the space, but it felt insignificant to him.


    "...!" Daniel didn''t speak much anymore, but his eyes did widen a bit once seeing that Stark also got just as powerful as he did even though he fought relentlessly in rifts this entire year.


    Could he really lose to Stark, the one that had humiliated him?


    No, no he couldn''t, he would surely destroy that boy.


    And yet, when he looked into Stark''s eyes, all he could see was chaos, determination and power, as if he had fought and seen opponents a thousands times stronger than he was.


    Thest time they had fought, Stark had been far weaker, yet now, despite Daniel''s own terrifying growth, Stark stood before him as though he was an equal¡­ no¡­ as though he was stronger.


    "You will suffer," that is all Daniel muttered, his voice low and filled with venom.


    His grip on the hilt of his small de tightened, yet despite his threatening words, there was hesitation in his eyes


    Stark''s gaze remained steady, unfazed.


    In Daniel''s eyes, he could see a mix of rage, pride, and... doubt.


    It was almost amusing.


    After all the battles Daniel had fought, after all the power he had gained, he was still unsure if he could truly defeat Stark.


    With a frustrated grunt, Daniel stepped back, abandoning whatever n he had to provoke Stark into a fight.


    He turned his gaze away, ncing over Stark''s shoulder, and for a moment, his eyes softened into something darker: something personal.


    Stark followed Daniel''s gaze and noticed Lana standing beside him.


    Her expression was calm, but the way she looked at Daniel carried no fear, just indifference.


    To Daniel, though, that look must have been a p in the face.


    Stark knew the stories about Daniel''s obsession with Lana back in their school days, and it seemed that obsession hadn''t faded.


    He could see how he was looking at him and Lana, and took add a cut to the wound, Stark reached for Lana''s waist and got her closer to him.


    The girl''s face turned bright red, but she didn''t retaliate.


    Daniel clenched his fists, his jaw tightening, but he said nothing.


    With a sharp turn, he marched away, moving to the front of the auditorium, his shoulders tense with barely-contained rage.


    "He''s still a psycho," Stark muttered under his breath, shaking his head.


    *


    Lana exhaled in relief. "That guy''s worse than I remembered," she admitted, her voice low, "He''s been in those rifts for a year straight, fighting who-knows-what, and yet... you didn''t even flinch."


    "Why would I?" Stark replied with a grin, "He''s strong, sure, but nothing we haven''t faced before."


    Even Sora seemed to rx, though she kept one eye on Daniel.


    "We''ll deal with himter," Stark added, "Simple as that."


    The tension seemed to ease as the minutes continued to tick down.


    And finally, the timer on the holographic screen hit zero.


    Theodore''s voice filled the room again,manding attention as he stepped forward with a pleased smile.


    "I guess no one wants to leave," he said with a chuckle, "Very well then. Let us begin."


    With a snap of his fingers, a brilliant light enveloped the entire auditorium, and the room vanished from around them.


    The next moment, Stark, Lana, Sora, and the rest of the students found themselves standing in the open air, a vastndscape stretching out before them.


    The ground waspletely red, and they could see fire all around them, the trees and even rocks burnt.


    It almost looked like they were in hell.


    Directly ahead was a massive hole in the ground, the entrance to the Devil''s Abyss.


    It radiated an ominous energy, a swirling, dark aura that seemed to pulse like a living thing.


    Surrounding the hole was a towering aura wall, etched with intricate symbols and runes, and at the center of the wall was a glowing key symbol: this is where you need to ce the [Devil Abyss''s Key] if you had it.


    "Holy..." Stark whispered, his eyes wide as he took in the sight of the rift.


    The size of the portal was monstrous,rge enough to swallow an entire city block.


    Would they need to jump from here to the bottom of the hole to reach the rift? Because it sure did look like it¡­


    Theodore''s voice echoed through the air, as one of the instructors stepped forward, holding a small, ancient-looking key, the same one Stark had in his inventory.


    "As promised, you will now witness the opening of the Devil''s Abyss," Theodore announced.


    The instructor raised the key, and with a single, fluid motion, he inserted it into the glowing symbol on the wall.


    There was a loud, echoing click, followed by a deep rumble that shook the ground beneath their feet.


    The aura wall shimmered, and the key symbol pulsed with light before dissolvingpletely.


    The barrier around the rift copsed, and the swirling vortex within the hole grew even more intense.


    The portal was now fully open.


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    [The Devil''s Abyss Rift has been opened!]


    "Go on," Theodore said with a wicked smile, "jump inside."


    Without hesitation, students began leaping into the rift, their bodies disappearing into the dark void below.


    Stark exchanged a quick nce with Lana and Sora.


    "Here we go," he said, his voice steady as he stepped forward.


    With a deep breath, Stark jumped into the abyss too, the darkness swallowing him whole.


    The sensation of fallingsted only a moment before his feet hit solid ground.


    [Wee to the Devil''s Abyss]


    [Level: 250-400]


    [Difficulty: Determination]


    This is the beforest difficulty, right before "Death".


    The final trial could now begin, though for Stark, he nned to reach the very end of that rift and kill the apostles.

 Chapter 301: Falling into the Apostles Trap!

    The usual rush of adrenaline that followed any jump into a rift was there, but something else lingered in the air, something darker, heavier.


    His crimson eyes flickered as he took in his surroundings.


    The red stone ground beneath his feet was jagged and uneven, and in the distance,va rivers could be seen flowing.


    ''Devil''s Abyss, heh~'' Stark smirked, ''I guess I''m in hell.''


    Stark stood up straight, scanning the area for Lana and Sora.


    They had jumped into the rift right before him, yet now there was nothing, actually, there was no one.


    He waited a few moments, expecting to hear their familiar voices, or at the very least, the sound of other studentsnding around him.


    But the silence stretched on, filling the air with an eerie emptiness.


    "...Where is everyone?" Stark muttered to himself, his senses sharpened as a cold chill ran down his spine.


    Suddenly, a holographic message shed in front of his eyes.


    [Wee to your doom, chosen one.]


    "¡­" Stark''s focus increased by a hundred the moment he saw the words ''chosen one''.


    The next set of words hit him harder.


    [You cannot leave.]


    [You are stuck here with us.]


    [Come and try to challenge us, chosen.]


    The gravity of the situation set in, and Stark''s smirk faded.


    And then it hit him.


    "The apostles..." Stark whispered, his hand instinctively clenching into a fist, the three apostles of this rift were here, they were waiting for him.


    The apostles must have sensed his presence.


    And knowing that he would eventuallye to kill them here, they must have crafted this trap just for him.


    Meaning that while the other students teleported to the beginning areas with their other peers, passing through its normal challenges, he was in a separate reality¡ªa realm designed by the apostles themselves, much harder.


    His crimson eyes gleamed with excitement, even as his situation became more dangerous "Stuck in here?" heughed, "No¡­ you''re stuck here with me, idiots."


    Meanwhile, in the regr section of the Devil''s Abyss, Lana stood up from hernding.


    Dozens of students were already scattered across the open zone, preparing for the trial.


    She looked around, her brow furrowing.


    "Huh? Where is Stark?" she asked, her voice concerned.


    Sora appeared beside her, her sharp eyes scanning the surroundings,"He should''vended right after us¡­" she muttered, equally perplexed.


    The two exchanged nces, but neither could see any sign of their teammate.


    Back in Stark''s personal nightmare, he couldn''t help butugh more, "Incredible! Thank you for making the job easier!" he shouted into the air while spreading his arms, hoping it would reach the apostles from their safe little zones.


    He hade to the Devil''s Abyss prepared to fight alongside his team, but if the apostles wanted to give him this kind of special treatment, then so be it.


    Without wasting any more time, he took his first step forward, the ground cracking beneath his feet as if even the earth itself trembled at his approach.


    His crimson aura surrounded himpletely, lighting up the dark, destendscape around him.


    [Devil''s Abyss has 5 zones.]


    The message appeared briefly, but Stark barely paid it any mind.


    He was already moving.


    Five zones were more than what a normal rift would have, but that didn''t matter to him. He would tear through them, one by one. Your adventure continues at m v|l-e''-NovelBin


    [First Zone: Beginning of Hell]


    Thendscape shifted as he moved deeper into the rift.


    Red, jagged rocks jutted from the ground, and the air grew hotter as he approached the rivers ofva that were spread through the zone.


    It was exactly what you''d expect from a ce named "Devil''s Abyss," but Stark didn''t care about the scenery.


    His focus was on the creatures that lurked ahead, each between level 250-300.


    In the distance, he spotted them: devils and demons, grotesque figures with twisted horns, leathery wings, and glowing eyes filled with malice.


    They sensed him as well, their guttural roars shaking the air as they charged toward him in a wave of fury.


    Stark''s smirk returned, "Come on, then."


    Around twenty of these things rushed at him all at once, wanting to get rid of him at the same time.


    Without hesitation, Stark raised his hand, his [Crimson Purification] ability activating in a sh of light.


    A surge of holy energy exploded outward from him, crashing into the demonic horde like a wave.


    The demons didn''t even have a chance to react.


    The moment the purifying light touched them, their bodies disintegrated into ash, their screams of agony barely reaching Stark''s ears before they were snuffed out entirely.


    -764293! -832717! -743612!


    The damage was phenomenal, and the shockwave of energy swept through the area, annihting every demon in its path.


    Stark walked forward calmly, the light fading behind him as he advanced deeper into the zone.


    "Too easy," he muttered, shaking his head.


    The apostles clearly underestimated him if they thought these basic demons would slow him down.


    [Exorcist] was a masterss of a skill inside such a rift after all.


    As Stark pressed on, more demons appeared, crawling from the shadows, emerging from fiery portals that opened up around him.


    But none of themsted more than a few seconds.


    His [Crimson Purification] wiped them out with ease, and if it was on cooldown, he would easily use his other skills or fists to get rid of them.


    He swept through the demons with minimal effort, not even needing the full extent of his power to kill them all.


    Minutes passed, and Stark found himself nearing the end of the first zone.


    And eventually, what had to happen happened.


    Ding!


    [Your level has increased to level 100, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    He had reached level 100, but before he could even celebrate, he heard a loud roar.


    And that''s when he felt it: a presence far more powerful than the low-level demons he had been fighting.


    Something big.


    Stark stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the area ahead of him.


    From the shadows, a massive figure emerged.


    "Ohe on¡­" Stark just wanted to check his panels at this point.


    Its hulking form towered over thendscape, standing at least thirty times the height of a normal man.


    Its skin was jet-ck, its muscles rippling with raw power, and its eyes burned with an intense red glow.


    Two enormous horns curled from the sides of its head, and in its hand, it carried a massive, jagged de that radiated dark energy.


    A message appeared in front of Stark''s eyes as the creature roared, the ground shaking beneath its feet.


    [The First Elite Demon Commander: Bel''zar the Ravager]


    [Level: 300]


    [Defeat the zone''smanders to advance to the next!]


    Stark''s smirk widened, "Finally, something interesting."


    Bel''zar the Ravager let out another earth-shattering roar, its bloodthirsty eyes locked onto Stark as it raised its weapon, ready to strike.


    But Stark didn''t flinch, he just took his fighting stance, ready to attack as well.


    "Let''s see what you''ve got," Stark muttered, stepping forward to meet the elite head-on.


    The real beginning of the [Devil''s Abyss] could now start, and from the shadows, the apostles watched Stark''s every move.

 Chapter 302: Level 100

    The battle between Stark and Bel''zar the Ravager began with an earth-shattering roar from the massive demon.


    Towering over Stark, Bel''zar swung his colossal de, the sheer force of the strike causing the ground to tremble.


    His demonic energy crackled in the air, and the heat from his presence was almost suffocating.


    "Perception¡­" Stark checked calmly while avoided the attack.


    [Name: Bel''zar the Ravager (Elite)]


    [Level: 300]


    [HP: 1,000,000]


    [Strength: 15,573]


    [Stamina: 8,371]


    [Speed: 19,384]


    [Defense: 14,385]


    [Skills: Demon Cleave; Hellfire Barrage; Infernal Charge; Ravager''s Fury; Bloodlust Surge; Shadowstep; Chaos Shield]


    The battle seemed intimidating at first nce, but Stark stood calm, even as the hulking figure lunged toward him.


    Stark had fought tougher monsters, and he knew Bel''zar wouldn''t stand a chance against his power.


    Fighting [Olikar] had made him so much stronger that even a level 450 monster wouldn''t stand a chance, so why do these demons even think they could win?


    Unfortunately, his most powerful ability, [Crimson Purification], was still on cooldown from his earlier encounter with the demons.


    Bel''zar roared once more, his de shing down toward Stark, but the crimson-eyed fighter was quick.


    "Let''s end this quickly," Stark muttered under his breath as he activated [Wielding Cross], summoning a massive, radiant crimson cross that hovered above him, zing with holy light.


    With a single motion, Stark swung the cross downward.


    The impact was cataclysmic, a shockwave of light erupted from the strike, mming into Bel''zar with such force that the elite demon''s health bar dropped nearly to zero.


    [700,000 damage dealt!]


    Bel''zar staggered back, his once overwhelming presence now faltering.


    Stark gave him no time to recover.


    With another swing of the [Wielding Cross], the holy energy crashed into Bel''zar, shattering his defensespletely.


    [You have in "Bel''zar the Ravager" and gained 750,000 experience!]


    Bel''zar''s monstrous form crumbled to the ground, disappearing into ash as his essence was absorbed by the abyss itself.


    The battle, while seemingly intense, hadsted only seconds in reality.


    Stark smirked, satisfied but slightly disappointed, "I expected more," he said, looking at the fading ashes of Bel''zar.


    None of these things were even a challenge, and the normal demons had only given him about 175,000 experience each, a surprisingly low number considering the rift''s difficulty.


    But in the end, experience was experience. He was growing stronger, and that''s what mattered most.


    [You have fully cleared the first zone!]


    The system notification confirmed what Stark already knew: the first zone was done, and he was temporarily safe.


    No more monsters could attack him here, allowing him to finally focus on the real prize: his skills and growth.


    [Skill Points: 53]


    "Nice," Stark murmured to himself, a grin spreading across his face.


    After clearing the zone and with his recent level gains, especially from killing Olikar, he had earned a significant amount of skill points.


    Not to mention the 11 levels Olikar had granted him, those alone had been a massive boost.


    But there was something even more exciting.


    [ss Wheel unlocked!]


    It had felt like only a few days since he had unlocked the [Soul Wielder] ss, but in reality, it had already been seven months.


    Time was flying by, and his power was growing exponentially.


    Before diving into his skill points, he noticed another message pop up.


    [Level 100 Reached: Pick a Card!]


    This was something he had been waiting for.


    The opportunity to pick a new skill after being locked in by the twenty-level restriction was a huge milestone.


    It felt like an eternity since he had gained a new ability that actually worked as ''Revenant''s Fury'' was¡­ well¡­ you know, it could only be used after he died three times.


    [Revenant''s Fury: 1/3]


    "Five?" Stark raised an eyebrow as five glowing cards appeared in front of him.


    Normally, there were only three cards.


    Each card glowed with a golden aura, and a holy cross was engraved on their backs.


    Stark could feel the divine power radiating from them, like they were calling out to him.


    "Well, let''s see what fate has in store," Stark muttered as he reached out and selected one of the cards at random.


    The moment he touched the card, a sound echoed in his mind.


    Ding!


    [New Skill: Holy Infusion]


    [Tier: Godly]


    [Level: Cannot be leveled up, what more could there even be?]


    [Description: The user can infuse their attacks with the power of holy energy, increasing the effectiveness of all offensive abilities on undead being. The holy aura will enhance both physical and magical attacks, causing additional damage to demonic and cursed entities.]


    Stark''s eyes widened in surprise, then quickly turned into a grin of satisfaction.


    "A godly tier skill?" he said in awe, his excitement growing, "This is my second godly tier skill!"


    The first had been [Crimson Soul], which had already served him well in countless battles.


    And now, with [Holy Infusion], his strength would only skyrocket further against undeads!


    With his new skill acquired, Stark moved on to his skill points.


    The panel appeared before him, filled with his existing skills.


    [Skills: Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv30; Focus lv30; Aura Smash lv30; Clone Frenzy lv30 (MAX); Invincible Dodge lv10; Double Assault lv10; Crimson Spears lv30; Heaven''s Wrath lv5; Alchemist lv5; Potion Crafting lv5; Target Maniption lv1; Dodge Control lv5; Crimson Ball Transmission lv5; EGO lv5; Crimson Purification lv25; Wielding Cross lv10; Crimson Healing lv70 (MAX); The Void; Banish; Domination Soul; Revenant''s Fury; Holy Infusion]


    It was a long list of powerful skills, and with 53 skill points, Stark could upgrade a few of them significantly.


    But the decision wasn''t easy.


    He could either max out a few of his favorite abilities or spread the points across several skills to get more perks.


    After a few moments of hesitation, Stark made his choice.


    [You have upgraded ''Wielding Cross'' to level 30 (Gold-Tier Max)!]


    [You have upgraded ''Crimson Purification'' to level 30 (Gold-Tier Max)!]


    [You have upgraded ''Invincible Dodge'' to level 30 (Gold-Tier Max)!]


    He decided to focus on his most critical skills.


    Both [Crimson Purification] and [Wielding Cross] had proven invaluable in battle, so maxing them out to their gold-tier limits was a no-brainer.


    And as for [Invincible Dodge], then it could definitely use some enhancement!


    Immediately, Stark felt the surge of power from the upgrades.


    [Skill: Crimson Purification]


    [New Perk: Divine Retribution (Legendary)]


    [Description: When activating your crimson purification, there is a 20% chance that the purification now unleashes a secondary burst of holy energy!]


    ¡­


    [Skill: Wielding Cross]


    [New Perk: Holy Combo (Legendary)]


    [Description: If you swing your strike twice in a row, the third strike will light up the cross with so much crimson aura that it will deal 200% damage and without fail stun enemies for five seconds!]


    ¡­


    [Skill: Invincible Dodge]


    [New Perk: The Ultimate Phantom]


    [Description: When dodging, the user now creates three afterimages that confuse enemies, granting invulnerability for an additional 0.5 seconds, your dodges manoeuver are also enhanced, and you are granted a bigger timeframe to do.]


    [You have truly be the greatest dodger]


    ¡­


    The perks were nothing short of legendary, as expected.


    Stark couldn''t help but grin wider as he admired the results. These were the kinds of upgrades that made a real difference in the heat of battle.


    Plus, [Invincible Dodge] reached its ultimate form too, meaning it couldn''t be upgraded anymore, much like [Clone Frenzy].


    It almost¡­ felt sad, knowing that these skills that apanied him since the beginning had reached their very limit.


    With eight skill points left, Stark decided to save them forter.


    He had made enough progress for now, and there would undoubtedly be more opportunities to invest in other skills.


    But there was one more thing left to do.


    [Level 100 reached: You can now spin the ss Wheel again!]


    "ss Wheel!" Stark called out.


    Find your next adventure on m_v l|e-NovelBin


    The wheel appeared before him, just as it always did. But this time, there were only three sections remaining.


    [3 sses avable: Magus, Beast Tamer, Incubus.]


    The wheel had started with ten sses, but now, only three remained.


    Stark had already acquired four sses and removed three, so the odds were more straightforward now.


    Each section of the wheel wasrger than before, and it seemed like fate was closing in on his next path.


    "Alright... here goes nothing," Stark said as he reached for the leverbeled "Pull Me" and yanked it down.


    The ss wheel began to spin, the colors of each section shing before his eyes.


    "¡­"


    Would it be the magic-infused path of the Magus? The wild, primal power of the Beast Tamer? Or the seductive and dark power of the Incubus?


    The wheel slowed down, ticking with every moment, as Stark watched with anticipation...

 Chapter 303: New Class: Incubus (Useless)

    Stark stood before the ss Wheel as it spun, the giant sections of Magus, Beast Tamer, and Incubus rotating before his eyes.


    The anticipation built as the wheel slowed down, each passing second dragging on like an eternity.


    His heart raced, though his face remained calm.


    This was always a critical moment; choosing a ss wasn''t just about adding new skills or perks, it was about the power gained.


    The wheel began to slow down further, first hovering over Beast Tamer, then nudging towards Magus. Stark''s eyes narrowed, but there was nothing he could do to influence the oue.


    And then... it clicked.


    [You have obtained the "Incubus" ss! Congrattions!]


    Stark blinked, unsure of what to think at first.


    Incubus?


    [You can spin the wheel again at level 150!]


    That part was new. Before, he had been allowed to spin the wheel every 25 levels, but now the gap was 50 levels. Stark couldn''t help but smirk.


    "Guess the challenges are getting harder," he muttered, "Well, let''s check this out."


    Stark essed his newly acquired ss.


    ¡­


    [ss: Incubus]


    [Description: Control the desires and emotions of others through your allure. You can drain energy from your victims through physical contact, often inbat situations to weaken foes and strengthen yourself. While many of this ss use their charm for maniption or luxury, the true power lies in turning desires into a weapon.]


    [ss Effect: Heightened charisma and emotional maniption.]


    [ss w: Your power depends on how much influence you have over others. In some cases, strength isn''t enough to control a situation.]


    Stark raised an eyebrow. It wasn''t a ss built for purebat!


    He could see how that might be useful in certain situations, but his fighting style didn''t exactly line up with ''charm''.


    But then the system interrupted.


    [Domination won''t bother absorbing a ss that isn''tbat-oriented. Just use it for something else, host, if you know what I mean.]


    Stark couldn''t help butugh, "Yeah, not really my thing."


    After all, Stark gets absolutely ZERO y other than Lana, so yeah.


    [You have been granted a basic skill!]


    Stark read the new ability.


    ¡­


    [Skill: Enrapture]


    [Tier: Legendary]


    [Description: Only works on female foes, but you can use that skill to increase your charm and make them lose focus for a bit. Outside ofbat, it enhances the user''s charm and allure, making interactions more favorable.]


    ¡­


    "Well, that''s... something," Stark said, scratching the back of his head.


    He could weaken opponents just by making them lose focus, which could be useful inrger fights, but overall¡­ it was¡­ mid.


    It was mainly for ''outside'' use anyway¡­


    Satisfied for now, he pulled up his status window to check his stats:


    ¡­.


    [Level:] 100


    [Health:] 103500/103500


    [Bloodline:] Human; Incubus


    [sses:] Domination; Alchemist; Exorcist (Absorbed by Domination); Soul Wielder (Absorbed); Incubus


    [Talent:] Chosen One


    [Attributes:] Strength 16471; Speed 17362; Mind/Soul 15362; Stamina 11382; Defense 18374


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv30; Focus lv30; Aura Smash lv30; Clone Frenzy lv30 (MAX); Invincible Dodge lv30 (MAX); Double Assault lv10; Crimson Spears lv30; Heaven''s Wrath lv5; Alchemist lv5; Potion Crafting lv5; Target Maniption lv1; Dodge Control lv5; Crimson Ball Transmission lv5; Domi-Chains Restrain lvl1; EGO lv5; Crimson Purification lv30; Wielding Cross lv30; Crimson Healing lv70 (MAX); The Void; Banish; Domination Soul; Revenant''s Fury; Holy Infusion; Enrapture lv1¡­


    ¡­


    With his stats in ce and no further distractions, it was time to move forward.


    [Wee to Zone 2: The Abyssal Caverns]


    Stark stepped into the second zone of the Devil''s Abyss.


    The ground was made of ck, jagged rocks, and the air was thick with demonic aura.


    The entire ce seemed to pulsate with dark energy, and eerie red eyes glowed in the distance, much more in number than in the first zone.


    "Damn, going deeper in hell¡­" Starkughed.


    Demons of varying sizes and forms wandered thendscape.


    Most had grotesque, hulking bodies, and their eyes were locked onto Stark the moment he entered the zone; without hesitation, they charged.


    "Alright, let''s see what you''ve got," Stark said, his eyes glowing crimson as he activated Holy Infusion to test the skill out.


    With a surge of energy, his fists were wrapped in a divine, radiant light that mixed with his crimson aura.


    All his skills were now infused with the holy aura!


    "Aura Smash¡­ SPAM!"


    [Description: Instead of summoning 5 fists to either send them at your enemies or merging them to do immense damage, you can instead decide to separate these fists into five distinct ones too, meaning 25 crimson fists.]


    He sent dozens of fists toward the monsters, killing many thanks to the explosion that followed every impact.


    "They''re weaker than I thought," Stark muttered, watching the demons fall one after the other. He barely needed to exert himself.


    As he charged through the Abyssal Caverns, more demons appeared, but none of them posed a real threat.


    Stark moved like a whirlwind, using Crimson Spears too infused with holy energy, piercing through multiple enemies with each throw.


    The demons tried to swarm him, but he was too fast, his strength far superior to theirs.


    And even when fifty of them all dashed at him, he just exorcised them all with [Crimson Purification].


    Exorcist was truly the greatest skill in such a situation, and Stark felt happy he got it early enough to be able to get all those skills with it now.


    Before long, he received the notification.


    [Your level has increased to level 101, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    He pushed forward, hunting down everyst demon in his path.


    The ease with which he smashed them down was almost disappointing.


    He had expected more from a Determination difficulty rift.


    Then, as he approached the edge of the second zone, he felt it: a powerful aura. This was different from the lesser demons.


    Stark slowed down, his instincts kicking in as he prepared for a real fight now.


    It was the second elite!


    A hulking figure stepped out from the shadows. Its massive horns scraped the ceiling of the cavern, and its eyes burned with malice. Its body was covered in obsidian armor, and the ground trembled beneath its feet.


    [Name: Mal''gor the Obliterator (Elite)]


    [Level: 325]


    [HP: 1,800,000]


    [Strength: 18452]


    [Stamina: 15450]


    [Speed: 20532]


    [Defense: 17024]


    [Skills: Obliteration Strike, Hellstorm, Crushing Wave, Demon Rage, Blood Vortex, Dark Barrier, Void Step]


    Stark''s eyes narrowed as he read the stats.


    This was going to be an interesting fight.


    Without hesitation, Mal''gor roared, charging at him with terrifying speed for a creature of its size. Stark sidestepped the initial attack, his body moving with precision, and he countered with Wielding Cross. The giant crimson-and-holy cross appeared above him, and Stark swung it down with both hands.


    The impact was devastating. Mal''gor''s armor shattered, and his health bar dropped by a third from the first strike alone.


    Roaring in pain, Mal''gor tried to retaliate with Obliteration Strike, a dark energy-infused attack.


    But Stark was faster, using Invincible Dodge to avoid the blow andnd another hit with the Wielding Cross, almostpletely draining the elite demon''s health.


    "RAAGRHHH!"


    Mal''gor tried to smash Stark down, but surprisingly, the boy was more focused on something else: his cross was now glowing.


    [Holy Combo is now activated, hit your enemy to cause 200% damage and without fail stun enemies for five seconds!]


    The demon tried to attack, but Stark swung his cross upward, absolutely destroying the demon''s hand and reaching its head.


    BOOM!


    -1,448,482!


    It was the first time his damage output had gone over 1 million!


    [You have in "Mal''gor the Obliterator" and gained 900,000 experience!]


    [Your level has increased to level 102, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    Fighting hundreds of demons, no matter how little experience they gave, still allowed you to level up!


    [You have full cleared the second zone!]


    With the second zone now behind him, Stark felt the power surging through him as he grew stronger.


    The next zones would be even more challenging, but for now, he was ready for whatever came next.


    He looked toward the path ahead, the entrance to the third zone looming in the distance.


    "Let''s see what''s waiting for me in there," Stark muttered, a smirk forming on his face as he took his first step toward the deeper levels of the Devil''s Abyss, "Oh wait!"


    But before doing any of that, Stark returned inside the second zone.


    "Ah¡­ there it is," he smiled.


    In front of him were the [Devil Flowers] the chairman had asked him and the students to take.


    He took 9 of them just in case Lana and Sora struggled, though he was thetter would have no problem, then put them inside his [Spatial Inventory].


    After that small break though, he immediately returned to what he was doing.

 Chapter 304: Sweeping Through the Devils Abyss

    The third zone of the Devil''s Abyss unfolded before Stark like a vast underworld wastnd as now there were even volcanos in the distance, each of them letting out a ton ofva.


    "Damn," it became difficult to even breathe as the smoke and scent hit the boy''s nose, but Stark still kept going.


    From a distance, Stark could see the new breed of demons awaiting him. Their forms were more grotesque and intimidating, their presence exuding an aura of impending death.


    Stark cracked his knuckles, his eyes gleaming with excitement, "Let''s see what you''ve got."


    The first wave of demons rushed him almost immediately.


    These creatures were known as Hellfang Brutes, towering figures with thick, armor-like skin and jagged ws that dripped with dark energy.


    Their eyes glowed a sinister red, and they moved with surprising agility, locking in onto Stark the moment he appeared before them.


    He was basically intruding hell, after all, wasn''t he?


    But Stark barely blinked as they closed in, their snarls filling the air.


    He didn''t hesitate.


    Summoning his crimson energy, Stark infused his fists with Holy Infusion,bining his own overwhelming aura with divine power.


    As the first brute lunged, he sidestepped and delivered a single, explosive Aura Smash to its chest.


    The holy energy coursed through the demon, shattering its defenses and causing it to explode in a burst of light.


    One down, but more were on their way.


    Not gonna lie, they were taken care of in under three minutes.


    The next wave consisted of Voidshriekers, winged demons that hovered in the air and spat corrosive ck energy from their mouths.


    They were faster than the brutes, their attacks more ranged, but Stark didn''t falter.


    He summoned Crimson Spears and used "Spam" from Aura Smash to aim at the flying Voidshrekers, enhancing each one with Holy Infusion andunching them into the air.


    The spears and fists tore through the Voidshriekers like divine lightning, burning through their wings and sending them crashing into the ground.


    "Too easy," Stark muttered, his smirk growing.


    As Stark pressed deeper into the zone, the demons began to grow stronger, and their forms more twisted.


    "I am the legitimate doom y-" Stark tried tough, but he was struck by lightning.


    -100!


    "Damn."


    The next set of enemies was a terrifying hybrid of the previous ones: Hellshriek Berserkers.


    These demons were bothrge and fast, their bodies covered in thick tes of armor, while wings allowed them to dash across the battlefield in quick bursts.


    They wielded massive, molten swords, each swing powerful enough to split the ground.


    Stark darted between them, his movements a blur as he dodged their attacks with ease, using Invincible Dodge to weave in and out of their strikes.


    When the opportunity presented itself, he wouldnd a devastating blow ismply by using his fists, two to three punches enough to kill them.


    Despite their increased strength and speed, they were no match for him.


    [Your level has increased to level 103, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    The sound of his leveling up didn''t surprise Stark anymore as, well, he was killing hundreds of demons at this point.


    The third zone was actually the one that introduced the highest amount of demon types, advancing one after the other toward him.


    When he reached the edge, there was a massive horde of them, at least 500, from each and every type waiting for him.


    "Kill¡­ human¡­"


    "KILL! KILL! KILL!"


    "We got the human!"


    All of them looked like they were waiting to ambush him, but Stark wasn''t scared.


    He wiped some of the blood on his face with his finger and looked at them with a smile.


    "Alright, let''s see who''s going to go."


    10 minutester, all of the demons were dead.


    [Your level has increased to level 104, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Your level has increased to level 105, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    But as he defeated thest of the demons, the ground trembled beneath him, signaling the approach of something muchrger.


    Stark braced himself, eyes scanning the horizon as the final creature of the zone appeared¡ªan enormous, fire-spewing Dread Infernal.


    The Dread Infernal stood at least twenty feet tall, its body wreathed in hellfire, and its hands crackling with molten energy.


    It stomped forward with thunderous steps, its gaze locking onto Stark with an intensity that sent ripples through the air.


    Despite its terrifying appearance, Stark was unfazed.


    "Not gonna lie, dude, if you were smart you would havee while your teammates were ambushing me," Stark spoke, though he didn''t know if that thing could understand him.


    With a surge of energy, Stark charged at the Dread Infernal, dodging its initial barrage of fireballs.


    He closed the distance and summoned his [Wielding Cross] AGAIN, and mmed the massive crimson-and-holy cross down on the demon''s fiery body.


    The blow caused the Dread Infernal to stagger, chunks of molten rock breaking off its form as it roared in pain.


    The battle was fierce, with the Dread Infernalunching wave after wave of projectiles and energy at Stark, forcing him to dodge with precision.


    But Stark with a single movement of his hands summoned the [Spear of Judgement], which followed the elite around and drilled into its body, killing it instantly.


    -938,372!


    [You have in the Dread Infernal! You gained 1,200,000 experience!]


    [You have full cleared the third zone!]


    [Zone 4: The Hellforge teau]


    This zone wasn''t even that hardpared to thest one to be honest, it was pretty much the same demons except for the introduction of another type: the Hellforge Guardians.


    They were monstrous golems made of molten metal, with burning swords the size of a small building.


    Their bodies glowed with the heat of a forge, and each step they took left behind a trail of moltenva. The heat in the air was intense, but Stark didn''t flinch.


    He dodged their swings with Invincible Dodge and retaliated with Aura Smash, each strike infused with his holy energy, cracking through their defenses.


    At this point, there wasn''t even a point of using any skills beside [Aura Smash] and [Crimson Spears] (infused with Holy Infusion), as well as [Crimson Purification] and [Wielding Cross].


    The battle was longer, but Stark''s skills and power were overwhelming.


    One by one, the Hellforge Guardians fell, their bodies crumbling into molten debris.


    [Your level has increased to level 106, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    Despite the ever-growing strength of the demons, Stark continued pushing through.


    The fourth zone was challenging, but Stark cleared it with relentless efficiency.


    Crimson Purification was still his most effective weapon, but even when the demons resisted, he adapted,bining his skills to break through their defenses.


    The elite wasn''t even a challenge to be honest, as he just used [Holy Combo] from [Wielding Cross] to kill it on the third strike.


    And so, he moved to the fifth and final zone.


    [Zone 5: The Abyssal Core]


    As he entered the fifth zone, Stark could feel the energy shift.


    "h h whatever," Stark sighed as he killed a demon after the other.


    He even encountered a new type of demons! Woohoo!


    The Abyssal Fiends were huge, hulking demons with glowing red veins all over their bodies.


    They were also fodder to his holy attacks, though, not that different from the others in that regard.


    And then, as he reached the heart of the zone, he came face to face with the final boss


    [Name: First Abyss Commander, Vorak the Destroyer (Cmity)]


    [Level: 400]


    [HP: 2,300,000]


    "Foolish human, don''t you realize that even defeating all these demons is nothing?" Vorakughed, "For I am the strongest of the abyss!"


    Vorak stood towering above Stark, his body covered in jagged spikes and molten armor.


    His eyes glowed with a deep, crimson light, and he let out a thunderous roar as he swung his massive,va-forged axe toward Stark.


    The battle was brutal, Vorak''s hits causing shockwaves with every swing.


    Stark dodged most of them, but when he tried to dash toward him to the boss to take it down with his fists, an axe swing took him off guard.


    "sh Axe," Vorak used his skill,unching an INSTANTANEOUS attack.


    "Damn, you''re tougher than the others," Stark muttered, but his smile didn''t fade.


    Crimson Purification¡­ PROTECTION BURST!


    [Upon activating this perk, a powerful aura of holy energy envelops the user, shielding him from the attacks of undead creatures for a brief 10-second window. During this time, any undead assaults against him are reduced by a staggering 95% in damage.]


    BOOM!


    He was mmed by the axe, but received only 743point of damage, which was quite literally nothing.


    "Huh," Vorak was confused, but before he could even say something else, the crimson cross already hit him.


    [You have in "Vorak the Destroyer"! You gained 3,800,000 experience!]


    As the giant demon crumbled, Stark stood victorious, unharmed.


    [Congrattions, you havepleted the ''Devil''s Abyss!'']


    And as Vorak was technically the final boss of the rift, then the panel appeared.


    "Yeah, no," but Stark wasn''t convinced.


    It was just like the colosseum: surely there was somewhere where he could find the apostles, the three probably looking andughing at him right now.


    But as the giant demon crumbled, Stark stood victorious, his body bruised but his spirit unbroken.


    In front of him, a path revealed itself, but it was locked, a glowing symbol of a key hovering over it.


    "..." Stark smiled, realizing that this was where he needed to go.

 Chapter 305: Secret Area, The Three Devil Apostles

    [One is used to open the rift, thus breaking, and the other¡­ can be used to open the secret area, leading to the apostles.]


    Meaning that waiting for other people to find the rift had saved Stark a huge amount of time to find whoever owned the second key!


    "Well, doesn''t matter," the entire rift was silent now.


    Click!


    He pulled out the key from his [Spatial Inventory] and ced it in front of the aura barrier.


    [Do you want to use the ''Devil''s Abyss Key''?]


    "Yeah."


    As the key turned, the barrier pulsed with energy, rippling like the surface of water.


    Then, with a soft click, it dissipated entirely, revealing a massive stone doorway beyond.


    The air around it was oppressive, thick with the weight of demonic energy, but Stark barely flinched.


    His excitement only grew as he stepped forward, eager to see what awaited him in this secret, unexplored part of the rift.


    [Sixth Zone: The Doors of Hell]


    The zone before him was unlike anything he had seen so far in the abyss.


    Stark found himself standing in a vast stone chamber, dimly lit by glowing red runes that ran across the walls and floor.


    At the far end of the chamber stood three massive doors, each one carved in the likeness of something terrifying.


    The first door bore the face of a monstrous figure, humanoid but twisted, with burning red eyes and horns that curled back like a ram''s.


    Stark could feel the raw power emanating from it, the air around it thick with malevolent energy.


    The second door was a grotesque three-headed dog, its snarling mouths wide open, ready to devour anything that came near.


    The demonic energy radiating from the door was suffocating, as if the beast behind it was ready to tear him apart.


    The third door was adorned with the visage of a cruel, skeletal figure, its face hidden beneath a tattered hood, eyes glowing with a ghostly light. It seemed to represent death itself, the aura cold and foreboding, sending a chill down Stark''s spine.


    "Hm¡­" Stark muttered to himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.


    The whole setup reminded him of the first Domination trial, where he had to defeat the guardians before battling the Mirror Master.


    But there was a difference now: he had grown far stronger, had faced down an apostle stronger than they are, and even crushed Olikar.


    "If it''s like that trial, this should be a piece of cake," Stark said confidently, cracking his knuckles, "I mean, Olikar was level 400 and in his final form was more like a level 500, so¡ª"


    He didn''t get to finish his thought.


    In an instant, the three doors glowed fiercely, and three figures materialized in front of him, each resembling the carvings on the doors.


    The first one was the demonic figure, tall and imposing, his skin a charred ck, horns curling back from his skull.


    His burning eyes narrowed as he looked at Stark, exuding an aura of immense power.


    "Hm¡­" the demon rumbled, his deep voice reverberating in the chamber, "It seems he''s really here."


    Beside him stood Cerberus, or at least a monstrous, fiery manifestation of it.


    The three-headed beast growled, its massive form bristling with demonic energy, each of its heads snarling in unison as its eyes locked onto Stark.


    And finally, the skeletal figure, draped in tattered robes, floated silently.


    His glowing eyes flickered with an eerie light as he gave Stark a chilling smile.


    "Heh," the skeletal figure chuckled, "The chosen one himself."


    Stark sized them up quickly, his confidence unwavering, "Alright," he said, taking a fighting stance, "I''ll take you all one by one. Let''s get this over with."


    The apostles exchanged nces before they all burst intoughter, their voices echoing in the vast chamber.


    "Foolish mortal," the demon said with a grin, "Do you really think we''ll fight you one by one?"


    With a single snap of his fingers, the entire chamber rumbled, and the three doors that Stark had assumed were individual entrances began to merge.


    The stone groaned and cracked as they fused into one massive, towering gateway, with all three apostles'' faces now carved into its frame, their malevolent visages ring down at him.


    Stark cursed under his breath, "Damn."


    Fighting them one-on-one had been his n, and he had been certain he could handle each apostle separately.


    But if they were joining forces, this was going to be much more difficult.


    Three apostles fighting together meant theirbined power would exceed even that of Olikar.


    For a moment, Stark considered retreating, maybe waiting to grow stronger.


    But then he remembered something important: there was no way out. as he was stuck in the apostles'' trap.


    All the monsters in the previous zones were dead, and this was the only path forward.


    "Oh, well," Stark sighed, rolling his shoulders, "Guess I''m going through."


    He stepped toward the door, the energy around it thick and oppressive.


    The three apostles, their spectral forms still standing before him, watched with twisted smiles as he approached.


    The air crackled with dark energy, and as Stark ced his hand on the door, a series of system panels appeared around him, shing ominous messages.


    [The Apostles of Hell have been awakened.]


    [Proceed at your own risk.]


    [Do you still wish to continue?]


    Stark grinned at thest message, "Like I have a choice."


    He pressed forward, and the door slowly began to open, grinding against the stone with a deafening sound.


    mes erupted from the edges as the entrance to Hell revealed itself.


    A massive chambery beyond, its size immeasurable, filled with rivers ofva and jagged mountains of ck stone.


    And in the distance, he could see them.


    [Final Destination: Hell]


    [Good luck!]


    The three apostles¡ªnow in their true forms¡ªstood at the far end of the chamber, their eyes locked onto Stark as he approached.


    The demon from the first door, now revealed as Valgorth the Destor, cracked his knuckles, his charred skin smoldering with embers.


    His presence alone seemed to distort the space around him, making the air heavy and hard to breathe.


    Beside him, Cerberus, the massive three-headed beast, growled low, each head snapping and snarling with anticipation.


    Its body was covered in molten chains, each link glowing red-hot, andva dripped from its jaws, sizzling as it hit the ground.


    And finally, the skeletal figure, now revealed as Malthus the Death Devil, hovered silently, his tattered robes billowing in a non-existent wind.


    He gripped a massive scythe, its de glowing with a sickly green light that radiated death and decay.


    Stark paused for a moment, taking in the sight before him.


    He had fought through countless demons, defeated apostles, and now, the culmination of his journey in the Devil''s Abyss was right in front of him.


    "Well," Stark said, cracking his neck, "time to show you guys why I''m not to be messed with."


    Without another word, he surged forward, his aura ring as he activated Holy Infusion.


    His body lit up with divine energy, and he summoned Crimson Spears and Aura Smash.


    Valgorth was the first to move, lunging forward with terrifying speed, his massive fist aimed directly at Stark''s head.


    Stark dodged, barely avoiding the strike, and retaliated with a flurry of Crimson Spears, each one enhanced with holy energy.


    The spears struck Valgorth''s chest, but the apostle shrugged them off, his smoldering skin absorbing the blows.


    "Nice try, but my body adapted to receiving divine attacks!"


    "The fuck?" Stark raised his eyebrows.


    As Valgorth backed away, Cerberus charged in, its three heads snapping at Stark with deadly precision.


    Stark leapt into the air, dodging the beast''s massive jaws, and summoned Wielding Cross, the enormous, glowing cross appearing above him.


    He swung it down with all his might, smashing it into Cerberus''s back, causing the beast to howl in pain as its molten chains shattered.


    -457,374!


    But before he couldnd another blow, Malthus joined the party, his scythe cutting through the air with a bone-chilling sound.


    Stark barely managed to block the strike, the force of the blow sending him skidding across the ground.


    -7361!


    "Damn," Stark grunted, his arms shaking from the impact as he used them to do a back flip and recover.


    The apostles began to close in on him at the same time, theirbined power overwhelming.


    But Stark wasn''t done yet. Summoning all his strength, he began to charge a, [Energy Ball] between his two hands, readying it for the impact.


    For a moment, the chamber was filled with light, but the apostles didn''t stagger as they kept marching, their forms flickering because of his aura, yet their determination just as strong as his.


    "This is gonna be fun," he muttered to himself, "I''ve been waiting to clear this stupid for a year now."


    "Judicator had the key didn''t he?" Valgorth spoke to hispanions, but mainly Matlhus since, well, Cerberus couldn''t really talk.


    "Yeah, wouldn''t have trusted him with that if I knew he would die so easily, but at least a yearter it brings the human to us so that we can kill him."


    "Lord Godless will surely reward us¡­"


    And so, all the apostles smiled.

 Chapter 306: Three Apostles VS One Human

    [6th Apostle: Valgorth the Destor]


    [7th Apostle: Cerberus, The Protector of Hell]


    [8th apostle: Malthus the Death Devil]


    And though they had different cements in the [ApostleDex], each of them was level 375!


    The massive chamber hummed with ominous energy as Stark''s eyes flicked between the three apostles standing before him, theirbined presence causing the very air to feel oppressive.


    He immediately used [Perception], and it didn''t take him long to pull up their status windows as he prepared for battle.


    ¡­


    [Name: Valgorth, the Destor]


    [Level: 375]


    [HP: 1,820,000/1,820,000]


    [Strength: 16,500]


    [Stamina: 15,900]


    [Speed: 13,200]


    [Defense: 17,000]


    [Skills: Desting Fist; Inferno Crush; Hellfire Aura; Dark Dominion; Demonic Charge; Earthshatter Blow; Titan''s Rampage; Wrath of Valgorth; Hellbound Shackles (MYTHICAL)]


    ¡­


    [Name: Cerberus, The Protector of Hell]


    [Level: 375]


    [HP: 1,292,626/1,750,000]


    [Strength: 17,000]


    [Stamina: 17,500]


    [Speed: 12,800]


    [Defense: 18,000]


    [Skills: Triple Fang; Infernal Chains; Cerberus Howl; me Whip; Molten Fury; Hound''s Charge; Underworld Sentinel; Guardian''s Wrath; Cerberus''s Bite (MYTHICAL)]


    ¡­


    [Name: Malthus, the Death Devil]


    [Level: 375]


    [HP: 1,650,000/1,650,000]


    [Strength: 14,800]


    [Stamina: 15,200]


    [Speed: 14,000]


    [Defense: 16,500]


    [Skills: Soul Cleaver; Reaper''s Dance; Death Aura; Wailing Scythe; Spectral Strike; Undying Presence; Soul Drain; Phantom Blink; Death''s Embrace (MYTHICAL); ckened Harvest (GODLY)]


    ¡­


    Stark''s heart raced as he processed the stats in front of him.


    Even though each of the apostles was just slightly weaker than Olikar, fighting all three of them at once was a different beast altogether.


    "Damn," Stark muttered, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow, "Didn''t think it would be this¡­plicated."


    But there was no turning back now.


    This was the challenge he had been preparing for all along, and hesitation wasn''t part of his choices.


    He charged up a Crimson Purification energy ball, gathering divine light into his palm.


    It hummed with raw power as he prepared to hurl it at the apostles, and when he did, expecting it to do serious damage¡­


    sh! Fwish!


    The ball disintegrated in an instant, sliced cleanly by Malthus''s scythe before it reached them.


    "Divine light is nothing before the power of the Death Devil," Malthus said coldly, his skeletal grin widening as his weapon gleamed in the chamber''s dim light.


    Stark blinked, momentarily thrown off, "Well, that''s new."


    Before he could recover, Valgorth roared and charged forward with terrifying speed, his massive body crashing toward Stark like a speeding boulder.


    "Desting Fist!"


    The apostle''s fist, surrounded by a dark, molten aura, smashed into the ground where Stark had been standing.


    The force of the blow sent cracks spider-webbing through the stone floor, and the shockwave threw Stark backward.


    -17472!


    He barely managed to roll to his feet, gasping as he felt the impact of the attack in his bones.


    Cerberus followed up immediately, bounding toward him on massive paws that left smoldering prints in the ground.


    All three heads snarled as it leapt into the air, its ws shing at Stark with terrifying speed.


    "Crimson Spears!" Stark shouted, summoning five spears of crimson energy to block the iing attack.


    He grabbed the spears, using them to deflect the monstrous ws of the three-headed beast.


    The force of the impact sent him sliding back, his feet digging into the ground.


    "Not enough," Stark growled, as he tried to gain distance.


    He jumped back, activating Crimson Ball Transmission to throw the ball at the other edge of the chamber and teleporting a few feet away to give himself a moment to breathe right as Malthus shed with his scythe were Stark was.


    But the apostles weren''t giving him any time.


    "Hound''s Charge!" Cerberus howled, rushing him with blistering speed, while Malthus blinked out of sight, reappearing just behind Stark with another chilling scythe sh.


    Stark barely managed to dodge the strike with Invincible Dodge, his body moving at surreal speeds to evade the deadly attack.


    He rolled forward and avoided Valgorth''s follow-up [Inferno Crush], the molten fists of the apostle crashing into the ground where he''d been only a split second ago.


    ''These guys are relentless!'' Stark thought, as he summoned his Crimson Fists, infusing them with [Holy Energy]


    He activated Aura Smash: Merge, pulling all five fists together to create a crimson storm of energy around him.


    The swirling vortex sucked in debris and energy as it expanded more and more, yet both Cerberus and Valgorth charged into the storm undeterred.


    "Titan''s Rampage!" Valgorth''s body glowed with a dark aura as he barreled through the crimson storm, mming into Stark with brutal force.


    "GARGH-"


    -23381!


    At the same time, Cerberus''s Bite struck from the side, its three heads snapping at Stark in unison.


    -10245! -13261! -12921!


    [Stark HP: 40359/125000]


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    Stark gritted his teeth and activated Double Assault, doubling his stats for a brief 20 seconds.


    His body surged with power as he retaliated with Crimson Spears: Spear of Judgement, summoning a massive, glowing crimson spear that locked onto Cerberus and pierced its defenses.


    The spear detonated on impact, sending a shockwave through the chamber as the beast howled in pain.


    -231938! -238274! -258315! (since it three heads so triple the damage because of the explosion).


    But before Stark could capitalize on his momentary victory, Malthus appeared once more, swinging his scythe with deadly precision.


    "Death''s Embrace!"


    The scythe connected with Stark''s side, cutting through his aura and drawing blood.


    Stark gasped as the deathly energy sapped his strength, leaving him momentarily paralyzed as the death devil grinned.


    -33472!


    "Your end is near," Malthus whispered coldly.


    "Not¡­ yet!" Stark growled, activating his aura to push the scythe and spin in the air to kick the apostle away, making him crash against the ground.


    -103739!


    He could feel the pressure building.


    Every attack from the apostles was overwhelming, each one perfectly synchronized to corner him.


    His Invincible Dodge bought him brief moments of respite, but he was running out of options.


    Suddenly, Cerberus roared,unching an attack with Abyssal Devourer.


    Its three heads glowed with demonic energy as it lunged forward, jaws wide, intending to crush Stark in one bite.


    Stark threw out his Domination Soul, his crimson heart mming into Cerberus and then sending [Domi-Chain Restrain] on it.


    -273612!


    The beast roared in defiance, but Stark wasn''t done.


    He focused his energy, merging the chains tighter and tighter, causing the three-headed monster to writhe in pain.


    But as Stark tried to restrain Cerberus, both Valgorth and Malthus closed in from either side.


    "Hellfire Aura!"


    "ckened Harvest!"


    mes erupted around Stark, burning with demonic fury as Valgorth unleashed his hellfire aura.


    At the same time, Malthus summoned a wave of spectral hands that wed at Stark''s body, draining his life force with each touch.


    Stark roared as his health dropped dangerously low.


    His body was battered and burned, the relentless onught of attacks leaving him with barely a fraction of his health remaining.


    His vision blurred.


    He could barely stand.


    The apostles towered over him, ready to deliver the final blow.


    [HP: 1/125000]


    But suddenly¡­


    [Crimson Healing activated, Full Health restored.]


    Crimson Healing activated, bathing Stark in a burst of restorative energy. His health surged back to full, his body glowing with crimson light as he stood up,pletely back to full health.


    "Guess I''m not done yet," he muttered through gritted teeth, smiling at the apostles.


    The apostles snarled, they knew it wouldn''t be this easy.


    They regrouped, their eyes glowing with murderous intent.


    And then¡­ Stark did something weird: he looked to his right, at one of the corners of the room.


    "5 seconds¡­" he mumbled.


    As the apostles began to converge on him for one final,bined assault, Stark tried to m his [Soul Heart] at Valgorth.


    Then heunched a barrage of Crimson Spears at Malthus, forcing him to dodge while he leapt backward, putting distance between himself and Cerberus''s snapping jaws.


    3 seconds.


    Sweat dripped down Stark''s face as he continued to dodge and weave through their attacks.


    2 seconds.


    Surprisingly, though, he didn''t feel tired, not at all.


    1 seconds.


    The apostles roared as they prepared their ultimate abilities, demonic energy swirling around them.


    0 seconds.


    A grin split Stark''s face as his Ultimate Clone finally activated.


    The reason he had teleported to the edge of the chamber with [Crimson Ball Transmission] was to secretly ce his [Ultimate Clone], doing everything in his power to get the apostles'' full attention.


    And it worked!


    [The Ultimate Clone has been summoned.]


    "Let''s turn the tables, now," he grinned so mischievously the apostles were taken aback.


    "What the hell?" the apostles saw the clone teleport right next the original Stark using its very own [Crimson Ball Transmission].


    "=)" it smiled at them, as if mocking them for their stupidity.


    "WON''T CHANGE A THING HUMAN," Valgorth positioned himself, taking the fight seriously.


    "It is but futile¡­ die¡­ it will beautiful," and Malthus span his sight before pointing it at the two opponents.


    "Grrrsskkrr¡­" Cerberus on the other hand was ready to attack at any point.


    "Well, what are you waiting for," Starkughed!

 Chapter 307: Cerberus is Defeated, Two Remain

    The battle inside the hellish chamber continued with unrelenting intensity.


    The air was thick with raw energy as the three apostles closed in on Stark.


    He stood at the center, breathing heavily, his body faintly glowing from the aftereffects of Crimson Healing.


    The Ultimate Clone was beside him, ready to act at any moment, but the apostles showed no signs of letting up. Stark knew they were only moments away from victory if he faltered.


    Cerberus growled, the sound vibrating through the ground like deep thunder.


    Each of its three heads snapped aggressively, molten saliva dripping from its snarling mouths.


    Stark''s gaze shifted to the giant beast.


    He could feel it¡ªCerberus was weakening as he was the one Stark focused the most on. Its defenses had taken a beating, and if Stark was going to finish this, now was the time.


    [Cerberus HP: 290,487/1,750,000]


    With a swift motion, Stark summoned another barrage of Crimson Spears, sending the glowing projectiles flying toward the colossal hound. The air crackled as the spears closed in.


    -45,000! -46,500! -47,300!


    The spears pierced through Cerberus''s tough, leathery hide, making the beast stagger back with a howl of pain.


    Its health was dropping fast, but it still wasn''t out of the fight.


    "me Whip!" roared the central head of Cerberus, summoning a zing chain of fire thatshed out toward Stark with terrifying speed.


    Stark barely managed to dodge the first strike, rolling to the side with Invincible Dodge. His clone also shifted out of harm''s way.


    "Is that all," Stark audiblyughed as he saw the three apostles still walking toward him, confidence visible on their faces, as if they knew victory was close.


    And Stark knew that reviving wouldn''t work on them, as they had seen him do it against the guardian ape, meaning that even if two forgot, another wouldn''t.


    "Crimson Ball Transmission!" hemanded, teleporting himself behind Cerberus in an instant.


    With a roar of determination, Stark summoned his Domination Soul, the glowing crimson heart appearing in his hand, a familiar =] face etched into its surface.


    Chains shot out from it, which Stark grabbed to wield the soul perfectly.


    [You can use your chains to bind enemies, but this is risky]


    Suddenly, a panel appeared in front of Stark.


    "So... basically like Domi-Chain Restrain...?" his chain broke since he had tried to use on Cerberus.


    [Yeah.]


    "Heh... let''s try then."


    Chains shot out from the crimson heart, wrapping tightly around Cerberus''s legs and necks, binding the monstrous hound in ce.


    Cerberus roared and thrashed violently, trying to break free, but Stark refused to give in. "Not this time!" he shouted, pulling the chains even tighter.


    "Spear of Judgement!" Stark summoned a massive, glowing crimson spear, crackling with divine energy.


    He aimed it directly at Cerberus, who struggled helplessly in its bindings.


    The spear shot forward like lightning, impaling the center head of the beast.


    -123,384!


    That thing only had around 20000 HP left!


    Cerberus let out an ear-splitting cry as the spear erupted within its skull. Blood and molten fire spewed from the wound, and the middle head went limp, lifeless.


    The two remaining heads growled and snapped, but their strength was fading fast.


    Suddenly, Valgorth charged at Stark from behind, his enormous fist glowing with a fiery aura.


    "Inferno Crush!" The ground trembled as Valgorth''s massive fist mmed down, barely missing Stark as he dodged at thest second.


    Even so, the impact sent a shockwave that hurled him across the chamber.


    -42,372!


    Stark hit the wall hard, grunting as he felt the sharp pain in his ribs. He tasted blood in his mouth but pushed himself back to his feet. Cerberus was almost done for¡ªhe couldn''t afford to stop now.


    In a sh, Malthus appeared before him, swinging his deadly scythe in a wide arc. "Soul Cleaver!"


    Stark raised his fists to block, but the scythe cut through his defenses with terrifying ease. The cold steel grazed his arm, leaving a deep cut that sapped his strength.


    -31,231!


    He hissed in pain, but as the scythe came for another deadly strike, he immediately activated [Crimson Purification]''s [Protection Burst], which reduced 95% of damage received by undead beings for 10 seconds!


    -1547!


    He received no damage.


    "???" and so while the reaper was taken aback, he immediately took his chance.


    "Crimson Purification!" he shouted, focusing divine energy which shot out from his body.


    "Foolish," Malthus used his scythe''s special power which cut the divine energy.


    But... Stark had never aimed for him at all: he was aiming at Cerberus!


    -175,376!


    The st shattered through the remaining two heads of the hellish beast.


    With a final, anguished howl, Cerberus copsed. Its enormous body slumped against the molten ground, its once fearsome mes flickering out.


    [Cerberus, The Protector of Hell: Defeated!]


    Stark exhaled heavily, relief washing over him for just a moment.


    But right as Malthus was about to attack, he was surprised by a second shockwave of holy aura from Stark!


    [Ding! Divine Retribution activated!]


    [Description: When activating your crimson purification, there is a 20% chance that the purification now unleashes a secondary burst of holy energy!]


    Malthus was immediately hit, unable to counter with his scythe again to cut the divine energy, and so he received it, sending him flying!


    BOOM!


    -231,388!


    But there was no time to rest. Valgorth and Malthus still stood back, both almost full health, not seeming weakened again at all.


    He nced at his clone, and it just smiled at him.


    "Not bad, human," Valgorth growled, his voice rumbling with menace. "But killing the hound won''t save you."


    "We''ll see about that," Stark retorted, wiping the blood from his mouth.


    Valgorth charged once more, his fists glowing with dark, pulsating energy. He swung with all his might.


    "Titan''s Rampage!"


    Stark braced himself, using [Double Assault] to increase his stats for 20 seconds and thus deflecting the blows from the cmity apostle.


    -7426! -7847


    The hits still hurt a little bit, but Stark held his ground. Then hurled a Crimson Spear with [Holy Infusion] directly at Valgorth''s chest.


    -114,832!


    [Valgorth HP: 1,601,429/1,820,000]


    Valgorth howled in agony as the spear tore through his body, his health plummeting, but not enough for him to be in danger.


    Malthus lunged toward Stark, his scythe glowing with deadly ck energy. Stark dodged the first swing, but the second strike cut across his shoulder.


    -22,833!


    [Stark HP: 11744/125000]


    Stark winced, rolling away to avoid another attack, he was on the verge of dying, another blow and it was over.


    "Do not think you can revive yourself or take us by surprise, fool," Malthusughed, "We will be standing right next to you, and the moment you move, it''s over."


    "Damn."


    Stark knew he was cornered.


    But before he couldunch a desperate counterattack, something strange happened.


    The Ultimate Clone, who was close to Valgorth, suddenly staggered.


    The clone hadn''t done anything to help Stark for some reason all this time.


    Stark frowned in confusion¡ªthe clone hadn''t been hit.


    "What the hell?" he muttered.


    But before he could react, a dark, oppressive aura filled the chamber.


    The clone began to twitch violently, its body contorting as dark energy coiled around it.


    [EGO!]


    A system notification appeared before Stark''s eyes.


    [Ultimate Clone has summoned EGO, The Hatred Demon!]


    Stark blinked in disbelief. "What the fuck?"


    He had seen this before, but it didn''t make sense¡ªwhy and how would the clone¡­?


    The clone''s body exploded in a storm of dark crimson mes, and above it, a massive demonic figure materialized, just as it had once done over Stark.


    The demon was enormous, its form twisted and horrific, its eyes zing with unbridled hatred.


    The creature''s massive wings stretched out wide, casting an ominous shadow over the entire chamber as it hovered above the clone.


    Stark took a step back, his heart racing. "Even I''m confused now," he muttered, staring up at the monstrous figure.


    Both apostles, Valgorth and Malthus, stood frozen, their eyes wide with fear¡ªa reaction Stark had never expected to see from them.


    The EGO demon let out a terrifying roar, shaking the chamber''s very foundations. The air hummed with malevolent energy as the demon''s oppressive presence grew stronger by the second.


    Stark could feel the hatred radiating from the creature¡ªan intense, overwhelming force. This wasn''t just any ordinary summon. It was far more dangerous.


    The demon''s fiery eyes locked onto Stark, and at that moment, Stark felt a cold sweat trickle down his spine.


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    "Perfect," Stark muttered, clenching his fists, "Now we''re on equal footing," he smiled.


    He didn''t know how the clone could now a mythical skill like EGO, as it wasn''t able to before, but was it because the ultimate clone now had the entirety of Stark''s aura at disposition? Meaning it could use anything he did?


    He didn''t know, but seeing EGO the demon above the smiling clone was already good enough to increase his determination.


    "Fool, this will not stop us."


    "Kill the original, and the other is dead," Malthus pointed at the original Stark.


    And then, the two dashed toward him, summoning two of their mythical skills at once.

 Chapter 308: Deadly Combo, Valgorth is down!

    The atmosphere in the chamber was stifling, a suffocating weight of dark energy pressing down from all sides.


    Valgorth and Malthus, the two remaining apostles, stood opposite Stark, their eyes burning with malice.


    Stark''s muscles tensed under the strain of his previous battles, but he remained standing, his body fueled by [Double Assault].


    His strength had been doubled, but even with this temporary boost, he could feel the immense power radiating from the apostles, closing in fast.


    "Gulp..." Stark swallowed hard, watching as the apostles charged at him.


    Their mythical powers surged, crackling in the air around them, leaving the ground in their wake cracked and broken from their sheer intensity.


    "Hellbound Shackles!"


    "Death''s Embrace!"


    Valgorth moved with sinister intent. He raised his hand with a sly grin, and the air around his fingertips shimmered. With a snap of his fingers, thick, ck chains erupted from the ground beneath Stark, moving faster than the eye could track.


    "What¡ª?" Stark''s eyes widened in disbelief as the chains snaked around his legs and arms, binding him tightly in less than a second. The attack was so fast that he hadn''t even had the chance to react.


    "HAHAHA!" Valgorth''s cruelughter echoed in the chamber as he watched Stark struggle against the bonds, "THESE CHAINS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO GET OUT OF!"


    "...?!"


    "DIE!" Valgorth roared, barreling toward Stark with his fists glowing, mes dancing across his knuckles as he prepared to unleash a devastating blow.


    For a split second, Stark''s heart raced in his chest, a sh of fear crossing his mind.*


    He was trapped, and Valgorth and Malthus were closing in fast. There was no way out.


    Stark closed his eyes, not because he epted his death, but because he knew what was about to happen.


    And at that moment of supposed despair, the Ultimate Clone acted.


    [The Ultimate Clone hasmanded EGO to use "Negate Explosion."]


    Suddenly, the demon-like entity that apanied the clone let loose a pulse of dark energy.


    It rippled through the chamber, expanding in a small radius around Stark.


    BOOM!


    Both apostles'' abilities were instantly nullified.


    Valgorth''s ming fists fizzled out like candles snuffed by the wind, and Malthus''s ck scythe aura crumbled into dust as if they had never existed.


    "What?!" Valgorth''s face twisted in disbelief as his powerful attack disintegrated in midair.


    "Impossible!" Malthus''s rage red, but before either apostle could react further, the Ultimate Clone struck.


    The clone, empowered by the demonic EGO, lunged at them with a ferocious growl. Its massive ws tore through the air, aimed directly at the apostles.


    SLASH!


    The impact sent shockwaves through the chamber, forcing the apostles to go on the defensive.


    The clone''s attacks were vicious and unrelenting.


    Stark, freed from the chains (as EGO nullified ALL attacks), quickly regained his bnce.


    And now this battle could finally be fair: he squared off against Malthus, while his clone kept Valgorth busy.


    The battle had erupted into chaos once again.


    Sparks flew as Stark danced around Malthus''s scythe, narrowly avoiding its deadly edge.


    The ringing sh of steel echoed through the chamber, their weapons/skills meeting with every swing. Each time Malthus''s scythe whistled past Stark''s neck, it seemed to graze just a hair away from ending him.


    "You can''t dodge forever, human!" Malthus sneered, swinging his scythe again, barely missing Stark''s throat.


    Stark smirked, his mind sharp despite the chaos, "I don''t need forever."


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!"


    Ding!


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    The world around him slowed. Time seemed to freeze, allowing Stark to think clearly and deeply as he observed his surroundings.


    Every movement, every breath of his enemies wasid bare in this moment of suspended reality.


    "These guys aren''t invincible. If I hit Malthus with the rightbination, he won''t stand a chance. As for Valgorth... we can take him down once he''s stunned," Stark calcted in his head, his mind racing.


    Time snapped back to normal after a few seconds, and Stark''s eyes zed with a fierce vortex of crimson energy. His aura red, a tangible force surrounding him.


    "WIELDING CROSS!" Stark roared, summoning the massive holy cross above him.


    The divine weapon hummed with righteous power, its surface glowing with blinding light.


    He swung it with everything he had, aiming straight for Malthus.


    And even though the apostle tried to cut it down with his scythe, which he did, it still wasn''t enough topletely suppress the holy aura.


    The cross mmed into Malthus with a thunderous crack.


    -82483!


    The impact sent the death apostle stumbling back, a grunt of pain escaping him.


    But Stark didn''t stop there. He swung again, harder this time.


    "ARGH¡ª" Malthus let out a howl of agony as the second blow struck him even harder, this time not even allowing him to suppress some of its power, sending him skidding back several feet.


    -213748!


    Stark could feel the power building within the cross, the energy from the holy weapon surging with every swing.


    [Holy Combo] was now in full effect, and he knew the third strike would be the one to turn the tide.


    [Holy Combo (just a reminder): if you swing your strike twice in a row, the third strike will light up the cross with so much crimson aura that it will deal 200% damage and without fail stun enemies for five seconds!]


    The cross glowed with a searing crimson light, radiating more power than before.


    Stark leaped into the air, his body twisting in a graceful spin, "I''M ABOVE YOU!" he shouted as he brought the cross crashing down for the third and final strike.


    SMASH!


    The impact was devastating. Malthus was crushed beneath the holy weapon, the crimson energy exploding outward as the third strikended perfectly.


    -443612!


    [Malthus has been stunned!]


    The death apostle crumpled to the ground, momentarily paralyzed, his body limp from the overwhelming force of Stark''s attack.


    But Stark didn''t take time to gloat.


    Instead, he turned sharply on his heel and sprinted toward his clone.


    The clone was locked in a brutal struggle with Valgorth, and Stark could see that it wouldn''tst much longer on its own.


    Together, they could finish Valgorth before Malthus recovered.


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT!" the clone shouted, its stats doubling as it prepared to unleash a final, devastating attack once seeing Stark approach.


    Stark grinned, his mind clear with focus.


    He raised his hand, summoning three of his strongest abilities in quick session.


    In one hand, a glowing yellow/red orb¡ªthe [Crimson Purification Energy Ball]¡ªcrackled with divine energy. In the other hand, the swirling giant fist of [Aura Smash Merge] gathered, ready to unleash chaos.


    Andstly, above him, the massive [Spear of Judgment] formed, its tip burning with divine fire as it hovered menacingly in the air.


    Valgorth''s eyes widened in terror. He knew what wasing.


    Stark and his clone moved in perfect synchronization.


    The clone attacked first, its demonic ws ripping through Valgorth''s weakened defenses.


    Stark followed immediately, hurling the [Crimson Purification Energy Ball] with deadly uracy.


    -94728! (this is from EGO)


    Valgorth staggered, his health dropping rapidly, but he wasn''t down yet.


    "Crimson Purification..." Stark whispered as the energy ball exploded.


    BOOM!


    -323,482!


    The chamber shook violently as the energy detonated around Valgorth. His body was thrown back, but Stark didn''t stop. The [Aura Smash Merge] was next, and he hurled it toward the apostle like a crashing storm.


    -156,045!


    Valgorth screamed in pain, barely hanging on, and even when he tried to do anything, either Stark or the clone would punch him out of his spell.


    Before he could recover, the [Spear of Judgment] descended from above, the final blow, as it was infused with [Holy Infusion].


    "Now!" Stark shouted at his clone as the spear impaled Valgorth, divine energy flooding his body.


    -847,372!


    Then without wasting time, the clone smashed the ground with EGO dozens of times, dealing damage to Valgorth.


    -33623! -37214! -41237!


    Valgorth''s health dropped to zero in an instant.


    He let out onest roar of agony before his body dissolved into nothingness, consumed by the overwhelming power of theirbined attack.


    [Valgorth has been defeated!]


    Stark stood tall, his chest heaving from exertion.


    His clone stood beside him, its demonic aura still faintly glowing.


    Behind them, Malthus began to stir.


    The stun was wearing off.


    And yes, all of this happened in mere seconds.


    But it didn''t matter anymore. Stark and his clone turned to face the death apostle, their focus now fully on him.


    Malthus''s eyes darted between them, fear creeping into his gaze.


    Stark smirked. "It''s over."


    He raised his hand, preparing to unleash another barrage of attacks.


    In moments, this battle would be finished.

 Chapter 309: The Three Devil Apostles are Down

    The atmosphere in the chamber shifted the moment Valgorth fell.


    The heavy tension hanging in the air dissipated, reced by an unsettling silence.


    It felt as if the very room itself was waiting.


    Two of the apostles were now dead, and even with all of their confidence, thinking they had trapped Stark inside of their domain... all of that was nothing.


    Only Malthus remained now, his ck robes swirling around him, shrouded in the fading light from the destruction of his allies.


    Stark and his clone stood firm, battle-worn but unwavering. They could sense the overwhelming power radiating from Malthus, but neither showed any sign of backing down.


    Malthus''s scythe hungzily by his side, his eyes glinting with a cruel amusement.


    Slowly, his lips curled into a wicked grin as he raised the scythe high above his head.


    The weapon shimmered with a dark, unnatural glow, as though it were feeding on the surrounding shadows.


    Without warning, he mmed the scythe into the ground.


    "I AM THE MIGHTIEST OF THE ABYSS! FACE ME!" His voice echoed, causing the very floor beneath their feet to tremble.


    Stark''s eyes narrowed, his expression cold and unyielding.


    In that instant, Malthus unleashed his "Godly" ability: [ckened Harvest].


    A dense ck mist began to rise from the ground, swirling around Malthus like a living thing.


    It absorbed the lingering energy of the fallen¡ªthe souls of Cerberus, Valgorth, and the countless devils that Stark had cut down along the way.


    Their twisted forms merged with the mist, feeding into Malthus''s growing power.


    "Just for your information... I am the strongest of the apostles among those three, and my godly skill is one of the best there is in the entire world," Malthus smiled.


    His body swelled as the aura around him darkened, his skeleton (?) muscles bulging, and his already towering frame growingrger.


    The scythe pulsed, now brimming with raw, demonic energy.


    Stark felt the shift immediately. This was no longer the same Malthus. He had be something far more dangerous, far more monstrous.


    He had pushed himself past his very own limits.


    [Malthus has gone from Cmity to Immortal-Level monster]


    And with all the souls he harvested, he became just as strong as Olikar.


    With an ominous smirk, Malthus pointed his scythe toward Stark.


    "You will kneel before the power of the Abyss," he growled, his voice now deep and guttural, exuding death and destruction.


    But Stark didn''t move. He didn''t even blink. Beside him, the clone was still, their synchronization wless.


    Malthus wasted no more time on words. His body blurred as he surged forward, his scythe crashing down with the weight of a thousand tons.


    The de sliced through the air like a guillotine, aimed directly at Stark''s head.


    But Stark was already moving.


    With reflexes sharpened by countless battles, he activated [Dodge Control], slipping out of the way just as the scythe grazed past, missing him by a hair.


    SLASH!


    The scythe struck the ground with tremendous force, carving a massive gash into the stone where Stark had stood.


    Malthus''s attacks were faster now, infused with the energy of every soul he had consumed. Each swing was filled with the essence of hell itself, every strike meant to kill.


    The clone sprang into action, darting toward Malthus from the side.


    Still ordering EGO, Its demonic ws glowed with dark energy as it aimed to catch Malthus off guard. But Malthus reacted swiftly, spinning his scythe in a wide arc.


    The clone barely dodged in time, retreating just as the de whistled past, too close forfort.


    The fight escted into a deadly dance. Malthus''s scythe cut through the air relentlessly, every strike more powerful than thest.


    Stark and his clone moved like shadows, dodging, weaving, their movements in perfect harmony.


    Each missed attack from Malthus sent shockwaves rippling through the chamber, shaking the walls, cracking the stone beneath their feet.


    But it was the same for Stark, as Malthus managed to avoid everything and cut down every holy attack with no efforts.


    "You think you can avoid me forever? Feel the weight of despair!" Malthus''s voice echoed, dripping with malice.


    He swung the scythe again, but this time, a wave of dark energy erupted from the de. The wave expanded rapidly, filling the chamber, leaving no room to escape.


    Stark''s instincts took over.


    "Domination Soul!" he shouted, summoning chains of energy not to bind, but to fight.


    He swung the chains wide and ced his soul heart in front of them, creating a barrier against the encroaching darkness.


    The ck energy collided with his souls and the chains, sending sparks flying as Stark whipped the crimson soul back toward Malthus, deflecting the wave.


    Malthus snarled in frustration, closing the distance between them, bringing his scythe down with terrifying speed.


    Stark barely managed to twist out of the way, sending his soul heart snapping toward the scythe''s handle. With a yank, he pulled it aside, just long enough to disrupt Malthus''s rhythm.


    The clone saw its moment, rushing in with EGO''s ws outstretched, ready to tear into Malthus. But the apostle was too quick. He leaped back, spinning mid-air, releasing another burst of dark energy as he did.


    SLASH!


    The clone narrowly avoided the attack, its body bending impossibly to dodge the de''s lethal edge (because of Dodge Control).


    One wrong move, and either of them would be finished. Stark and his clone were pushing themselves to the limit, walking between the edge of life and death.


    But they moved wlessly, their timing perfect.


    Malthus''s eyes zed with fury as he realized his attacks weren''tnding.


    "Enough!" he roared, raising his scythe toward the sky. The very air in the chamber seemed to warp as the full force of his [ckened Harvest] exploded around him.


    Dark energy swirled in a massive vortex above, crackling with power.


    The ground beneath them trembled, and from the shadows, spectral hands emerged.


    These were the souls of the fallen devils, summoned by Malthus''s godly power.


    They wed at Stark and his clone, trying to drag them into the abyss.


    Stark''s gaze sharpened. He couldn''t let this drag out any longer.


    "Clone, now!" Starkmanded, and as if they were one, the clone responded.


    The clone unleashed [Crushing Gravity], drawing on the might of the [Wielding Cross] andunching it toward the open sky.


    Fwish...


    And while Malthus was too concentrated on having the hands drag them to the deepest parts of hell, he hadn''t focused on the iing attack.


    He had seen Stark use it against the guardian ape, but his pride made him believe he could everything.


    He was proven wrong.


    BOOOOOOM!


    The cross crashed into the apostle, momenterily staggering him and making him drop his scythe because of the sheer divine power.


    -384,372!


    Malthus let out an enraged roar, momentarily disarmed.


    But Stark was already moving.


    In an instant, he teleported behind Malthus using [Crimson Ball Transmission], appearing just behind the apostle before he could react.


    Stark wasted no time, grabbing Malthus by the shoulders, locking him in ce with an iron grip.


    Malthus struggled, his raw strength still terrifying, but Stark held firm, his aura zing with determination.


    "Release me!" Malthus spat, thrashing violently, but it was toote.


    Stark summoned thest of his power, his voice ringing out with finality.


    "Heaven''s Wrath!" he pointed at the sky after drawing a circle in his hand.


    The heavens responded.


    A brilliant light split the darkness in the sky, descending upon them like divine judgment.


    The crimson beam consumed Malthus, its purity burning through the dark power he had harvested, tearing away the souls he had consumed.


    "Crimson Ball Transmission," and Stark had already set his other crimson ball, teleporting away right before being hit (first perk of transmission is he gets another crimson ball to use).


    Malthus screamed in agony, his body dissolving under the blinding light.


    Oh, and yeah, Stark fused [Heaven''s Wrath] with [Holy Infusion].


    -354825!


    -399573!


    -553211!


    His health plummeted, his strength drained.


    With a final explosion of light, Malthus''s form disintegrated, reduced to ash, his reign of terror over.


    [Malthus has been defeated.]


    Stark stood over the remains, his chest heaving, sweat trickling down his face.


    The chamber was silent once more, the weight of the abyss lifted atst.


    The clone stood beside him, its demonic aura still strong.


    It was finally over.


    Stark took a deep breath, wiping the sweat from his brow, surveying the battlefield onest time.


    Victory was theirs.

 Chapter 310: Determination-Rift Fully Cleared!

    Stark stood amidst the carnage, his chest heaving from the battle''s intensity, as a familiar series of notifications echoed in his mind.


    The sharp Dingof the system chimed repeatedly.


    The bodies of the three apostles, the ones of the [Devil''s Abyss], were all in front of him.


    Cerberus, the massive three-headed dog, was dead, lying there as he was killed by Stark''s holy energy.


    Valgorth, the destor, was also down, after getting absolutelyboed by Stark and his clone, there weren''t many people or monsters that could survive, especially taking the [Spear of Judgment] and dozens of hits from EGO.


    And finally Malthus, the strongest of all of them, was erased from existence by [Heaven''s Wrath] after getting hit by the falling cross.


    None of them stood a chance to begin with, though they did pose a threat to Stark in the beginning, he quickly overwhelmed them the second the clone appeared.


    [You have in ''Cerberus, The Protector of Hell'', gained 36,500,000 experience points!]


    [You have in ''Valgorth, the Destor'', gained 37,800,000 experience points!]


    [You have in ''Malthus, the Death Devil'' in his ultimate form; gained 45,000,000 experience points!]


    [+119,300,000 experience points!]


    "...What the hell," the amount of experience he got was baffling, twice as much as he did when he defeated Olikar.


    Maybe because he had defeated three apostles at the same time.


    Also, Olikar gave 47,600,000 experience points (+20 million from the execution), but Malthus gave him 45,000,000; it was so close that it felt like there was almost no difference.


    The panel did specify "in his ultimate form" though, so makes sense.


    And of course, Stark leveled up.


    [Current level: 106]


    [Experience: 977,000/8,500,000]


    Experience went up by 100,000 every level currently.


    Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!


    Those numbers quickly changed.


    [Your level has increased to level 107, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Your level has increased to level 108, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Your level has increased to level 109...]


    .


    .


    [Your level has increased to level 119, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Skill Points: 103 Avable]


    Now... Stark could truly feel the power.


    His breathing was calm, his eyes were focused.


    Nothing much to do beside see what kind of skill he got, since he reached past level 110.


    The more Stark fought these monsters, the more he won against these impossible beings, the more fed up he got with all of this.


    Ding!


    [Level 110 reached (one skill every 20 levels): pick a card!]


    Before him appeared 5 cards, each with an eye at the back, the pupil staring at him, as if judging him.


    "Ultimate Clone," he ordered, and the clone went in front of the cards, looking at them one after the other to judge which one would be best.


    After a few seconds, [This... one... is... best...] the clone pointed at the one to the far right, and Stark took it.


    Stark would probably never get used to the clone being able to talk in a panel, though only one word at a time, and very slowly.


    When Stark turned the card around, he saw that the drawing at the front was that of a stickman figure, looking normal, except for the fact that two crimson arms wereing out from under the original ones.


    Basically, that thing had four arms, two with a deep red that clearly meant they were added with aura.


    Ding.


    ...


    [Skill: Asura''s Arms]


    [Rank: Godly]


    [Description: Summons two of Asura''s arms, the God of Wrath to aid you in battle, they can be used to make you faster, to propel you, to block attacks, basically, they work exactly like normal arms, using your very own wrath to summon them.]


    [Note: The power of this skill is associated to your wrath too, so more anger = more power!]


    ...


    Stark had the level required to be able to head to the [tinum] rank using a [Breakthrough Stone] and upgrade his skill level limit, but he had so many of them now that he just decided to let 40 skill points for his most essential skills like Domination and Focus.


    But suddenly, right as he thought about using his max out core...


    Ding!


    [You havepletely cleared this Determination-Level rift, eliminating every single monster, you truly are the doom yer!]


    "So you can say doom ye-"


    ZAP!


    -100!


    "...But I can''t," he finished his sentence regardless.


    [You have been granted a max-out core as a reward!]


    This meant that he currently had two of those things at his disposal, able to use them on whatever skill he liked to enhance it to its ultimate form.


    [Skills:] Spatial Inventory; ss Wheel; Perception; Domination lv30; Focus lv30; Aura Smash lv30; Clone Frenzy lv30 (MAX); Invincible Dodge lv30 (MAX); Double Assault lv10; Crimson Spears lv30; Heaven''s Wrath lv5; Alchemist lv5; Potion Crafting lv5; Target Maniption lv1; Dodge Control lv5; Crimson Ball Transmission lv5; Domi-Chains Restrain lvl1; EGO lv5; Crimson Purification lv30; Wielding Cross lv30; Crimson Healing lv70 (MAX); The Void; Banish; Domination Soul; Revenant''s Fury 1/3; Holy Infusion; Enrapture; Asura''s Arms lv1


    [Domination, Focus and Alchemist cannot be upgraded.]


    Now, Stark could choose any two skills he wanted apart from those that he couldn''t, and make them reach their ultimate form.


    [Crimson Healing] maxed at level 70, which would have surely taken him months if not years to reach, and its ultimate form gave him a second life, basically.


    What could the other skills, which were attack-oriented, possibly do?


    The real question Stark needed to ask himself was: what skill could have the highest level.


    Some skills would only reach level 30, but some others could potentially reach up to level 100.


    If he selected thetter, then he would surely get a perk that was 100 levels worth.


    A perk so strong it could wipe out any monster in one swift motion.


    Now, it was all about being strategic.


    After a few minutes of deep thinking, Stark made a list of the skills he could potentially use the cores on: Aura Smash; Crimson Spears; Heaven''s Wrath; Crimson Ball Transmission; EGO; and finally, Asura''s Arms.


    6 skills, yet only two could be selected.


    This was the hardest choice Stark was about to make since he appeared in this new world.


    But before selecting them, he decided to use the 60 skills he spared to upgrade some of the other ones.


    And well, as most of his skill were either maxed, couldn''t be leveled up or were already at the level limit, he didn''t have many choices to select from.


    Ding! Ding!


    [You have upgraded ''Domi-Chain Restrain'' to level 30 (Gold-Tier Max)!] (-30 skill points)


    [You have upgraded ''Target Maniption'' to level 30 (Gold-Tier Max)!] (-30 skill points)


    He didn''t use that skill much, but maybe it could be better.


    ...


    [Skill: Domi-Chain Restrain]


    [Perk: Chains of Judgment (Mythical Perk)]


    [Description: Not only do you get three chains instead of one, but you can also summon "Gortox", the chain demon, to aid you in chaining your enemies.]


    ...


    He used this skill, not often, but he used it, but this still confused him regardless.


    Who the hell is Gortox? Should he use the skill now to test it out? Or maybe wait? In the end, he still trained in the [Memories Museum] often too, so he would test it out.


    And then... he moved to the other skill.


    A pleasant surprise greeted him, though.


    ...


    [Skill: Target Maniption (ULTIMATE FORM)


    [Perk: Complete Telekinesis (Immortal/Ultimate Perk)]


    [Description: If you can hold off for 1 minute while focusing on your opponent''s aura, you can take it over and control their body for 15 seconds.]


    [Note: by that, you can basically make the enemy kill themselves, yes, no joke, as you have full control of their bodies, you will be able to use their own weapons against them, though do note that you cannot use their skills!]


    ...


    "This is..." Stark''s expression darkened, "So... normal...?"


    I mean, this was a great perk, but when the hell would he have the time to think about that in battle? And what if the opponent didn''t have a fancy weapon like a de?


    When would he find the time to pull up this perk and stand still for an entire minute without the enemy immediately trying to attack him.


    And now you might say: "W-Well, just ask the [Ultimate Clone] to protect you!"


    But first, what if the clone died by a massive unavoidable attack, and second of all, if an attack like a giant fire appeared, which hit the entire area, then Stark was fucked.


    He would need to think about it.


    But now that he was done with those skills and their perks, he could think about what he needed to do next.


    Aura Smash; Crimson Spears; Heaven''s Wrath; Crimson Ball Transmission; EGO; and finally, Asura''s Arms.


    The skills were there, the cores were in his hands, all he needed to do now is... choose.


    Because no matter what, his strength would surely increase.


    "Alright, I think I know," Stark let out a quick smile as he pointed at two of the skills.

 Chapter 311: Using Two Max Out Cores, Two Ultimate Perks.

    In the end, Stark decides to select [Crimson Spears] and [Asura''s Arms] as the skills he would max out with the [Max Out Cores].


    Here is his thought process.


    Aura Smash could have a perk too difficult for him to wield, it already happened twice already, and going from level to who knows what seemed too much for him; don''t get him wrong, it is an incredible skill, but he is satisfied with it right now.


    Heaven''s Wrath felt like it wouldn''t go past level 30 in terms of max level, after all, what else you could bring to this beam that erased everything that entered it?


    Crimson Ball Transmission was useful in battle, but just like Aura Smash, he had the very deep impression that using that ultimate perk would be hard to master as well.


    And as for EGO, well... he just didn''t feel like it, as both he and his clone could use it, and a week between each use wasn''t necessary right now, it was already strong enough as is.


    And so he had finally made his choice¡ªCrimson Spears and Asura''s Arms.


    The [Max Out Cores] had been rare and precious items, and the excitement of pushing two of his skills to their ultimate forms was still coursing through him.


    His fingers trembled slightly as he activated the first core.


    Ding!


    [You have used the [Max Out Core] on ''Crimson Spears''!]


    [Crimson Spears has reached level 100 (Ultimate Form)!]*


    The surge of power that apanied the notification was immediate, like a storm of energy brewing inside him.


    It was an absolutely incredible usage of his skill!


    The max level skills could reach was level 100, and crimson spears was one of those!


    ...


    [Skill: Crimson Spears]


    [New Perk: Heaven''s Spear (Ultimate Form)]


    [Description: Upon activation, a colossal rift tears open in the sky, revealing a towering angelic figure, nearly 50 kilometers in height. With a slow, deliberate motion, the angel summons an immense spear of pure crimson energy,rge enough to obliterate mountains with ease.


    At the user''smand, the angel hurls the giant spear it summoned with such force that it rips through the atmosphere, and upon impact, the spear triggers a small city-level explosion, powerful enough to destroy a quarter of the capital if aimed right.


    The spear''s power grows proportionally to the user''s aura, and its destructive force can be focused to annihte a single target or spread wide enough to engulf multiple enemies.*


    Basically, nothing survives the divine wrath of the Heaven''s Spear, for the [Angel of the Spear] never misses his shot.]


    [Oh and also you have 10 spears now.]


    ...


    Stark''s eyes widened as he read the description, his breath catching in his throat. "Holy shit," he whispered.


    This wasn''t just an upgrade¡ªit was something godlike.


    "This is... insane..."


    This was a weapon of mass destruction.


    If anyone learned about this, then not only the apostles and monsters, but the humans would try to get rid of him too: what he had in hand was basically an atomic bomb.


    But there wasn''t time to linger on that. He had one more core to use, and it was the one he was even more curious about.


    ...


    [You have used the [Max Out Core] on ''Asura''s Arms''!]


    [Asura''s Arms has reached level 50 (Ultimate Form)!]


    ...


    His heart raced again as the notification popped up. [Asura''s Arms] was probably already one of his most powerful abilities (he only assumed because of the rank), and now, at its ultimate form, it promised to be something even greater. Read thetest on m_v-l''e|-NovelBin


    It delivered.


    ...


    [Skill: Asura''s Arms]


    [New Perk: Asura''s Wrath (ultimate form)]


    [Description: Harness the power of the God of Wrath to summon four additional arms¡ªtwo emerging from your shoulders and two from beneath your original arms.


    These arms are manifestations of pure aura, imbued with divine strength. Each arm is capable of immense physical power, equal to the user''s full aura potential.


    When activated, the user can unleash a devastating attack called ''Asura''s Wrath,'' releasing a shockwave that annihtes everything in a 100-meter radius. The more enraged the user bes, the stronger the aura-infused arms be, scaling with the user''s fury.]


    ...


    If he understood that description right, not only would he now have six arms, though he would need to learn how to control them, each of them able to punch an enemy or block an attack, but their special ability was "Wrath"?


    Unleashing a shockwave that annihtes anything in a 100-meter radius?


    How useful would this be? How powerful could it be...?


    Stark focused his aura, and he sensed that it grew so much more than before.


    This power... it was too good.


    Stark had just acquired two god-like abilities now.


    And he felt as thought he was at the top of the world!


    But before he could get lost in the euphoria, his thoughts turned back to the idea of the [Max Out Cores].


    They were strange.


    "If clearing a rift grants this kind of power," Stark said to himself, "why doesn''t everyone do it? Surely there are stronger people out there who could just sweep through these things."


    But to answer his question, something strange happened.


    The areapletely darkened around him, and from the ground emerged a crimson figurepletely made out of aura: it was Domination.


    Wait... no... it''s not domination.


    That figure indeed had a crimson body, but it also had a [Soul Heart] in front of it, it was wearing ab coat, carrying a small vial in its left hand, a cross in its right hand, and finally it had demon horns and a demon tail.


    It was a merge of every single one of his sses!


    "You look goofy," Starkmented whileughing, talking to Domination, after all he knew that he was the one controlling all the others.


    "Sure," Domination shrugged as he snapped his fingers, "Here is your answer, by the way."


    A panel appeared in front of Stark.


    ...


    [You are the only one who can get this reward from fully clearing a rift.]


    [For you are the ''Chosen One''!]


    [And as for the ''over-leveled'' thing, no, you need to be in a rift that has a close power level to yours, otherwise you don''t get anything.]


    ...


    And then, the panel disappeared.


    This exined how he was getting those [Max Out Cores] but others didn''t.


    Stark blinked at the panel, trying to make sense of it. "I''m the ''Chosen One''? That''s why I get these rewards?"


    [Yes.]


    This was... surprising.


    After all, leveling up a skill to level 50 would take being at least around level 500 for normal people, and as for level 100, well, it was pretty much reaching level 900, meaning you were one of the strongest beings in the entire world.


    And yet... at level 119 as a domination user, Stark now had ess to one of these powers.


    Crimson Spears and Asura''s Arms... would surely be incredible.


    "Anyway, thank you," he turned around, heading toward the portal that had opened, which would send him back to the normal version of the [Devil''s Abyss].


    Stark took a few steps, but then BOOM!


    A massive shockwave knocked him off bnce, and he stumbled, quickly regaining his footing. He whipped around, eyes narrowing at Domination, who no longer had his usualid-back expression.


    "I wouldn''t show up just to tell you something obvious," Domination said in a low tone, his voice serious for the first time in a while.


    "Then..."


    "I''ll be frank with you, Host," Domination shrugged, "You''ve been in the Devil''s Abyss for two weeks."


    "Ok, and?" Stark was used to such things happening, and domination too, so why did he make such a big deal out of it now.


    Stark''s aura in his eyes grew as his expression darkened.


    "You missed something important," Domination swiped his hand through the air, summoning a new panel.


    And then he dropped the bombshell.


    "The Third Domination trial was announced."


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    ...


    [All 15 participants have reached level 100 or above, the trial will begin in two weeks.]


    [You will all suffer a true and undeniable dead, for the mercy of the godless demon is nonexistent to humans.]


    [Good luck, participants, I wish you all the luck in the world (I don''t)]


    ...


    "But... wait a damn minute," Stark''s eyes suddenly widened, "If the trial was announced around two weeks ago, and I''ve been here for two weeks... then..."


    Ding!


    [Time remaining: 7 hours, 38 minutes.]


    There were only 7 hours and a half before the trial started.


    No, actually, even less: time was moving extremely fast on the outside inparison to here, so when a minute passed here, around five passed on the timer.


    "Ok, thank you, domination," Stark nodded.


    "No problem, but it doesn''t matter, we''re surviving," Domination said with a sly grin, disappearing into the shadows.


    "Sure."


    Now, it was just Stark, alone, in this empty rift, with the timer beside him still ticking down extremely fast.


    The Third Domination Trial ising.


    But to be honest, Stark was pretty damn calm inparison to the first two times.


    The final [Godless Demon Apostle] of the second line was inside the third trial: the [Crimson Moons Trio].


    And now... he would be able to meet them.

 Chapter 312: Soras In the Trial Too

    As Stark stepped through the portal andnded back in the normal version of the [Devil¡¯s Abyss], the familiar air of tension hit him immediately.


    The dark, eerie atmosphere felt more alive now, as demons scattered through the first zone, shing violently with groups of students trying to hold their ground.


    "..."


    Stark watched for a moment, taking it all in.


    He was used to this chaos by now, but something about it today felt different.


    Maybe it was because of the [Third Domination Trial] hanging over his head like a guillotine.


    Then, out of nowhere, a voice broke through his thoughts.


    "What the fuck?"


    He turned, eyes narrowing.


    A guy, who seemed to be part of one of the fighting groups, was pointing directly at him with wide eyes.


    "I swear I saw that guye out of a portal... like, out of nowhere!" the man eximed, panic rising in his voice.


    His friend, beside him, pped his head, "Are you stupid? You¡¯ve been drinking again, haven¡¯t you?"


    "N-No, I swear¡­ oh, forget it, I must have imagined it..."


    ¡¯Phew,¡¯ Stark thought, a small smirk tugging at his lips.


    That could¡¯ve gone badly. Exining that he hade from apletely different part of the rift through some mysterious portal would raise far too many questions¡ªquestions he didn¡¯t have time for.


    With a quick focus on his [Devil¡¯s Abyss Token], a swirling mist of darkness engulfed him, and in an instant, the rift disappeared from around him.


    When his vision cleared, he was back in the academy lobby.


    The usually bustling space was eerily empty, reinforcing the fact that Stark was the only one who had been inside the rift for thest two weeks.


    Stark stepped out of the academy and, without bothering to hail a taxi or wait for transportation, he immediately set off running.


    His speed was like a blur, the world around him whipping p¨¦st as he sprinted toward his apartment.


    The adrenaline coursing through him from the looming trial announcement made his heart race even faster.


    In less than ten minutes, Stark arrived at hisplex.


    He darted inside, making his way up the stairs to his floor.


    His body moved on autopilot, but his mind was swirling with thoughts of the trial, of the looming confrontation with the [Crimson Moons Trio], and what awaited him in the deadly challenge.


    When Stark opened the door to his apartment, he was greeted by a pleasant scene: Lana was in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled good.


    Sora, on the other hand, was curled up on the couch with a book in hand, looking as calm and collected as ever.


    Continue your saga on m|v-l¡¯e m,p| y- r


    The moment Stark stepped inside, both women turned to him. Their eyes widened in surprise, and Lana wasted no time, rushing toward him.


    "Finally, you¡¯re back!" she eximed, flinging her arms around him in a tight hug.


    "Yeah," Stark nodded, hugging her back, though his mind was still elsewhere.


    Even though he¡¯d been gone for two weeks without any updates, it didn¡¯t seem like the girls had been worried enough to think something terrible had happened to him.


    That was... interesting.


    After they broke from the hug, Stark asked casually, "Did you get your flowers?"


    Lana smiled, clearly proud. "Yes! Sora and I managed to get them. Sora finished hers in under a day and brought some to me, but people have been struggling. Even after two weeks, only six of us managed toplete the task!"


    "Oh, wow," Stark said, feigning surprise.


    He had gathered those flowers in less than 30 minutes¡ªthough, to be fair, that was in the twisted version of the rift, which was more difficult.


    ...


    They sat down to eat dinner together, a meal Lana had cooked.


    Stark tried to focus on the food, but his mind kept drifting back to the countdown timer that hovered in his vision.


    Every time he blinked, it was still there, ticking away, a constant reminder that time was running out.


    Tick! Tick! Tick!


    [Time remaining: 5h34m]


    He tried to dismiss the panel or minimize it, but it wouldn¡¯t go away.


    It was currently 18h26 PM, so by logic, the trial would start at midnight.


    As they finished eating, Lana stood up to clear the table, brushing off Stark¡¯s offer to help.


    "No, no, you rx. You just got back."


    Stark leaned back in his chair, ncing over at Sora.


    Her face was calm, but her eyes were dark, mirroring his own thoughts.


    The two of them were bound to the same fate¡ªanother Domination Trial.


    "Sora," Stark broke the silence between them.


    She raised an eyebrow but didn¡¯t respond.


    "Did you get the notification?" he asked, his voice low.


    "Yes," Sora said, almost emotionless. "In five hours."


    "Same as me, then."


    There was a long pause.


    Neither of them wanted to say it out loud, but they both knew this trial would be just as dangerous¡ªif not more so¡ªthan thest two.


    The first trial had five participants; the second had ten.


    Now, fifteen people were involved, and both Stark and Sora were fully aware of what that meant.


    The body count and difficulty would rise.


    In the first two trials, they were the only survivors.


    What about the third? Would they walk out of this one alive? Or would this finally be the end?


    Sora let out a soft sigh, her eyes dropping to the table, "We¡¯ll get through it."


    Stark nodded, but his thoughts were elsewhere.


    He was confident in his own abilities, but he was more worried about Sora.


    The enemies they¡¯d face this time were going to be much stronger.


    The trial¡¯s rmended level was 100 after all, and Stark was already level 119¡ªfar beyond most other participants.


    He couldn¡¯t help but think about Lana though.


    She wouldn¡¯t be able to join them in this trial, and neither of them knew how long they¡¯d be gone this time. Thest trial had taken months. What if this one took half a year?


    "I¡¯ll tell her I¡¯m going on business for a few months," Sora said suddenly, reading Stark¡¯s thoughts. "I won¡¯t be answering any calls. You should do the same."


    "Yeah, I was thinking the same," Stark replied, though he wasn¡¯t sure how well it would go over with Lana. "I¡¯ll say I¡¯m visiting my family. That¡¯s why I won¡¯t be able to contact her."


    "Terrible excuse," Sora sighed, "but it¡¯s Lana. She¡¯ll wait for you, no matter how long."


    Stark didn¡¯t quite understand how Sora could be so sure of that, but he let it go.


    He trusted Lana, and she was strong in her own way.


    She could handle a few months of waiting.


    When Lana returned from the kitchen, she let out a big yawn. "Man¡­ I¡¯m exhausted."


    "You should rest," Stark said immediately.


    "I agree," Sora added, standing up. "I¡¯m going to be gone for a while too, on business. It might be a couple of months."


    "Oh, that¡¯s fine!" Lana said cheerfully. "More time for me and Stark, right?"


    Stark hesitated for a moment, but then added, "Actually¡­ I¡¯m going to visit my family. I¡¯ll be gone for a while, too."


    Lana¡¯s expression darkened, and her shoulders slumped. "Oh¡­ okay. But can Ie with you? You can introduce me to your family!"


    "Sorry, they¡¯d prefer I go alone," Stark said, trying to sound as apologetic as possible.


    Lana looked like she was on the verge of tears, and guilt gnawed at Stark¡¯s insides.


    He didn¡¯t want to lie to her, but he had no choice.


    Before she could fully break down, Stark did the only thing that came to mind. He pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her on the mouth, right in front of Sora.


    "...!" Sora¡¯s eyes widened, and Stark could feel an odd tension in the air as something passed through her¡ªa strange mix of jealousy and desire.


    She quickly shook it off, clearing her throat.


    "If you wait for us, I¡¯ll do anything you want," Stark whispered to Lana with a soft smile.


    "R-Really? Anything?" Her eyes lit up with excitement.


    "Yeah. Whatever you want."


    Lana beamed and hugged him again before heading off to bed, clearly exhausted.


    She also hugged Sora.


    As soon as she was out of sight, Sora crossed her arms, looking at Stark, "What does she want that has you promising anything?"


    "Heh... I wonder..." Stark shrugged, though he probably had an idea, "More importantly though..."


    Fwish! Ding!


    He raised his arm and summoned arge, ornate ck door from the ground.


    It was the entrance to the [Memories Museum].


    It hadn¡¯t been shown, but Stark still trains regrly inside of the memories museum.


    "We have four and a half hours. Let¡¯s not waste them, this is the memories museum," he pointed at the door, "It can help us be stronger."


    Sora was surprised, but she nodded.


    Both of them knew they had to be at their best for the trial, and the [Memories Museum] was the perfect ce to hone their skills before it began.


    They stepped through the door, the heavy weight of the trial hanging over them as the countdown continued to tick away in their minds.

 Chapter 313: The Participants are Also Getting Ready

    Sora and Stark enter the [Memories Museum], and without wasting them begin to train for the next four hours, Stark testing out his news kills, and Sora as well, though she just mostly watched him in awe, seeing everything her friend could do.


    But on the other hand, there were also other people, the other participants, getting ready for the trial, in their own way that is.


    ...


    A figure stood alone on the rooftop of a high-rise building.


    She wasn¡¯t admiring the view, though. Her eyes remained locked on the horizon, unblinking, lost in thought. The faint ticking of the panel before her was the only thing she acknowledged.


    [Time remaining: 4h10m]


    Her fingers flexed, then tightened into a fist.


    This trial was a looming shadow over her mind, a battle that would test her will as much as her skill. She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, centering herself.


    ¡¯I will survive this.¡¯


    With deliberate care, she knelt on the rooftop, lowering herself into a meditative position.


    Her breathing slowed, and the tension in her body melted away as she prepared her mind.


    She was not training or fighting. She was finding her calm¡ªher focus. This wasn¡¯t the moment to panic. There would be no mistakes. Not in this trial.


    The sky darkened above her as time continued to slip by. Her heartbeat was steady, the seconds slipping like sand through her fingers.


    She stayed in her meditation, unmoving.


    For in the end, she was sure that only one person would survive this trial.


    ...


    Another participant, this time, sat behind his sleek, polished desk in the dim glow of his office.


    He was sitting in a luxurious office, observing the city above.


    [Time remaining: 3h45m]


    But he couldn¡¯t forget that he also needed to participate in that shitty trial too.


    This would disrupt his business for a few months, but he had already survived two of these, so he didn¡¯t care.


    His fingers drummed against the desk with a rhythmic precision, his eyes scanning the various screens before him.


    Each one showed different feeds: security footage, financial reports, and more importantly, information about the possible participants of the trial, gotten from the [Domination Association], which registers all [Domination users]. Stay connected with m-v l|e¡¯m,p| y- r


    "Worthless," he muttered, closing the files of several weak contestants.


    His eyes stopped on one though: Stark Heartsouls.


    But right as he was about to open it...


    A knock at the door.


    Two people entered¡ªsilent, obedient, their eyes dull and lifeless.


    They were his best assets, ones he had groomed personally to serve him without question, and also other participants of this domination trial.


    "Prepare yourselves," he ordered, his tone cold. "We¡¯ll kill everyone there."


    The two nodded without a word and left.


    The man leaned back, steepling his fingers as the timer ticked down on his panel.


    He watched it impassively, his mind already working through strategies.


    The world outside his window continued to bustle, but the businessman was already far ahead, calcting every move, nning his domination.


    ...


    In a dimly lit room filled with the scent of paint and varnish, an artist stood before a massive canvas, his movements frantic and precise.


    His hand moved furiously, sttering colors across the canvas with almost violent intensity.


    [Time remaining: 3h15m]


    His breath came in gasps as he took a step back to admire his work.


    The painting was grotesque, a twisted mass of shapes and shadows, barely recognizable as human forms.


    The artist¡¯s eyes were wide, gleaming with a mix of excitement and madness as he stared at it.


    "It¡¯s almost perfect," he whispered to himself, his voice trembling with delight.


    He reached for another brush, dipped it into a deep crimson paint, and sshed it across the center of the painting, as though adding blood to a wound.


    The clock in the corner of his eye ticked away, but he barely noticed.


    This was his masterpiece¡ªhis art, and it would be remembered long after the trial, after he killed all of the others.


    As he stepped back again, a twisted smile curled his lips. His gaze flicked to the timer.


    [Time remaining: 2h50m]


    "Soon, you will all be part of my masterpiece."


    ...


    In a dimly lit, candle-filled chapel, a man knelt before the altar, his head bowed in silent prayer.


    The figure was wearing dark, tattered robes, and the sound of his whispered words echoed faintly in the vast emptiness of the chapel.


    [Time remaining: 1h58m]


    His hands were sped tightly, skin pale, but his eyes¡ªhalf-hidden behind his hood¡ªwere wide open, staring into the shadows ahead.


    The candles flickered, casting long, dancing shadows on the stone walls.


    He murmured something incoherent, his voice hoarse from hours of prayer.


    "Lord Godless... We will eliminate all the threats..."


    "Lord Godless... Give me some of your power... I shall eliminate all those who oppose you..."


    [Time remaining: 1h30m]


    The panel floated before him, its countdown relentless. He didn¡¯t need to see it. He could feel it¡ªtime slipping away, dragging him toward something inevitable.


    But then, an answer came.


    "You wish to eliminate all those that threaten me?" a manifestation of the [Godless Demon] appeared.


    "LORD! LORD!" the man jumped in joy.


    "If you wish to do so..." Godless snapped his fingers, transferring a small amount of aura to the man, "Then get rid of all the participants, especially the ck-haired boy with the crimson aura."


    "Yes... Yes... I will, Lord," The man kneeled, feeling the newly gained power.


    The air in the chapel grew cold as he stepped toward the doors, his robes trailing behind him like shadows.


    His eyes, once filled with devotion, were now hollow, consumed by the darkness that had taken hold of his soul.


    With a final nce at the altar, he pushed open the doors and stepped into the night.


    "It shall be done."


    ...


    Inside a rift, while fighting hundreds upon hundreds of monsters, a man and hispanion were fighting hordes of monsters after the other.


    The woman was able to transform herself into a massive beast made of shadows, cutting through anything and everything, her skin so hard that it was almost impossible to cut through it.


    The man, on the other hand, raised his arm and with a single sh cut through dozens of monsters.


    The two of them were confused, almost unbothered by the sheer amount of monsters, each and every one of them level 400 and above.


    [Time remaining: 30m]


    [Warning, the domination trial is starting, every participant needs to be ready.]


    "Should we go, Dan?" the woman asked, transforming back into her human shape, except for her arm which was now ck and with a massive mouth that could extend, eating one monster after the other.


    "Sure," the man nodded, "Just wanted to experience that adrenaline of being cornered again."


    "Don¡¯t worry, none of these people have anything of us," the woman smiled, "You kill them, I eat them."


    "Right."


    ...


    And finally, back to Stark and Sora, who were still training inside the [Memories Museum].


    He had pretty much mastered the usage of [Asura¡¯s Arms], which wasn¡¯t that difficult, but he didn¡¯t use [Crimson Spear]¡¯s ultimate attack as he didn¡¯t feel like showing it, plus there was nothing to master with it: the angel would do everything.


    And so...


    [Time remaining: 5m]

 Chapter 314: The Start of the Third Domination Trial

    The timer ticks down as Stark and Sora were inside the memories museum, and once it reaches zero, both of them lose consciousness, being transported to the third trial.


    Stark wakes up in a ck void, with nothing in view.


    "..."


    Of course, this ce was all too familiar to him, and so his doppelg?ngers appeared, this time not two, but three.


    "That guy is..." Stark mumbled.


    "Incubus," the third doppelg?nger, who had a purple aura, as well as a tail and demon horns, smiled.


    "Right," it made sense, since Domination hadn''t absorbed this one.


    "Anyway, good luck," the three of them shrugged.


    "That''s... all?" Stark raised his eyebrows.


    "What did you expect, a cake?" Domination shook his head, and once he snapped his fingers, the three of them disappeared, leaving Stark alone with a new panel appearing before him.


    Ding!


    [Third Domination Trial]


    [Name: Corpse Festival]


    [Number of participants: 15]


    [Difficulty: Death]


    [Good luck!]


    Stark''s vision blurred as he fell unconscious again.


    ''Death difficulty again... huh...'' he thought, already having expected that.


    A Death difficulty on the first trial had been hell, each guardian taking one of hispanions, and in the end he managed to win by sheer willpower.


    The second trial was even harder, forcing him to go through 5 floors and defeat an extremely powerful boss: the Warden, which killed him twice before he finally managed.


    And now, the third, with the same difficulty as the previous two, was happening, surely this would be bad.


    ...


    "Hah..."


    Stark opens his eyes as he gets up, his vision blurry, but soon adapting.


    [Wee to the ''Corpse Festival'']


    "Finally, the sleepyhead got up."


    "That guy''s dying first for sure."


    "Hahaha..."


    Stark was currently in a circr square, slightly raised above ground, and once he looked up, he saw that the other participants were all already awake, also standing in one of these very same ''zones''.


    They were all circling some sort of giant altar.


    Ding!


    [Everyone has woken up!]


    [The trial shall start!]


    Everyone was on edge as they saw the crimson text appear above the altar.


    [Name: Corpse Festival]


    [Difficulty: Death]


    When Stark looked around, he realized that he was in a vige square, the middle of a vige that looked abandoned.


    [You are currently in the ''Death Vige''.]


    [Your goal for this trial is simple.]


    A crimson arrow appeared out of nowhere, and then it ced itself right in front of a massive tower that could be seen in the distance.


    [Objective of this trial: be the only survivor, and climb to ''Moon Tower'' to be the winner.]


    [That is all, no boss, no nothing.]


    [Of course, there are powerful monsters, and advantages you can get by doing tasks, but if you felt like it, you could kill everyone in this square right now and climb to the top to win.]


    [The tower is set at the very end of "Termina", a massive city infested with moonscorched monsters you will have to go through after getting rid of the others.]


    Instinctively, Stark turned his head toward Sora, who was looking at him with a determined look.


    "..." Stark''s eyes grew so bright with his crimson aura that you would be able to see it from kilometers away.


    [But...]


    Another panel appeared.


    DING! BOOM! BOOM!


    In the sky appeared three massive moons, with a single pupil in each of them, looking at the participants. Continue your adventure at mvl


    [This is the ''Crimson Moon Trio'', they moonscorched the earth here, transforming everything into the hell it will be for you.]


    [If you manage to defeat them, which is impossible, don''t even try, they are level 600 and ranked ''Immortal'', then the trial will instantly end, no matter what.]


    [If you beat them right now, all 15 of you will pass.]


    Stark''s gaze shot up to the sky, narrowing on the three monstrous moons that hovered ominously above.


    The vast, crimson orbs floated in the void, casting an eerie red glow over the "Death Vige."


    The single pupils in each moon stared down, unblinking, full of malice and apathy.


    They radiated such immense power that Stark could feel the weight of their presence bearing down on him.


    "Level 600... Immortal rank..." Stark muttered, shaking his head, "That''s foolish," he smiled, "You can''t beat me."


    Around him, the other participants were stirring as well.


    Some exchanged nces, others tightened their grips on weapons or flexed their powers.


    The tension was palpable; everyone knew the trial had begun in earnest, but none looked brave¡ªor foolish¡ªenough to challenge the moons outright.


    The moons'' impossible presence seemed to be more of a psychological barrier than an actual obstacle.


    Their immense level made them unapproachable, forcing the participants to focus on the more pressing task at hand¡ªsurviving each other.


    Unapproachable... except for Stark, who already knew what he needed to do.


    Even if it took killing every single one of the others, he would go up to these things and kill them, no matter what.


    The trial was deceptively simple.


    Fifteen participants, one objective: be the only survivor and reach the "Moon Tower."


    Stark nced at the tower looming in the distance, its jagged spires cutting into the blood-red sky.


    The path ahead would be grueling, and every step was guaranteed to be filled with danger.


    Monsters were already lurking beyond the vige, waiting for anyone foolish enough to make an early dash toward the tower, or enter "Termina", which is the main stage of the trial.


    But that wasn''t Stark''s biggest concern.


    No, it was the other participants.


    He scanned the crowd quickly, noting their postures, their expressions, and the dangerous gleams in their eyes.


    Some stood confidently, exuding an aura of deadly intent.


    Others seemed nervous, eyes darting from one person to the next, likely calcting their chances of surviving the imminent bloodbath.


    One of them was a woman, and she was currently... meditating? What?


    [Code Name: Lilith; Real Name: Lina Silent]


    Beside her, was a businessman, smoking on a cigar that had been in his pockets, he was currently speaking to two other people beside him.


    [Code Name: CEO; Real Name: Miles Molkov]


    Right next to Stark was a tall guy with short white hair reaching his neck, with bags under his eyes and wearing an artist-like costume, he also had two brushes in his hands.


    [Code Name: Artist; Real Name: Kai Algren]


    There were many people, but Stark didn''t have the time to observe all of them, he would do itter.


    Stark locked eyes with Sora across the circr square.


    Her determined look was mirrored by his own.


    They had survived one trial together, but this one was different.


    This was a deathmatch, and only one could walk away alive¡ªor so it seemed.


    "..." but Stark already knew what he needed to do.


    Before he could linger on the thought, a new panel appeared in front of everyone, and the silence was shattered.


    DING!


    [The trial will begin in...]


    [5...]


    [4...]


    [3...]


    The countdown was ticking down fast, and Stark could feel his heart rate increasing.


    His hands twitched instinctively, ready to summon his powers at a moment''s notice.


    [2...]


    [1...]


    [Begin!]


    For a second, no one moved.


    It was as if the entire square was holding its breath, waiting for someone else to make the first move.


    [Oh, and by the way, there are items and quests that can help you kill someone stronger than you are ced randomly, so if you have no confidence, go get those.]


    The trial was unfair when humans faced monsters and traps, but when it was about killing one another, it became the fairest of trials ever.


    The [Moon Trio] was also looking down on the humans, and even with one single eye, you could see that they were pleased, and excited to see the humans kill one another.


    At least, that is what they believed.


    "Alright," Stark was the first to speak out loud, bringing the attention to himself, "Let''s do this."


    But instead of running toward a participant... he stared at the moons.


    "Just need to take the three of you down, don''t I?" he smiled.

 Chapter 315: Instantly Challenging the Three Moons

    "Just need to take the three of you down, don''t I?" Stark smiled as he moved forward, his steps calm and deliberate, as if the chaos erupting around him meant nothing.


    The other participants were locked in ce, wondering what the hell that kid doing.


    But Stark ignored them, his gaze fixed solely on the trio of moons floating ominously in the crimson sky.


    Each one of them pulsed with malevolent energy, their single pupils watching over the trial like gods observing the struggles of ants.


    "What the hell is he doing?"


    "Is he... trying to fight the moons?"


    "Is he insane?"


    Voices from the crowd of participants echoed around Stark, disbelief and confusioncing their words.


    They had all heard the announcement: the moons were level 600 entities, ranked "Immortal".


    To even think of challenging them was madness. And yet, Stark kept walking.


    "Maybe he wants to get himself killed," one participant scoffed, shaking his head.


    "Better him than us. If he thinks he can take on that, let him try," another muttered.


    But none of them moved to stop him.


    In the third Domination Trial, no one underestimated anyone.


    They had seen too many people make that fatal mistake.


    Every participant here had survived their own horrors, honed their powers, and sharpened their instincts to the point where overconfidence was deadly.


    And yet, the sight of Stark''s calm march toward the moons left them all bewildered, uncertain if he was a fool or something far more dangerous.


    Sora, too, watched in silent disbelief.


    She had fought beside Stark through the second trial, witnessing his strength and power, but even she was unsure of what he was thinking now.


    Taking on the moons was suicide¡ªwasn''t it?


    Stark, however, remained undeterred.


    His eyes glowed with the same crimson energy that rippled through his body, intensifying with each step.


    As he moved, the vige square around him fell eerily quiet, as if the world itself was holding its breath.


    "COME AT ME!" Stark roared, his voice cutting through the silence like a de, his arm outstretched as he pointed directly at the [Crimson Moons Trio].


    "He''s serious..."


    "He''s calling them out?"


    The moons themselves remained silent for a moment, their pupils locked onto Stark.


    Then, a cold, mockingughter filled the air, not from any of the participants, but from the moons themselves.


    Their voices boomed across the battlefield, deep and cruel.


    "Heh?"


    "Is he... stupid?"


    "Chosen really is dumb."


    The three moons spoke in unison, their voices dripping with amusement.


    They didn''t have mouths, yet you could still hear them speak, kinda weird when you think about it, was it telepathy?


    The moon in the center, its massive eye glowing with aura, addressed Stark, "You can try to reach us, if you want," it said "Come on. Entertain us."


    And then, for a brief moment, everything froze in ce.


    The participants, the moons, even the air itself, seemed to be waiting for what Stark would do next.


    Sora clenched her fists, feeling an overwhelming sense of dread, domination trials really pushed her to the limits of her ''emotionless''.


    But Stark smiled¡ªa slow, deliberate smile.


    His aura surged, ring brighter and fiercer until itpletely enveloped his form, the crimson light burning so intensely that it distorted the air around him.


    He looked up at the moons with unwavering resolve and whispered, "Fine."


    The air around Stark crackled with energy, and something shifted¡ªa palpable tension building as if the world itself sensed what was about to happen.


    Stark began to spread his arms wide, about to do something he had never done before.


    Something so powerful, there was no saying if he could even handle it.


    The clouds in the sky above began to churn, twisting and darkening, while a low, ominous hum filled the air.


    Stark closed his eyes, feeling the immense power welling up inside him, and when he opened them again, his gaze was filled with something new¡ªsomething otherworldly.


    "???"


    "What the hell..."


    The moons could sense, and the participants too.


    "HEAVEN''S SPEAR!"


    ...


    [Skill: Crimson Spears]


    [New Perk: Heaven''s Spear (Ultimate Form)]


    [Description: Upon activation, a colossal rift tears open in the sky, revealing a towering angelic figure, nearly 50 kilometers in height, at the user''smand, the angel hurls the giant spear it summoned with such force that it rips through the atmosphere, and upon impact, the spear triggers a small city-level explosion.]


    ...


    BOOOOOM!


    A massive, deafening crack split the sky above the moons.


    And a colossal rift tore open in the heavens, stretching miles across.


    The world darkened, the crimson glow from the moons paling inparison to the apocalyptic force now emerging from the tear.


    "What the hell-"


    "The fuck?"


    The moons looked above themselves, surprised.


    Unlucky for them, it was far from being over, actually, it was only the beginning.


    From the rift, descended an enormous figure¡ªan angelic being unlike anything anyone had ever seen.


    Towering nearly fifty kilometers in height, its sheer size dwarfed the moons themselves.


    Its body was cloaked in shimmering, ethereal light, its six vast wings stretching wide as if to embrace the entire sky.


    A celestial halo burned above its head, casting a blinding radiance across thendscape, making even the most powerful participants squint in its presence.


    The angel''s gaze was cold and impassive, but its presence was suffocating, it''s very being an embodiment of divine wrath.


    The moons, which had onceughed mockingly, now trembled under the weight of its gaze.


    They shivered, for the first time, showing a flicker of fear.


    For the very first time, they were scared of something other than the [Godless Demon].


    And then, with a slow, deliberate motion, the angel raised its hand, summoning forth an immense spear of pure crimson energy.


    The spear materialized out of nothing, its shaft glowing with an unholy light.


    [I will send it upon yourmand, master.]


    The angel of the spear spoke through a panel as it hovered above the moons, its cold eyes locked onto its targets.


    Stark stood below, his aura zing as he whispered, "Angel of the Spear... tear them apart."


    [Very well.]


    FWISH!


    Without hesitation, the angel hurled the colossal spear downward, and the world seemed to hold its breath.


    The spear shot through the sky with terrifying speed, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, tearing apart the atmosphere as it descended.


    Its power was iprehensible, and the sheer force of its descent caused shockwaves to ripple outward, knocking some participants off their feet.


    After all, this is the perk of a skill only supposed to be used by a ssifier at level 900-1000, something someone at Stark''s level shouldn''t have.


    The spear struck the middle moon with a deafening BOOM!


    For a split second, the world went silent, as if time itself had frozen.


    And then, the moon exploded. Not just shattered¡ªobliterated.


    The crimson sky above seemed to tear apart as the moon disintegrated into nothingness.


    Explore hidden tales at mvl


    The participants could barely stand, shielding their eyes from the blinding light and the aftermath of the attack.


    When the dust finally settled, the middle moon was gone.


    Completely annihted. Not a trace of its once-mocking presence remained in the sky.


    The remaining two moons trembled, their massive pupils now wide with terror.


    They had just witnessed a power far beyond anything they had ever anticipated.


    "WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "THIS IS- WHAT?"


    [One of the three moons has been in.]


    [Kill one more, and thest one will reveal its true form, thus the real fight will begin.]


    Stark, standing in the aftermath of the destruction, his aura still zing, looked up at the two remaining moons with a cold, unyielding gaze.


    He raised his hand again, as if daring them to stay.


    "Come at me," Stark said, his voice calm and resolute.


    Of course, he couldn''t do that again until a while, but it was just a threat.


    For a moment, the moons were silent, their massive pupils locked onto Stark.


    And then, without warning, they vanished, disappearing from the sky as quickly as they hade.


    "FUCK THAT SHIT!" one of the moons'' voices echoed in the distance, their confidencepletely gone.


    "HELL NO, HUMAN! KILL EACH OTHER!"


    The moons fled, theirughter gone, reced by sheer panic.


    The battlefield was left in stunned silence.


    The other participants, who had been watching from a distance, stood frozen, their minds struggling toprehend what they had just witnessed.


    Even Sora, who had fought alongside Stark through thick and thin, was left speechless.


    "He... destroyed it..." someone muttered in disbelief.


    "One of the moons... gone, just like that..."


    Stark stood in the middle of the square, his aura slowly dimming, but his presence was still overwhelming.


    He had just done the impossible¡ªobliterated a moon with a power so immense it defied logic.


    And now, with only two moons left and the path to the Moon Tower clearer than ever, Stark turned his gaze toward the distant tower, his eyes filled with determination.


    ''Based on everything I know about the trials... then only killing the participants won''t be enough.''


    He was confident, at 1000%, that even when you were the only survivor and reached the moon tower inside of the ''Termina'' city.


    Even after going through the trouble of killing humans and monsters alike, you would go up the tower, and, oh, surprise, there is a boss.


    Actually, Stark was half confident that the big boss was the [Crimson Moons Trio], or more like [Crimson Moons Duo] now.


    They wouldn''t let anyone survive this easily, and otherwise why would it be a [Death] difficulty trial?


    Well anyway.


    The trial was far from over.


    But after what the participants had just witnessed, they knew one thing for certain:


    Stark was not someone to be underestimated.

 Chapter 316: Reveal and First Battle, Completely Outmatched

    Stark and Sora stood side by side, watching the dust settle after the moons had fled


    Stark, his body still pulsing with the remnants of his aura, gestured toward Sora, "Let''s go," and she quickly followed.


    "What was that?" she asked as she approached him.


    "Giant spear," Stark shrugged.


    All of the participants just watched him as he entered the vige, not doing anything themselves, too surprised.


    They knew one thing for certain, though: they shouldn''t try to attack Stark if he had such an attack in stock.


    Maybe he even had another?!


    There were too many risks, and if they wanted to get rid of him, it would be by ambush.


    At least... that is what they thought until one of them finally broke the silence.


    Miles Volkov, the businessman smoking on his cigar, suddenlyughed loudly, causing everyone, including Stark and Sora, to turn around.


    "Hahahaha!"


    "What''s so funny?" Stark raised his eyebrows.


    "It''s just... It''s so funny how you think that little trick of yours would work on us."


    "...?"


    How the hell was summoning a whole ass angel a trick?


    Stark''s initial n was just to beat the moons, but they had run away, and so now, all participants should have just believed he is untouchable.


    So... why...


    The businessman didn''t waste time in informing the others of Stark''s trick.


    "Crimson spears," the man smiled, "He used the ultimate perk, as the skill is currently level 100, that is all folks."


    "Huh?"


    "Level 100 skill?"


    "!!!" Stark''s eyes widened.


    How the fuck did he know? How the fuck did he see through Stark so easily?


    Stark could it in the man''s eyes: he could see everything about him.


    The tension in the air as the businessman revealed that information lowered, but not enough.


    And so he continued.


    "He used the ultimate perk of his skill, which he can only use once every two weeks, meaning that he can''t do it again," the man puffed again, "His only other high-level skill is ''Crimson Healing'', and all it does is bring him back to full health when his HP reaches 1, it''s basically a revive."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Well, other than that, his skills are decent, but none are at the level of the one he used, basically, he is just like us, if not weaker," Miles smiled mischievously, "Too bad, you thought no one would try to fight you, heh?"


    "I don''t think someone who can check out the skills of anyone, as well as description and perks, should be kept alive," Stark was mainly speaking to the others.


    They themselves agreed with him.


    Revealing you had such a passive skill was like a death sentence, it was asking to be killed.


    And yet, why was that man so confident?


    "For your information," he spoke again as he left his little space, "I''m level 135, so if any of you feels good enough to try and fight me, then please do try."


    As a businessman, that guy had used his money to make himself as strong as possible, and it worked.


    He had dominated both of his first trials, easily killing anyone in his way.


    Plus, he had two other goons in each one of his arms; helping him out whenever he asked, and willing to sacrifice themselves for him.


    "As much as I''d love to stick around and watch you all tear each other apart," the businessman said, pping his hands, "I''ve got business to take care of. So, you folks carry on."


    The man disappeared inside one of the abandoned houses of the vige around them, probably trying to get to the city or get quests.


    "...Fuck," Stark gritted his teeth.


    Not only was his ability revealed, that guy also revealed that Stark could get revived once.


    Seems like he couldn''t see talents, though, it would have been a disaster if he told the others that Stark also had a talent that allowed him to revive himself at one hp even after death.


    But with that simple interruption, all the participants looked at Stark, the fear in their eyes had disappeared, and now... they were mad.


    He had tricked them, but now that his cards were revealed, it was really bad.


    "I''m thest one to reach level 100," Sora informed Stark all of a sudden, "I''m pretty sure all the others are level 110 or up to level 130."


    "...FUCK!"


    He thought he had theplete advantage, but here he was.


    From across the vige square, two figures began advancing toward them.


    A man and a woman, both moving with purpose.


    The man was muscr and tall, his short brown hair framing a face filled with cruel amusement.


    The woman beside him had long ck hair and sses, but her most unnerving feature was the ck substance that slithered across her arm, taking the form of a creature with a gaping mouth.


    "Looks like you had fun with your little show," the man sneered as they approached. "Care to show us what else you''ve got?"


    "Well, I hope you don''t mind us testing your strength, then, huh?" the man smiled as he summoned a single sword out of thin air


    "..."


    [Dave Browsky - Level 122]


    [ire Browsky - Level 123]


    "Damn."


    "Oh, and for your information," the man, Dave, smiled as he positioned himself, "Me and my partner have already beaten monsters above level 550, so get ready."


    This was bad.


    "You can try-" before Stark could finish, or even using [Perception] on them, Dave was already in front of him, his sword right in front of Stark''s face.


    "What?" Stark''s eyes widened.


    Even for a level 122 domination user, this sort of speed was way too much.


    This isn''t normal.


    "VINE BARRIER," Sora mumbled, and thick vines erupted from the ground, barely managing to intercept Dave''s attack.


    The vines curled around the sword, straining to hold it back as sparks flew from the sh..


    "Heh... so it''s a two on two, then," Daveughed.


    Fwish! SLASH!


    ire moved next, her grotesque armshing out with the creature-like mouth devouring the vines in an instant. Its teeth chomped through the barrier as if it were paper.


    "This isn''t good," Stark muttered, watching the vines wither.


    Stark had the power of using his aura to enhance his fists.


    Sora had the power to use nts to her advantage.


    But these two... what were their domination powers?


    Stark blinked in surprise, and before he could even think of anything else...


    "Watch out, you might trip," he heard a voice behind him.


    How is this possible?!


    The man was right in front of him, and when he blinked, he was gone?!


    SLASH!


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE!" Stark rolled away, fazing through the de, as he missed by mere microseconds.


    "Nice dodge, bro!" Daveughed before striking again.


    "INVINCIBLE DODGE... COMBO!"


    Stark kept dodging, and once he reached the x10 dodge, which is his limit, he used the momentum to grab Dave''s arm and kick him away.


    -372!


    He did absolutely no damage.


    No... actually...


    -4638!


    Stark received more damage than he had caused.


    "Is that all you''ve got?" Dave taunted, his smile never faltering.


    Stark gritted his teeth. This isn''t going to work.


    The fight dragged on for a few more brutal minutes, but it was clear Stark and Sora were outmatched.


    Dave and ire toyed with them, barely giving them room to breathe, let alone use any of their abilities effectively.


    "We need to get out of here," Sora whispered urgently.


    "I know," Stark muttered back.


    His pride stung, but it was the truth.


    They had no choice but to retreat.


    Sora summoned another vine barrier, momentarily blinding their enemies, and the two of them bolted toward one of the abandoned houses.


    Stark mmed the door behind them, and they leaned against it, panting for breath.


    "You could have caught them with your domination ability, why didn''t you," remarked outside.


    "Heh," Daveughed, "Let them go. They''re like low-level monsters. Running away like rats when they meet someone stronger."


    The third domination trial could finally start!

 Chapter 317: The Last Participants, They are All Insane

    "Well," Dave said with a smug grin, looking over his shoulder at ire.


    "Hm?" ire responded.


    "Let''s just go, I was feeling confident about that kid, but taking too many enemies at once''s gonna be difficult."


    ire raised an eyebrow, folding her arms. "What about the moons? One''s already dead, right?"


    Dave nodded, a calcting glint in his eyes.


    "Yeah, that kid took out one of them, so their power''s gotta be reduced.


    If we bide our time, let the others do some of the dirty work, by the time we''re done here, the moons will be easy pickings.


    We kill everyone else first, then we''re the only ones left standing. Simple."


    "Nice!"


    Without another word, the two of them turned away from the square, slipping into one of the dpidated houses.


    The house they chose was opposite to the ones Stark and the businessman had taken, each group heading their own way toward the same destination: Termina, the heart of the trial.


    And so, with that, 7 out of the 15 participants had already gone their own way.


    The remainder of them were either thinking about their next n, or too deep in thought to care.


    Among the stragglers, a pair of twins exchanged a nce.


    Without a word, they gestured to one another and quietly made their way to one of the houses.


    They, too, knew that fighting now would be foolish¡ªit was smarter to survive, wait, and strike when their advantage was at its peak.


    "Hm, interesting," a woman with long blonde-haired and fashionable clothes nodded, "I guess I''ll just follow the trends, then, like I always do."


    With a final nce over her shoulder, she headed toward another door, entering yet another crumbling structure and disappearing from sight.


    There were exactly 15 houses around them, and entering, then leaving them, would make you enter the first area of the trial: the [Death Vige].


    And so now, only 5 people remained in the middle of the vige square.


    "These people are monsters, hex?" an old man stood leaning on a cane, his face etched with amusement as he observed the others.


    "Quit the bullshit, geezer, I''m out," nearby, a teenager, no older than Stark, rolled his eyes and groaned.


    His body crackled with electricity, the air around him charged with static.


    His very presence was a walking threat, and anyone who got too close would likely be fried on the spot.


    "Ohoh~" the old manughed, "Seems like these small ones are surprising..."


    Frankly speaking, if it wasn''t for Stark''s sudden interruption to fight the moons, then the square would have turned into a bloodbath.


    If there was no way to get out except if you killed everyone, then the best course of action would be to get this done quickly.


    But after Stark showed there was indeed a way to win, then everyone suddenly felt like the risk wasn''t needed yet.


    Of course, they would kill the moment they saw someone alone, as it could potentially grant rewards.


    But for now, getting stronger was the top priority.


    This trial was especially sadistic: notice how so many people are together in pairs?


    Stark and Sora, ire and Dave, Miles and his two goons, as well as the twins.


    It was as if the people that participated were precisely selected for that, fully knowing they couldn''t beat the moons, yet would be forced to kill each other to win.


    The old man decided to leave too, spinning his cane in his hands.


    "Well, I received my ss veryte haha... so seeing all these young folks struggle is interesting," he smiled, an intensely powerful aura erupting from him, "Let''s see..."


    With that, he entered his own chosen house, leaving the square even quieter than before.


    Now, only three remained.


    And they were just as dangerous as the others.


    Among them, one man, d in priest clothing, stood still, eyes zed over as he stared into nothingness.


    His thoughts were consumed by a singr, maddening desire: ''Kill. Kill. Kill.''


    In front of him, a glowing panel hovered in the air, disying a message only he could see.


    ...


    [Show your devotion to the ''Godless Demon'']


    [Kill one participant to enhance your power.]


    ...


    The priest, whose name was Kinji, gripped his cross ne tightly, feeling the power of his godless master flow through him.


    He needed a sacrifice. Now.


    The second was the artist, his eyes darting everywhere, a vortex of aura spinning in them, much like with Stark.


    "My masterpiece... I saw the final thing I needed..."


    Once he saw Stark''s aura, he instantly knew that the blood of this boy would be what couldplete his work.


    With his two brushes in hand, he took a step toward one of the houses, but this time, he actually directed himself toward the one Stark and Sora had taken.


    But...


    Click!


    [This house is already upied. Choose another.]


    Once you close the door of a house, it cannot be opened again.


    "Masterpiece... don''t hide from me..." he reluctantly took the one right next to it, and entered.


    The final person left standing in the square was a woman, sitting cross-legged, her eyes closed in meditation.


    She hadn''t moved since the trial began.


    "..." she was calm, her aura focused, though dangerous.


    Kinji, the priest, turned his gaze toward her, his bloodlust ring.


    ''Yes¡­ yes¡­ she''ll be the first. She''ll be the sacrifice to my godless master.''


    His cross ne shimmered as he strode toward her, the calmness of her posture only fueling his rage.


    As he approached, the cross transformed in his hand, shifting into a massive sword adorned with intricate symbols.


    He raised it high, ready to strike.


    "I wouldn''t try that if I was you," while not even opening her eyes, the woman spoke, "You won''t even hurt me."


    Kinji''s grip tightened on his weapon, his eyes narrowing in fury, "Foolish woman¡­ Lord Godless is with me."


    Fwish!


    With a snarl, he swung the sword down, aiming for her head.


    But as the de neared her, it stopped¡ªsuspended in midair, inches from her face.


    An invisible force held it back, an unseen barrier that Kinji hadn''t expected.


    "...?"


    The woman''s eyes remained shut, her expression bored. "Go y somewhere else puppy," she said dismissively, raising her hand.


    A massive, glowing palm materialized behind her.


    With a flick of her wrist, the palm mmed into Kinji, sending him crashing into one of the nearby houses with bone-shattering force.


    -73724!


    Kinji coughed, blood dripping from his mouth as he struggled to his feet.


    This attack took more than half of his life.


    "Gurh... Lord Godless... why..."


    His vision blurred as the system panel appeared before him again.


    ...


    [Show your devotion]


    [Kill one human]


    ...


    "Oh... yes... I need to show you that I deserve those powers..." Kinjiughed by himself, before opening the door of the house he had crashed into and disappeared.


    The woman, on the other hand, just stood in ce, meditating.


    "Fools," she whispered.


    She didn''t even care enough about any of these people to actually try, for she was sure that she was the strongest.


    She was currently level 140, and if you considered the power of the [Domination] ss, then she could take down level 580 and even level 600 monsters if she wanted.


    She didn''t know if she could beat the moons, but there was a good chance she would be able to if she tried hard enough.


    ''That boy...'' she thought for a moment, ''Nevermind.''


    She returned to her meditation.


    ...


    Back to Stark and Sora, inside the house they took.


    The ce was run-down, with mold creeping up the walls and dust covering every surface.


    The living room and kitchen were barely more than ruins, and an old, broken television sat in front of a sofa.


    "We should be careful," Sora spoke as they navigated, "We''re probably the weakest here."


    "...Yeah."


    Stark didn''t expect it at all, but if everyone else was level 110, if not more, then there is no way his big level boost could help.


    Dave and ire were level 122 and 123, and the businessman was level 135.


    "Death difficulty trial for a reason, heh..."


    "I guess so."


    "But don''t worry, Sora," Stark stopped in his tracks, putting his hand on Sora''s beautiful white hair, "Even if everyone else dies, then I''ll find a way to kill those moons, no matter what."


    Hearing that, Sora let out a quick smile, "I know you will."


    Just like that, the two of them nodded, and headed toward the exit door, which is also the entrance to the [Death Vige].


    Fwish! Click!


    [Wee to ''Death Vige'']


    [Be careful of the moonscorched beasts.]

 Chapter 318: The Moonscorched Villagers, The Infection

    The door creaked open, and a cold gust of air swept past Stark and Sora as they stepped into the ominous surroundings of the [Death Vige].


    The vige itself looked like something torn from a nightmare.


    Crumbling houses, their windows shattered and walls lined with dark, twisted vines, nked the narrow streets.


    [You do not belong here.]


    A warning appeared before them.


    The two of them exchanged a nce, but still moved forward regardless.


    They were in the heart of one of the most dangerous ces imaginable, and the stakes were life or death.


    If you put it as if it was a normal rift, then the [Death Vige] would be a level 450-500 area, and Termina would be a level 500-600 area.


    "Stay close," Stark murmured, his eyes scanning everything for any sign of movement.


    Sora nodded silently, her hand already pulsing with green energy, ready to summon her vines at a moment''s notice.


    Despite the oppressive atmosphere, she remained calm¡ªshe trusted Stark.


    If anyone could pull off the impossible, it was him.


    The vige was silent, but it was a dangerous kind of quiet.


    Where were the other participants?


    With this many of them, there was no way to not find anybody.


    "Look," Sora pointed at their house, "We''re the only house close by, meaning that every house outside the square directs to a random street."


    "Oh," Stark nodded.


    They moved forward through the streets.


    It wasplete silence though, not a single monster or participant on sight.


    "These ''moonscorched beasts''... you think they''re watching us?" Sora asked, her voice low.


    "Don''t even know what they are," Stark shrugged.


    But suddenly, a sound broke the silence.


    Skrrt. Skrrt.


    It was faint at first, but unmistakable¡ªthe sound of something scratching against stone.


    Stark immediately stopped, motioning for Sora to do the same.


    His eyes locked onto a nearby alleyway, shrouded in darkness.


    The noise came again, a scraping sound, like ws dragging across the floor.


    Stark''s heart pounded in his chest as he squinted into the ckness.


    There was something there.


    Waiting.


    Without warning, a figure burst out from the shadows.


    Fwoosh!


    It moved faster than Stark could react, a blur of motion that shot straight toward him, ws outstretched, its eyes glowing with a sickly yellow light.


    Stark barely had time to raise fists.


    "FUCK!" Stark shouted instinctively.


    SLASH!


    -24772!


    His arm was shed by the creature''s ws, and Sora immediately kicked it away using her vines.


    -123623!


    The creature in front of him was monstrous, a grotesque fusion of human and beast.


    Its flesh was pale and cracked, with dark veins pulsing beneath its skin. Its elongated limbs ended in jagged, razor-sharp ws, and its face, if it could still be called a face, had the twisted shape of a human skull, its eyes glowing with a malevolent light.


    "PERCEPTION!"


    ...


    [Name: Moonscorched Viger]


    [Level: 500]


    [HP: 1,276,377/1,400,000]


    [Strength: 15373]


    [Stamina: 9462]


    [Speed: 19382]


    [Defense:11481]


    [Skills: Void Blink, Devouring Shadow, Lunar Howl, Moonlit Regeneration, Corruption Touch, Flesh Warp, Death Viger, Moonscorched...]


    ...


    "That thing..." Stark''s eyes widened.


    A level 500 monster.


    It had incredible high stats for amon monster.


    It surpassed the strength of the apostles in the [Devil''s Abyss] too.


    "You''re telling me... this is amon monster?" Stark''s face paled as he took his position.


    "Here ites!" Sora spoke, vines swirling in the air around her as she prepared to strike.


    The Moonscorched Viger blurred forward in a sh, using [Void Blink] to close the distance between them in the blink of an eye.


    Stark barely registered the movement before it was upon him again, ws raised high.


    He threw himself to the side, narrowly dodging a brutal swipe that tore through the air where his head had been moments before.


    "Shit!" Stark muttered, scrambling to his feet.


    The creature was fast¡ªtoo fast.


    "Vine Surge!" Sora''s vinesshed out at the creature, striking it squarely in the chest, but it twisted its body unnaturally, avoiding the worst of the impact with [Flesh Warp].


    Her attacknded but did only minimal damage.


    -47427!


    The creature''s eyes glowed brighter as it unleashed a [Lunar Howl], the sound reverberating through the alley.


    [The monster has called for backup, you should hurry up.]


    "AURA SMASH MERGE! SPEAR OF JUDGMENT!"


    Stark sent his two merged attacks, hitting the monster in the chest as it howled.


    -283722! -573891!


    It received incredibly high damage!


    But before he could do anything else, the moonscorched beast used [Void Blink] again, appearing right behind Stark.


    "Ah..."


    But thankfully, Sora''s vines shot out again, entangling the monster''s limbs.


    With an emotionless expression, she used her enhanced control to m the monster repeatedly against the houses and ground.


    The Moonscorched Viger screeched in frustration, ripping through the vines with its ws, but the brief distraction gave Stark the moment he needed.


    "Domination Soul," he summoned his heart in front of him, and without waiting a single instant, began to m it against the monster.


    SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!


    The first blow put it to the ground, but when it tried to get up, Stark mmed again, forcing it to stay down.


    -184723! -193217! -183749!


    This kept going until, eventually, the monster stopped moving altogether.


    [You have in ''Moonscorched Viger lvl500'', gaining 1,150,000 experience points!]


    Stark staggered back, panting heavily, blood still dripping from his wound.


    He nced at Sora, who wiped sweat from her brow but gave him a nod of reassurance.


    They had won.


    But before Stark could catch his breath, a notification shed before his eyes.


    [You have been Moonscorched.]


    "Huh?" Stark blinked, confused.


    Another notification followed:


    [2% Moonscorched]


    "What... the hell is this?" Stark muttered, staring at the message.


    His mind raced, but nothing made sense.


    Moonscorched? How? The creature had been destroyed!


    Sora noticed the look on his face. "What''s wrong?"


    "I¡­ I think something''s happening to me," Stark said, his voice tense.


    He raised his arm, and for a brief moment, he saw it¡ªthe faintest flicker of darkness crawling along his skin, like shadows whispering just beneath the surface.


    It was emerging from the wound he got from the creature.


    And suddenly...


    DING! DING! DING!


    [Global Trial Announcement!]


    "Hm?"


    "Oh?!"


    "An announcement, they''re always helpful!"


    The other participants, who were all killing monsters or resting in the houses, also got it.


    Every participant in the trial had a panel appear in front of them, Sora included.


    [Chosen has been infected by Moonscorch!]


    [Thus, the effects will be revealed.]


    "...!"


    A video appeared in front of all participants, showing the moment where the [Moonscorched Viger] emerged from the darkness and shed Stark''s arm.


    [The moment a moonscorched beast hits you, you are instantly infected.]


    [The infection spreads when you remain outside, since the rays of the crimson moons hit you directly.]


    [The only way to reduce the percentage number is to go back in your home and wait.]


    [Though, do note, someone that is moonscorched attracts beast way more than someone that isn''t.]


    [If your moonscorched percentage reaches 100, you be like one of the beasts, not only in the trial, but in real life too.]


    "So... like the ck sun in the very first rift I conquered?" Stark raised his eyebrows.


    But no answer, and all the panels closed.


    "Ah... fuck..."


    He had been the first to get infected, tough luck.


    [If you get hit again by another moonscorched beast, the power of the infection will grow.]


    Stark could finally see why this trial was of the death difficulty.


    And he needed to be extra careful.


    "Let''s go," Sora nodded.


    "Yeah."


    But right as they took their first steps to continue heading to [Termina], the city, Stark realized something.


    "Hey, Sora..." his expression darkened.


    "Hm?"


    "That monster we fought used a skill called [Lunar Howl]."


    "Yeah."


    "It said that backup wasing soon."


    "..."


    "And we''ve been reading the announcement for at least three minutes."


    "Oh."


    Which means...


    "SCRAKSKS-"


    "GRRRR-"


    That the monster they fought wasn''t the only one.


    Far down the street, more glowing eyes began to appear in the fog.


    All the monsters wereing from a single side.


    And it felt as though every moonscorched viger that was in Stark and Sora''s area had regrouped after the [Lunar Howl].


    Stark took the time to observe.


    "There''s 32 of them, we can''t win," he said, taking a few step backs, "I''m already injured."


    "Here," Sora approached Stark, and using one of her vines, she enrolled it around Stark''s arm to cover up the wound, "That should help."


    "Thanks."


    But as he saw the vine, Stark suddenly got an amazing idea.


    "Hey, Sora."


    "Hm?"


    "Can you restrain these monsters for even just a second?"


    "I can... try."


    EVERGREEN RESILIENCE!


    The ground beneath them turned green and grassy, and now, the monsters were in Sora''s domain.


    FWISH! FWISH! FWISH!


    Hundreds upon hundreds of vines came out of the ground and began to restrain the [Moonscorched Vigers].


    "NICE!" Stark smiled, his aura taking over, "Alright."


    He drew a circle in his palm, then taped it with his fist before pointing at the sky.


    "HEAVEN''S WRATH!"


    Thanks to his enhanced aura and mastery, the beam took only a single second to charge up, before erupting onto every single one of the beasts.


    -737282! -839304! -647265!


    Let''s just say, none of them survived.

 Chapter 319: Street Cleared, Reaching the Main Square

    The notifications shed rapidly in front of Stark''s eyes, each one a reminder of the carnage they''d just unleashed on the Moonscorched Vigers.


    [You have in ''Moonscorched Viger lvl500'', gaining 1,150,000 experience points!]


    [You have in ''Moonscorched Viger lvl500'', gaining 1,150,000 experience points!]


    ...


    The messages kepting¡ª32 times in total.


    Stark and Sora had decimated every monster in their path, and the rewards reflected that.


    Stark felt the surge of power course through his body as his level shot up multiple times.


    [Your level has increased to level 107, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Your level has increased to level 108, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    ...


    [Your level has increased to level 110, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    He was now level 110. The notification for his experience progress appeared:


    [Experience: 4,327,000/8,900,000], and with it, another reminder of how much stronger he had be.


    [Skill Points: 63]


    Ding!


    [Level 110 Reached: Pick a card!]


    Usually, Stark would summon his ultimate clone, a trusted ally in making difficult choices, and the perfect partner to aid him in battle. But this time, something was different.


    Fwish!


    Only one card appeared in front of him, its back emzoned with the symbol of a shield.


    Curious, Stark reached out and took hold of the card, feeling a strange warmth as he grasped it.


    [Domination has sensed your difficulties, and thus has decided to help.]


    Ding!


    ...


    [New Skill: Crimson Barrier (Mythical Passive)]


    [Level: 1]


    [Description: Crimson Barrier is a mystical shield that surrounds Stark at all times, acting as a secondyer of protection. The barrier has its own HP pool of 250,000, absorbing all damage until broken. Once shattered, the barrier will take a full day to regenerate.


    Stark does not need to activate or maintain it; the barrier operates passively, offering him constant defense, even in the most dire situations.]


    ...


    Stark blinked. "Whoa..."


    It was as if the Domination system had sensed his struggle against the powerful foes in this trial and had granted him a massive protection.


    The only other time he had received a defensive ability was much earlier, for one of the first perks of [Domination], and that one could only absorb a mere 5,000 HP.


    But now, this Crimson Barrier could take up to 250,000 damage¡ªand it didn''t even need to be activated.


    It was always there, guarding him.


    A shield that wouldn''t falter unless absolutely overwhelmed.


    He felt the immediatefort of knowing he now had a cushion of defense.


    A small smile formed on his lips. "This is perfect."


    The new skill entered his arsenal, strengthening him further.


    And just as he was reveling in this newfound protection, another notification appeared.


    [You have eliminated all the ''Moonscorched Vigers'' in your area. The ''Moonscorch Effect'' has been removed.]


    "Hm?"


    [This means that your moonscorch percentage will go down in this area.]


    "Oh."


    If you eliminate all of the moonscorched beasts in an area, then not only do you gain massive experience, but the effect of the crimson moons is alsopletely removed.


    Stark nced at the Moonscorch status indicator.


    [4% Moonscorched]


    .


    .


    [3% Moonscorched]


    Luckily, the moonscorched effect was pretty damn weak, but Stark was confident that the trial yed its card on the fact that the more you are hit, the stronger the effect bes.


    Him and Sora would need to protect one another to not get hit.


    Sora, standing beside him, still looked battle-ready but calm.


    She nced at Stark. "Want to take a break to recover?"


    Stark chuckled. "No, let''s keep going." His tone was confident. "Let''s enter Termina."


    Sora nodded, and together they pressed on, knowing that the real danger had only just begun.


    As they approached the entrance to the city, another message greeted them.


    [Most of you should now understand how this trial works.]


    [But I''m sure none of you are weak enough to die at the hands of the monsters.]


    The tone of the message was almost mocking.


    Stark braced himself.


    [Introducing the "Key" task!]


    [If you want to ess ''Termina'', the main city, you''ll have to eliminate three yers.]


    [Those who eliminate a yer receive an overwhelming advantage.]


    "Fucking hell¡­" Stark muttered under his breath.


    It was just like the second trial¡ªa ruthless demand to kill other participants.


    He knew from experience that no trial in the Domination series was the same, but this one clearly wanted blood.


    The system continued,ying out the harsh terms.


    [Once three yers are killed, the gates to the city will be opened, and no new moonscorched beasts will spawn in the Death Vige, making it a ''safe zone''.]


    [Kill a yer, and you''ll receive a ''Moonscorch Cure'': Cures you of moonscorchpletely for an entire day, meaning that even if you are hit, it won''t work on you (Trust me, you''ll need this.)]


    Stark clenched his fists.


    This was a cutthroat trial, even with all the monsters, the real threat was always going to be the other participants.


    And now, they were all forced to turn on each other, at least, more than before.


    As if that wasn''t enough, the final message made Stark''s blood run cold.


    [Oh, and watch out for the sniper.]


    Then, all the panels disappeared.


    Wait, what?


    "Watch out for the sniper?"


    Most yers were currently fighting, so they didn''t really have the time to watch the panels.


    Stark and Sora was the only ones that had gotten rid of all their beasts this fast thanks to [Heaven''s Wrath].


    "Maybe I should use my skill points..."


    And just as he was about to focus on assigning his skill points, another restriction appeared.


    Ding!


    [You are not allowed to use skill points during this trial, as an item specialized for that will be revealedter!]


    Experience tales at mvl


    "Of course," Stark groaned.


    In this trial, you couldn''t just upgrade your skills mid-battle.


    If you hadn''t prepared beforehand, you were stuck.


    He was level 110 now, but that didn''t mean much if he couldn''t improve his skills.


    Worse still, these participants weren''t ordinary, they were the best of the best, all at the top of their respective Domination levels.


    [This trial has selected some of the strongest domination users in your level range.]


    "Yeah, I get it now," Stark muttered, realizing that he was truly up against the elite.


    Quickly, Stark retrieved his spirits and began to move.


    He didn''t know the identity, the skills, nor the names of any of the other participants, but surely he could manage.


    He always did.


    Reaching the end of the street he had been in, he noticed a sign that said [Vigers Street].


    Probably rted to the monsters he fought, which would also mean that the other participants each got a different type of monsters as well.


    Beside the sign was a door.


    [Use it to enter the main square, right before the city.]


    [From there, you will be ess all the other streets.]


    This is how the beginning of the trial would force them to fight: the person that is fastest to get here would have an incredible advantage by taking their enemies by surprise.


    "Haha..." and Stark was sure as hell about to use it to his advantage!


    He pushed the two wooden gates open, and was greeted by the main square, which was surrounded by houses and crumbling buildings.


    But he could also see the name of the streets from a distance.


    [Ghouls Street]


    [Rats Street]


    [Birds Street]


    Each participant was having their own battles.


    Stark truly thought that arriving first would give him the push he needed to take down one of the participants and get a cure to his moonscorch.


    But he soon realized, that in the trial, even those that arrive first get unfair treatment.


    FWISH!


    In the distance, too far for him to notice, the scope of a sniper had been on him right as he opened the door.


    And less than five secondster, a sharp, eerie sound echoed from somewhere far off.


    BOOM!


    Stark didn''t notice it immediately, but within moments, he felt the disturbance.


    He had been targeted.


    Not by a monster¡ªbut by something far worse.


    Suddenly, a bright sh lit up the sky.


    BOOM!


    Before Stark could react, the sniper''s bullet struck him square in the chest, a massive st of energy ripping through his Crimson Barrier and sending him flying backward.


    -234,728!


    The impact was brutal.


    Stark hit the ground hard, gasping for breath as the searing pain of the sniper''s attack radiated through his body.


    Even with the barrier, you still felt pain, and without it, he would have died, forced to use up [Crimson Healing] at the beginning stage.


    His barrier had absorbed most of the damage, but it was already dangerously close to breaking.


    The [Sniper] was here.

 Chapter 320: Main Square, The Moonscorched Sniper

    Stark''s breath came in ragged gasps as he pushed himself up from the ground, the transparent Crimson Barrier surrounding him flickering, visibly weakened but still holding.


    Cracks spidered across its surface, as if one more hit might shatter itpletely.


    His vision swam for a moment before he steadied himself.


    "You okay?" Sora asked, her tone t and emotionless as usual, though there was a strange undertone that hinted at concern.


    "Yeah, I''m fine..." Stark groaned, brushing the dust off as he got to his feet.


    His body was aching from the sniper''s devastating hit, but there was no time to dwell on it.


    Just as he found his footing, another sharp crack echoed through the air.


    FWISH! FWISH! FWISH!


    Several more bullets cut through the sky, each aimed with deadly precision.


    Stark''s heart raced, his instincts screaming at him to move.


    His eyes sharpened, and his body acted before his mind fully registered.


    He twisted and dodged, narrowly avoiding the streaking bullets, each one tearing through the air with the goal of killing him.


    But Stark couldn''t figure out the sniper''s position, it was far beyond the boy''s reach.


    He couldn''t just keep dodging.


    The sniper could be anywhere, and retreating would only give the attacker more opportunities.


    Going back to Vigers Street wasn''t an option either¡ªStark knew the sniper had an extensive range and could likely shoot him no matter where he went.


    Gritting his teeth, he made his decision.


    "ASURA''S ARMS... WRATH!" he roared, his aura exploding outward.


    Four crimson arms burst from his body¡ªtwo extending from his shoulders, and two from beneath his original arms.


    The ethereal limbs crackled with divine energy, brimming with the raw power of a god.


    Each arm throbbed with strength, mirroring his own potential, but imbued with the divine fury of the God of Wrath.


    [Asura''s Arms - Wrath: Activated]


    Stark''s six arms flexed as he prepared himself for the next attack.


    The sniper was relentless, but if Stark could intercept one of those bullets, he could turn the tide.


    It was a gamble, almost suicide, but it was the only option left.


    Somewhere in the distance, the sniper clicked his tongue in annoyance, hidden in the shadows of crumbling buildings.


    He had been expecting an easy kill.


    "Hm..." the sniper muttered, adjusting his scope.


    His pale, disfigured hand reloaded the weapon, this time sliding in something far more sinister than a regr bullet. "Looks like I''ll have to use this."


    The sniper loaded a glowing bullet into his gun, its surface pulsating with an eerie, crimson-ck energy.


    [Moonscorched Bullet Loaded]


    "This one won''t miss," the sniper growled, his voice low and mechanical.


    Stark, standing in the open with his six crimson arms raised, watched as the sniper prepared his next shot.


    He didn''t know what kind of bullet this was, but something about it felt overwhelmingly dangerous.


    BOOM!


    The sniper fired, and the world seemed to slow.


    The bullet was unlike any Stark had ever seen.


    A spiraling, dark red and ck projectile shot toward him at terrifying speed, crackling with energy.


    Stark barely had time to brace himself before the bullet made contact with his raised arms.


    BAMMM!


    The impact was so powerful that the entire vige could hear it.


    A deafening explosion echoed through the streets, shaking buildings and sending waves of dust into the air.


    ...


    In a nearby alley, Starful, the fashionable blonde-haired girl fighting off Moonscorched Rats, stopped in her tracks, her face twisting in confusion.


    "What the hell was that?" she muttered, ncing around nervously.


    ...


    Elsewhere, Miles, the businessman casually smoking a cigar paused for a moment, looking in the direction of the st.


    A smirk curled on his lips. "Oh¡­ it''s that boy," he chuckled before returning to his fight.


    ...


    Back with Stark, the Moonscorched Bullet was spinning violently against his six arms, pushing them backward with overwhelming force.


    His muscles strained as he resisted the bullet''s forward momentum, feeling the raw power coursing through it.


    It wasn''t just a physical attack¡ªit carried something far more dangerous.


    [Description: This bullet has the ability to instantly moonscorch anyone it hits.]


    If Stark let this bullet slip past, it was game over.


    He wouldn''t be able to use Crimson Healing or his Chosen One talent to protect himself from a direct hit.


    The Moonscorch would consume him instantly.


    "RAGHHHH!" Stark gritted his teeth, digging his heels into the ground.


    His arms flickered, the crimson energy wavering as the bullet pressed harder.


    The sheer pressure was immense.


    Every ounce of strength he had was being funneled into stopping it.


    Crack!


    One of the crimson arms faltered, but Stark held on.


    He couldn''t let this thing win.


    With a final burst of strength, Stark stopped the bullet, his body trembling from the effort.


    His aura arms flickered dangerously, on the verge of dissipating.


    The bullet, still crackling with energy, hung in the air, inches from his chest.


    But it wasn''t over.


    Taking a deep breath, Stark did the unthinkable.


    He grabbed the bullet with his bare hands.


    [Do not touch bullet!]


    [Moonscorch infection: 20%¡­ 38%¡­ 53%¡­]


    Ignoring the rising infection rate, Stark spun on his heels, using the momentum to swing the bullet around him.


    His body became a blur as he spun faster and faster, his arms moving in unison.


    The infection surged, reaching a dangerous level.


    [Infection: 72%... 85%... 90%...]


    Stark''s vision began to blur as the moonscorch threatened to overtake him, but he couldn''t stop now.


    With one final spin, he hurled the bullet back toward the sniper.


    FWISH!


    The crimson-ck bullet shot through the air, faster than when it had first been fired.


    The sniper, unable to react in time, barely managed a startled gasp before the bullet struck him square in the chest.


    BOOM!


    The explosion was deafening, the sniper''s body engulfed in the destructive force of the bullet he had fired. Stark watched as the sniper''s form was thrown from its hidden perch, crashing into the main square with a loud thud.


    -646,849!


    The sniper writhed in pain, a deep, guttural growl escaping its mouth as it fell from its window onto the ground of the main square.


    Now that it had been exposed, Stark could finally see it in full view.


    The sniper was a towering figure, nearly five meters tall.


    Its body was grotesquely twisted, with a strange tank attached to its head, linking directly into its spine like a parasite.


    The sniper didn''t actually weird a sniper either, it was just that its right arm had morphed into a massive, cannon-like weapon that fired the devastating bullets.


    [Moonscorched Sniper - Cmity Boss]


    [Level 500]


    The sniper growled, its glowing red eyes fixing on Stark as it struggled to stand.


    Without hesitation, it raised its cannon arm once more, aiming directly at Stark.


    "Even reaching the main square first means trouble, huh?" Stark muttered under his breath, his six arms still raised and ready for action.


    The adrenaline still pumped through his veins as he eyed the sniper warily.


    Controlling his six arms felt almost natural now, far easier than he had imagined when he first gained the ability.


    The intense training in the Memories Museum had paid off¡ªhe could manipte them with ease, every motion fluid and precise.


    The sniper, now back on its feet, growled in frustration.


    "Die," it grumbled, and its cannon arm came to life once more.


    "SNIPE SHOT!"


    BOOM!


    Another massive bullet tore through the air, but Stark was faster this time.


    He sidestepped, the bullet whizzing past him and smashing into the gate behind him, reducing it to rubble.


    He activated his Perception, scanning the sniper.


    ...


    [Name: Levi, The Moonscorched Sniper]


    [Level: 500]


    [HP: 2,353,151/3,000,000]


    [Strength: 31,283]


    [Stamina: 12,842]


    [Speed: 12,472]


    [Defense: 11,821]


    [Skills: Sniper Arm (Passive); Moonscorched Bullet; Hardened Carapace; Enhanced Scope; Snipe Shot; Unyielding Will (MYTHICAL Passive); Bullet Storm; Shadow Cloak; Explosive Shell; Adaptive Targeting (GODLY PASSIVE)...]


    ...


    That thing overwhelming strength, no wonder it did over 200,000 damage to Stark, even though he was a [Domination] user, which meant his aura protected him.


    A normal person could have potentially received 1,000,000 damage.


    But what stood out most were its skills¡ªten of them, all deadly.


    ...


    [Sniper Arm (Passive): Fires bullets with extreme precision and power.]


    [Moonscorched Bullet: Instantly moonscorches targets on impact.]


    [Hardened Carapace: Greatly increases defense when under attack.]


    [Enhanced Scope: Increases uracy from long distances.]


    [Snipe Shot: A charged attack that deals immense damage.]


    [Unyielding Will: Gains increased power the longer a battlests.]


    [Bullet Storm: Fires a rapid session of bullets in a wide area.]


    [Shadow Cloak: Can conceal itself for a brief period.]


    [Explosive Shell: Fires a special bullet that causes arge area explosion upon impact.]


    [Adaptive Targeting: The sniper adjusts its aim, improving uracy with each missed shot.]


    ...


    Stark gritted his teeth.


    This wasn''t just a fight against a regr boss¡ªthis thing was built for long-range warfare.


    He needed to act fast before the sniper''s skill set overwhelmed him.


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    Levi''s Adaptive Targeting and Unyielding Will were particrly dangerous if the battle dragged on.


    The longer itsted, the more deadly Levi would be.


    Levi raised his cannon-like arm again, the weapon glowing ominously as it prepared another shot.


    Stark couldn''t give it the chance.


    "Alright, no more games," Stark muttered, his voice a low growl as he readied himself for the next move.


    His crimson arms crackled with energy, the power of the God of Wrath burning within him.

 Chapter 321: Fighting the Moonscorched Sniper

    Stark crouched, breathing deeply as he narrowed his gaze on the towering sniper, Levi.


    The air around them crackled with tension, thick and suffocating.


    The moonscorched sniper''s grotesque form loomed ominously, the tank on its head pulsing with crimson energy, its cannon-arm whirring ominously.


    Stark knew the sniper wasn''t a normal opponent; its attacks were deadly, precise, and overwhelming.


    But this time, he had a n.


    "Sora," Stark said, his voice steady despite the adrenaline pumping through his veins. "Hold him off for a few seconds. I need time to lock onto him."


    Sora, standing by his side, barely nodded, her emotionless eyes reflecting a faint spark of understanding.


    "Understood," she replied in her t, detached tone, before stepping forward, her hands shimmering with vines and green aura.


    Stark closed his eyes for a moment, slowing his breath.


    His muscles tensed as he focused on the sniper''s movements.


    He activated his perk¡ªFlow¡ªallowing him to delve into the enemy''s aura.


    As the world around him dimmed, all external noise faded into a dull hum. In this state, Stark could feel the sniper''s essence, the way its energy flowed and surged through its body.


    [Flow: Activated. 10 seconds to focus¡­]


    In those precious seconds, Sora rushed toward Levi, moving with almost mechanical precision.


    "VINE SMASH!"


    Her fists glowed with an ethereal light as sheshed out, her vine strikes aimed at the sniper''s body.


    Levi grunted, swinging its massive cannon arm toward her in a wide arc, but Sora was too fast.


    She ducked beneath the blow, her expressionless face never wavering as she delivered a flurry of quick strikes to the creature''s legs.


    -73622! -78472! -72713!


    BOOM!


    The sniper fired another round, the bullet slicing through the air toward Sora, but she leaped backward just in time, her movements calcted and calm.


    Stark''s eyes snapped open. He had him.


    [Flow: Connection established. Enemy''s movements can be predicted 1 second before execution.]


    The sniper''s aura was a steady, unyielding stream of raw power, but now Stark could see the patterns.


    He could anticipate Levi''s next attack before it even happened.


    With his link secured, Stark grinned, his six aura arms flexing with newfound strength.


    "Alright, it''s my turn now."


    Without hesitation, Stark charged forward, his Asura''s Arms glowing with crimson energy as they swung with deadly force.


    The first set of arms crashed into the ground where the sniper stood, creating a small shockwave that forced Levi to retreat.


    -32731!


    Stark followed up with another blow from his secondary set of arms, mming into Levi''s cannon arm, knocking the monster aside before it could fire again.


    -184728!


    The sniper growled, stumbling from the impact, but quickly recovered.


    Levi raised his cannon arm once more, the tank''s cannon that served as his eye locked on him.


    But this time, Stark was ready.


    "SNIPE SHOT!"


    The sniper''s cannon roared as a bullet flew toward Stark, its speed and power enough to obliterate anything in its path.


    But with Flow guiding him, Stark could see iting.


    A second before the bullet was fired, Stark sidestepped, his six arms deflecting the bullet mid-air.


    The projectile exploded behind him, sending debris flying, but Stark didn''t lose his focus.


    He moved swiftly, closing the gap between him and the sniper with ease.


    As he neared Levi, he activated Crimson Spears.


    Five spears of pure crimson energy appeared around him, each one humming with destructive power.


    "SPEAR OF JUDGEMENT!"


    The aura around him swelled as he summoned the Spear of Judgment¡ªa colossal, crimson spear that materialized above him.


    The ground trembled as the spear descended, locking onto the sniper''s massive form.


    The sniper tried to swing its cannon/sniper to deflect the spear, but it didn''t realize just how strong the spear was.


    Levi''s eyes widened as the spear pierced through its cannon, spinning faster and faster, until eventually, the crimson energy detonating upon impact.


    BOOM!


    -837,335!


    The explosion sent Levi crashing to the ground, its health bar visibly plummeting.


    The sniper struggled to rise, its body smoking from the st, but Stark could see the wear and tear.


    The moonscorched sniper was weakening.


    "You''re done," Stark growled, his voice filled with determination.


    Levi, though injured, was not finished yet.


    "THE MOON LORDS HAVE CALLED MY NAME- NO, OUR NAMES!"


    Levi spoke for the first time, its aura taking over its entire body, "WE SHALL NOT LOSE. DIE!"


    The sniper growled, its tank-like form twitching as it activated its strongest ability¡ªBullet Storm.


    "BULLET STORM!"


    A rapid session of bullets sprayed from Levi''s cannon arm, each one capable of dealing devastating damage.


    Stark''s eyes widened, but he remained calm.


    His skill¡ªInvincible Dodge¡ªkicked in, allowing him to effortlessly weave through the barrage of bullets. Each one missed him by mere inches, but Stark didn''t falter.


    This kept going for 30 seconds.


    As Levi became more frustrated, Stark saw his opening.


    With a mentalmand, Stark used [Domi-Chains Restrain]''s Mythical Perk.


    Crimson chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around the sniper''s legs and arms, restricting its movements.


    Levi roared in anger, struggling against the chains, but the more it fought, the tighter the chains became.


    It could have broke free from a single chain, but three was just overkill.


    Though, if Stark did nothing, then Levi would surely escape.


    "Chains of Judgment!"


    ...


    [Perk: Chains of Judgment (Mythical Perk)]


    [Description: Not only do you get three chains instead of one, but you can also summon "Gortox", the chain demon, to aid you in chaining your enemies]


    ...


    With the chains holding Levi in ce, Stark summoned Gortox, the chain demon.


    A massive figure materialized beside Stark, its body wrapped in even more chains, a single eye looking down on Levi as if he was but a mere insect.


    Gortox grinned wickedly as it extended its own chains toward the sniper, further restraining it.


    Levi''s eyes widened in fear as Gortox''s chains wrapped around its cannon arm, preventing it from firing any more bullets.


    Stark wasted no time.


    He raised his arms, summoning the full power of Asura''s Arms.


    "ASURA''S WRATH!"


    The six crimson arms pulsed with divine energy, their aura growing stronger with each passing second.


    In the distance, he could see that Sora had been struggling to keep up, getting hit by three of the bullets and receiving massive damage.


    Even her [Vine Barrier], that she tried to use on Stark to help him, didn''t work.


    Stark''s rage fueled the attack, his body glowing with an intense crimson light.


    The aura arms swung down in unison, releasing a shockwave that obliterated everything in a 100-meter radius ahead.


    The ground beneath Levi cracked and shattered as the shockwave hit, the sniper''s body engulfed in the destructive force.


    Levi let out one final, agonized roar before the light consumed it entirely.


    -2,347,849!


    The damage was incredible.


    BOOM!


    When the dust settled, Levi''s bodyy crumpled on the ground, defeated.


    The sniper''s health bar hit zero, and the glowing tank on its head flickered before shutting off entirely.


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    [Levi, the Moonscorched Sniper: Defeated]


    [Crimson Barrier has been fully reformed.]


    Stark stood over the fallen enemy, his breathing in heavy gasps.


    His aura arms flickered for a moment before fading away, leaving him with only his original two.


    The battle had been fierce, but Stark had emerged victorious.


    He nced over at Sora, who had watched the final moments of the fight in silence.


    She nodded slightly, acknowledging his victory.


    "It''s over," Stark said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Finally."


    But before he could even catch his breath, a loud ng echoed through the air.


    Stark''s eyes widened as he saw the gates of the other streets suddenly swing open.


    Dust filled the air as figures emerged from the now-opened gates.


    The other participants had arrived.


    "Looks like it''s finally over," Dave appeared, a smirk on his face,"Damn, our gates were locked¡­ but he beat the sniper, huh?"


    ire, beside him, nodded.


    CEO, Or Milesughed, "If he didn''t, it would have just been embarrassing!"


    One by one, the other participants gathered in the square, their eyes all focused on Stark.

 Chapter 322: The City Gate, 3 Sacrifices Needed

    Stark stood in the middle of the square, his gaze fixated on the panel floating in front of him.


    [You have in ''Levi, The Moonscorched Sniper'' and gained 6,430,000 experience points]


    Ding!


    [Your level has increased to level 111, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Experience: 1,857,000/9,000,000]


    [Skill Points: 68]


    But there was more.


    [You have defeated one of the five ''Moonscorched Commanders,'' granting you a ''Cooldown Gem.'']


    [Description: Consuming one of these gems will remove the cooldown of one of your skills, no matter how long it is.]


    "...!"


    Stark''s eyes widened as he processed the message.


    This was no ordinary reward¡ªit was a game-changer.


    A cooldown reset on any skill meant Stark could unleash one of his strongest abilities again, something that could turn the tide of the entire trial.


    This item was way too overpowered, no matter how you think of it.


    Actually, no.


    With every other participant, it wouldn''t be as overpowered as Stark thinks.


    All of them have powerful skills, that is true, but not a single one is truly worth using it onpared to Stark''s [Crimson Healing] and [Crimson Spears].


    And if it could remove the cooldown of ANY skill, then Stark already had an idea.


    Without hesitation, he whispered to himself, "Use it on ''Crimson Spears.''"


    The gem in his hand shimmered and disappeared in a blue sh.


    Ding!


    [Crimson Spears'' cooldown has been reset.]


    Which meant...


    [Heaven''s Spear is now avable again.]


    "Incredible," Stark muttered, a wide grin spreading across his face.


    His aura began to ripple through the air, nearly palpable to anyone close enough.


    However, before Stark could relish in his new power, movement caught his eye.


    The other participants were approaching from their separate gates, all converging in the same square.


    There were 13 of them, each a powerhouse in their own right, each with their own ambitions and lethal skills.


    As they gathered in front of the gate leading to the heart of Termina, the city where most of the events of this trial would happen.


    A massive [0/3] was written on it in crimson red.


    [3 more sacrifices to open the gate.]


    "Damn, our gates were locked," muttered Shock, the guy with blond hair and electricity dancing around him. "Looks like it''s finally over."


    "Yeah, he beat the sniper," replied ire, the girl with sses and the ability to transform into a monster.


    "Before we go any further," said CEO, stepping forward with a cigar in his mouth, "I think it''s time for introductions. We should know who we''re fighting with¡ªand against." He pointed to the gate, "This is just the beginning."


    The group exchanged nces, some nodding in agreement.


    It was clear to everyone that forming alliances or at least understanding each other''s strengths and weaknesses could make or break them in the next stage.


    Who knows, maybe they will defeat the crimson moons trio?


    "I''ll start," said CEO, puffing on his cigar.


    His presence was calm, authoritative.


    "I''m CEO, Level 135." He gestured to the two individuals standing behind him. "These two here are my assets¡ªRighlef and Partner. They''re both under my control, thanks to my domination skills. We''ll be taking this trial seriously."


    Next was Kai Algren, the artist, who lookedpletely disinterested in everything around him.


    "Artist..." he said with a bored tone. "Codename is Artist. Level... doesn''t matter. Let''s just get this over with." He was already drawing with his fingers in the air, as if crafting an invisible masterpiece that only he could see.


    "Follower," the priest-like man mumbled, his eyes never leaving the ground, "That''s all you need to know." His voice was soft, yet there was a dangerous undertone in it.


    ire stepped forward next, "ire, codename Demon." She pointed to the man beside her, "And this is Dave, codename Wielder." Both of them stood confidently, their levels disyed as 122 and 123 respectively.


    They gave off a powerful, experienced vibe, clearly ready for what was toe, and they actually gave their real life names!


    Shock was next, his blond hair practically glowing as arcs of electricity danced across his body. "Name''s Shock, and as you can see, I specialize in electricity. Level 128. Don''t get in my way, and we''ll be fine."


    Clever, the old man with a cane, chuckled before speaking, "Clever. Old, but still dangerous. Keep that in mind."


    His calm demeanor was unsettling. He seemed frail, but there was something about him that screamed danger.


    The twins stood side by side, both silent until they spoke in unison. "Mio and Mao. We don''t talk much." Their presence was eerie, their movements perfectly synchronized.


    "Chosen," Stark spoke.


    "Sora," and the girl beside him nodded.


    Lastly, there was the woman with blond hair and a star in her eyes. She introduced herself as Starfire.


    As for the final girl, Lilith, who was always meditating, she didn''t even say anything, so everyone ignored her.


    After everyone had finished their introductions, the group turned toward the gate.


    The crimson text above it still read:


    [3 more sacrifices to open gate.]


    "Tch, sacrifices again," Shock muttered, crossing his arms. "We need to kill three people. Otherwise, we''re stuck here."


    "Let''s vote on who gets sacrificed, alright?" CEO suggested, exhaling a puff of smoke.


    His eyes scanned the group, but they lingered on Stark for just a second longer than anyone else. "No need for unnecessary bloodshed. We can decide this rationally."


    "WE AGREE!" Righlef and Partner nodded enthusiastically, clearly under CEO''s influence.


    "Ok, but who?" ire raised her eyebrows. "No one''s stupid enough to sacrifice themselves. And what if someone runs away into their vige? We wouldn''t be able to catch them."


    "Not possible," CEO interrupted, flicking the ash from his cigar. "All gates are locked."


    "Huh?"


    "What the hell?"


    The participants exchanged confused nces, but when a few of them went to check the gates, CEO''s words were confirmed.


    [You have reached the main square, no point in going back. Enter the city.]


    The system message appeared for everyone.


    "Damn, so we really have no choice," Dave muttered.


    "I have a proposition," CEO said, his voice carrying authority as he smirked at Stark. "How about him?" He pointed directly at the ck-haired boy.


    "Hm?"


    "Ohh~"


    CEO continued, his words sharp and direct. "Not only does he have the most powerful skill among us, but he''s already moonscorched. If we take him out now, we eliminate the biggest threat early."


    A murmur rippled through the group.


    "Yeah... that''s true..."


    "Can''t deny that."


    The participants started to nod in agreement.


    Stark remained silent, his gaze locked on the sky, seemingly indifferent to the discussion about his potential death.


    Sora, however, was not as calm.


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    She took a step back, panic shing in her eyes. "Stark?" She whispered, hoping for some kind of reaction from him, but he didn''t respond.


    His gaze remained fixed on something she couldn''t see.


    "By process," Dave added, "we should also take out his lover, the white-haired girl." His smile was unsettling as he gestured toward Sora.


    "!!!" she had an emotionless look, but even she didn''t feel like dying early.


    Sora''s heart pounded as she looked at Stark again, but he continued to stand motionless, not even acknowledging her worry.


    "Yes," CEO agreed with Dave''s suggestion, nodding. "Two sacrifices down, and then we just need one more."


    Artist, for his part, barely seemed to care, his attention still focused on whatever invisible art he was crafting.


    Meanwhile, Follower was whispering to himself, the word "Kill" repeated over and over again under his breath.


    A panel appeared in front of Follower.


    [Show your devotion to the ''Godless Demon'' to unlock some of his powers.]


    [Kill a participant.]


    And underneath it, another panel popped up.


    [Be one of the ''Godless Apostles,'' the most precious pawns of the godless demon.]


    [Kill ''Stark Heartsouls,'' AKA Chosen.]


    The name lit up like a beacon in Follower''s mind.


    His eyes darkened with purpose.


    "How about her?" Shock pointed at Starfire, the fashionable blonde with the star-shaped pupils, "She seems to be the weakest."


    "H-HUH?" Starfire stammered, her voice quivering. "N-NO I''M NOT!"


    "K-KILL..." Follower''s mumbling grew louder.


    "I-I can manage, really! Find someone else-" Starfire tried to defend herself, but her voice was drowned out by the growing bloodlust in the air.


    And then it happened.


    FWISH! SLASH!


    A cross-shaped sword pierced her chest in an instant, her heart skewered.


    Her health bar dropped to zero.


    -9,999,999!


    It was over. An instant kill.


    [Starfire has been killed. 14 participants remain.]


    The killer stepped forward, revealing himself¡ªFollower.


    He had transformed the cross around his neck into a deadly weapon, striking without hesitation.


    Ding!


    [You have proved your devotion to the ''Godless Demon'' by killing a participant.]


    [You have unlocked three perks.]


    "Y-YES! YES!" Follower screamed in ecstasy, reading the new powers granted to him.


    Meanwhile, CEO paid no attention to the madness, his focus entirely on Stark and Sora. "You two are thest ones. ept your deaths peacefully, and it won''t hurt as much."


    Ding!


    The text on the gate shifted:


    [1/3]


    All eyes turned toward Stark and Sora, the entire group of participants slowly closing in on them.


    It was an execution march, with CEO, Righlef, Partner, Artist, Follower, Wielder, Demon, Shock, Clever, Mio, and Mao advancing as one.


    "A shame," CEO sighed. "You were strong, Chosen, but not strong enough to make a difference in this trial."


    The air grew thick with tension as they neared the couple.


    And just as they were about to reach them, Stark finally moved.


    A slow smile crept across his face, and without warning, he let out a small chuckle.


    "Haha..." Stark''s eyes gleamed with a strange light as he pointed toward the sky.


    Everyone froze.


    "...What the hell is heughing at?"

 Chapter 323: Cooldown Gem Saved the Day, Starks Threats

    The square had be a tense battleground, with Stark and Sora pinned against the wall, surrounded by the other trial participants.


    Everyone was inching closer, ready to strike. Stark, however, stoodpletely calm, his gaze locked onto the sky.


    The smile that had just spread across his face sent a wave of unease rippling through the crowd.


    "What''s so funny, Chosen?" CEO asked, his voice low and cold, as if he had already won this battle.


    Stark didn''t respond immediately.


    Instead, he simply raised his hand, pointing directly at the sky.


    His smile widened, and before anyone could react, his voice rang out, calm andposed, yet filled with an undeniable threat.


    "[Heaven''s Spear]," he whispered.


    The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere shifted.


    "Did he just say Heaven''s Spear-"


    A loud crack echoed through the sky as a massive tear split open the heavens above them.


    The sound was deafening, like the earth itself was groaning in protest.


    Everyone froze, eyes snapping upward in fear and disbelief.


    "NOT AGAIN?!"


    "WHAT?"


    From the rift in the sky, a figure emerged¡ªan angelic being, nearly 50 kilometers tall, towering over everything.


    Its wings were vast, stretching across the horizon, casting a dark shadow over the entire city.


    The angel''s presence alone was enough to paralyze them all.


    In its hands, the being summoned a colossal spear of pure crimson energy, glowing ominously.


    The spear''s tip crackled with power, as if ready to obliterate anything in its path.


    The participants who had been advancing just moments ago stopped dead in their tracks, their faces drained of color.


    Everyone knew what this meant.


    Stark had used this ability before, at the very beginning of the trial, to destroy one of the Crimson Moons trio.


    And now, that same unstoppable force was aimed directly at them.


    "Shit...!" Shock muttered, electricity still crackling across his skin, but his confidence visibly crumbling.


    Kai Algren, the Artist, stopped drawing, his invisible brushes frozen in midair.


    Even the ever-bored artist couldn''t hide the flicker of fear in his eyes.


    ire and Dave, the twobat experts, exchanged nces.


    Dave''s grip tightened around his sword, but neither of them moved an inch.


    They knew better.


    "I''ll make this simple," Stark began, his voice cutting through the air like a de. "If any of youe near Sora or me, that speares down. And we all know what happens if it hits."


    There was no need for further exnation.


    The crimson spear in the angel''s hands was so massive, so overwhelming, that it was clear to everyone that even a single strike would result in instant death.


    No skill, no defense could withstand that level of destruction.


    It was the ultimate form of Stark''s ability¡ª[Crimson Spears].


    He didn''t need to boast or scream. The power spoke for itself.


    For a moment, the square was dead silent.


    Everyone stood frozen, processing what had just happened.


    Some were thinking about their next move, while others, like Follower, were trembling with unhinged excitement.


    Even in the face of such overwhelming power, the priest looked as though he wanted to test his luck.


    "This is insane¡­" ire muttered under her breath. "We''re just supposed to give up?"


    "You fucking liar," Dave pointed at CEO, "You said that he can only use it once every 2 weeks!"


    "That is... supposed to be the case, though," CEO raised his eyebrows.


    His eyes darted between the angel and Stark, calcting his odds.


    But no matter how sharp his business mind was, no amount of strategizing could get around the fact that the angel could obliterate them all in an instant.


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    "You''ve got to be kidding me," Shock hissed, his fists clenched tightly. "We just let you two sit back and watch while we do all the dirty work?"


    Stark''s smile didn''t waver, "That''s exactly what you''re going to do. Or you can take your chances."


    Sora, standing beside Stark, finally rxed.


    Her emotionless eyes now carried a sense of relief.


    Stark had just flipped the entire situation on its head with a single move.


    She didn''t need to say anything or ask how; her trust in him was absolute.


    "You can''t expect us to just¡ª" CEO started, but before he could finish, Stark''s gaze sharpened.


    The angel above shifted slightly, lifting the colossal spear a few more inches as if ready to strike.


    "Care to try?" Stark asked, his tone casual but with a deadly edge, "Step closer. Just one step closer, and I''ll release it."


    The sheer size and power of the spear were overwhelming.


    No one dared to test his resolve. It wasn''t a bluff, and they all knew it.


    If what CEO said was right before, then even if Stark''s HP reached 0, he would be brought back to full health, meaning he had nothing to lose in releasing it.


    He would be hit too, but in the end he would be fine, basically.


    Tension hung in the air like a thick fog, the participants locked in ce, weighing their options.


    If they fought Stark, they would die. It was that simple.


    "We need two more sacrifices to open the gate," Dave finally said, breaking the silence, his voice tense. "If we don''t do something, we''ll be stuck here forever."


    "Then decide amongst yourselves," Stark replied, his voice still calm. "But remember, if you try anything with me or Sora, you won''t live long enough to regret it."


    For several long moments, no one moved.


    Then, in a quick sh of motion, Follower lunged toward one of the twins¡ªMio.


    SLASH!


    His sword, still glowing from his earlier kill, shed across Mio''s throat before anyone could react.


    [Perk of the ''Godless Demon'' activated]


    SLASH!


    -2,482,958!


    "YESSS!" Followerughed.


    Blood sprayed into the air, and Mio copsed to the ground, her lifeless body hitting the stone with a dull thud.


    "MIO!" Mao screamed, running to her sister''s side, but it was toote. Mio was gone.


    [2/3]


    The system message shed in front of everyone''s eyes. One more.


    "One more," Follower cackled, his eyes wild with bloodlust. "Just one more, and we''re free!"


    Rightlef, one of CEO''s goons, looked visibly shaken, backing away slowly from the chaos.


    He had followed orders without question up until now, but this¡ªthis was madness.


    He turned to CEO, as if waiting for an order or reassurance, but CEO''s eyes had gone cold.


    "Sorry, Rightlef," CEO muttered, a deadly calm in his voice. "You''re the weakest link."


    Before Rightlef could even process what was happening, CEO''s hand shot out.


    A thin beam of energy, almost too fast to see, pierced through Rightlef''s chest.


    His eyes widened in shock as he crumpled to the ground.


    [3/3]


    Ding!


    The crimson text above the gate shifted once again.


    [Gate Opened.]


    [Mio and Righlef have been eliminated, 12 participants remain.]


    The massive gate slowly began to creak open, the grinding of metal against stone echoing across the square.


    The path into Terminay ahead of them now, dark and foreboding.


    Stark lowered his hand, and with it, the angel began to fade, the rift in the sky closing slowly.


    The colossal spear vanished, leaving only an eerie silence in its wake.


    He didn''t use the perk, meaning that it was still avable.


    For a moment, no one moved.


    Everyone was still processing what had just happened.


    "Now, if you''re smart," Stark said, turning away from the group, "you''ll go through the gate and stay the hell out of our way."


    The participants nced at each other, still unsure, but none of them dared make a move against Stark or Sora.


    They had seen firsthand what Stark was capable of, and none of them wanted to be on the receiving end of [Heaven''s Spear].


    With the gate now open, one by one, the group began to move forward.


    Shock was the first to step through, followed by Dave and ire, then Artist and Clever.


    Each of them cast wary nces at Stark and Sora, but none of them dared speak a word.


    CEO was thest to go, but not before meeting Stark''s eyes one final time.


    "This isn''t over," CEO said, his voice low and dangerous.


    Stark just smiled. "We''ll see about that."


    With that, CEO turned and walked through the gate, disappearing into the city beyond alongside Partner.


    As thest of the participants vanished into Termina, Stark finally let out a small sigh of relief.


    Sora, beside him, let out an extremely small smile, knowing that¡ªfor now¡ªthey were safe.


    "Well," Stark said, ncing at Sora. "That was fun."


    And with that, they turned toward the gate, walking into the unknown.

 Chapter 324: Entering Termina, The Tasks and Map

    The moment the massive gate fully opened, a chilling gust of wind swept through the group, carrying with it the faint scent of decay.


    Terminay ahead, a sprawling, ruined city with crumbling buildings and eerie, silent streets.


    Stark and Sora, along with the other participants, cautiously stepped into the city, knowing full well that the real trial had only just begun.


    As soon as all their feet crossed the threshold, the gate behind them closed, trapping them in.


    "Hm," CEO smirked.


    A panel appeared in front of each of them, hovering in mid-air.


    [You have entered Termina.]


    [Map of Termina unlocked.]


    The map that unfolded in front of them was vast, divided into distinct sections.


    Each area had its own set of challenges, and in the distance, looming over the city like a grim reminder of their end goal, stood the Hollow Tower.


    It pierced the sky like a massive ck needle, radiating a dark, oppressive energy.


    The map sections werebeled: Outskirts, Temple District, Shopping District, Mayor''s Manor, Business District, Train Station, Museum, Orphanage, and, of course, the Hollow Tower itself.


    Though it was clear that the tower was where they needed to go eventually, it was far away, and the path to get there was filled with obstacles.


    More information quickly filled the panel:


    [Trial conditions to open the Hollow Tower:]


    [1. Eliminate all other participants except yourself.]


    [2. Complete at least 5 tasks (5 tasks per participant, not as a group).]


    [3. Defeat all Moonscorched Commanders, if the two conditionsare fulfilled, but themanders are alive, you''ll need to eliminate them.]


    [All these need to be fullfilled to open the tower.]


    "Tasks?"


    "Moonscorched Commanders, huh," the participants mumbled.


    A list of tasks appeared in front of all of them, the same across the board.


    There were [100 Tasks] you could do in [Termina].


    Here are some of them:


    [Steal the "Power Ruby" from the museum.]


    [Defeat Father Hugo in the Orphanage.]


    [Kill The Heartless One and The Tormented One, and take their heads.]


    [Defeat the Moonscorched Commander: Mayor of Termina.]


    [Bring the heads of two participants to the fountain altar.]


    ...


    [Once a task isplete, it is impossible toplete it again, the difficulty is not stated, but some are obviously than others.]


    [Every reward for these tasks is kept a secret as to not rush the participants.]


    The enormity of what they were up against hit everyone at once.


    This was no simple trial of strength.


    It was a ughterhouse with a long checklist.


    Complete five tasks. Kill everyone else. Defeat themanders.


    Only one could stand at the top by the end.


    And the sheer amount of tasks truly showed how big that city was.


    It could take them months to get all of it.


    Everyone looked at one another, the uneasy atmopshere that had formed before the gate now crumbling as they processed what this trial demanded of them.


    "Well, this is insane," ire muttered, her eyes scanning the map. "They''re not making this easy at all."


    Dave nodded grimly, adjusting the grip on his sword. "We''ll need to pick our targets wisely. We can''t just rush into these tasks."


    "Or we could start eliminatingpetition right here," Shock sneered, his eyes darting toward Stark. "Let''s face it, some of us won''t survive if we all stick together."


    "Yeah,e on Chosen, with your skill you can eliminate at least half of us, select them and deal with it," Clever, the old man, smiled.


    Stark, ignoring the bubbling tension, was focused on the distant Hollow Tower.


    His mind was already racing, strategizing.


    The infection in his body¡ªthe moonscorch infection¡ªwas slowly spreading.


    He could feel it.


    Every second they spent in this cursed city seemed to elerate it.


    The infection had already reached 12 percent, and while he still had control, he knew it wouldn''t stay that way for long.


    Sora, standing by his side, nced at him. "How bad is it?"


    "Worse," Stark replied quietly. "Being here speeds it up."


    [Termina is the heart of the infection, being inside elerates it, if you want to hold the infection, enter a ''safe house'' or drink a "Moonscorch Cure", some of the tasks give it as a reward, among many others.]


    They exchanged a nce, but before they could dwell on it, the others began moving.


    Shock and Artist were already scouting ahead, heading toward different parts of the city.


    CEO and his remainingckey, Partner, started moving toward the Mayor''s Manor.


    "We should split up from them too," Stark said, ncing at the map again. "It''s better if we avoid them for now."


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    Sora nodded, and together, they turned toward the Outskirts, hoping to avoid any immediate conflict.


    As they moved deeper into the city, the eerie silence was broken only by the sound of their footsteps echoing through the ruined streets.


    The buildings were dpidated, some on the verge of copse.


    The asional flicker of movement in the shadows hinted at the dangers lurking in the city, but for the most part, the streets were eerily empty.


    At least, they were empty¡ªuntil they weren''t.


    A sudden, grotesque howl filled the air, and from around the corner, a monstrous figure emerged.


    It was a twisted, horrifying amalgamation of flesh and bone, with three heads grotesquely merged together, three arms sprouting from a single torso, and two massive, deformed legs.


    Its skin was pale and sickly, covered in veins that pulsed with dark energy.


    [Three-Headed Beast - Level 550]


    These abominations were scattered throughout the city¡ªvicious monsters that had once been humans, now corrupted by the moonscorch infection beyond recognition.


    A status window appeared in front of Stark''s eyes as he used [Perception].


    ...


    [Name: Three-Headed Beast]


    [Level: 550]


    [HP: 2,000,000]


    [Strength: 15,893]


    [Stamina: 13,842]


    [Speed: 12,941]


    [Defense: 15,983]


    [Skills: Triple Strike, Blood Drain, Limb Regeneration, Vicious Screech, CorruptedCharge, Flesh Tendrils, Moonscorched...]


    ...


    The Three-Headed Beast lunged forward without warning, its three heads howling in unison.


    Stark barely had time to react as the creature swung all three of its arms in a wide arc.


    He dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the crushing blow.


    The ground where he had been standing cracked from the impact.


    "Sora!" Stark called out, "We need to hit it fast!"


    She nodded, transforming into her "vine form", meaning that her two arms and legs covered themselves in her nts.


    Sora leaped forward, her vine ws shing across the beast''s torso, but the creature barely flinched.


    -261,942


    It roared, swinging one of its massive arms at her.


    She dodged, but the beast was faster than she anticipated.


    One of its other arms caught her in the side, sending her crashing into a nearby building.


    -24,683


    "Sora!" Stark yelled, but he couldn''t afford to be distracted.


    The beast turned its attention back to Stark, its heads screeching in unison.


    Dark tendrils of flesh shot out from its body, trying to bind him in ce.


    Stark reacted quickly, summoning his [Crimson Spears] andunching a barrage of spears at the creature.


    Several of them pierced its body, but the beast didn''t stop.


    It charged forward, its massive body barreling toward Stark.


    "Damn it," Stark cursed, rolling out of the way just in time.


    Even if he had the [Crimson Barrier], tanking damage didn''t mean that he wouldn''t feel pain, wouldn''t be sent flying and wouldn''t get infected by the moonscorch.


    The beast mmed into the ground where Stark had been, its ws digging deep into the stone.


    Before it could recover, Stark unleashed 3 of his [Aura Smash] fists, aiming for its heads.


    This time, the attack seemed to do more damage.


    -137192! -144821! -140283!


    One of the creature''s heads exploded in a spray of blood and gore, but the other two continued to screech, their eyes filled with rage.


    "Regenerating," Stark muttered, watching as the beast''s flesh began to knit itself back together.


    +300,000!


    This thing wasn''t going down easily.


    Sora rejoined the fight, her vineform already healing from the earlier hit.


    Though she was now infected by [Moonscorch] too.


    Together, they pressed their assault, dodging the beast''s attacks and striking whenever they saw an opening.


    But it was a brutal fight.


    Every time theynded a blow, the beast would regenerate.


    Every time they thought they had it cornered, it would unleash another powerful attack.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the beast staggered, its body riddled with wounds from Stark''s spears and Sora''s ws.


    With one final screech, it copsed to the ground, its massive form twitching before finally going still.


    [You have defeated a Three-Headed Beast and gained 1,500,000 experience points.]


    Stark let out a breath, wiping the blood from his face. "That... was rough."


    Sora shifted back to her human form, panting heavily. "Yeah... and there''s bound to be more of those things."


    This thing was actually the mostmon monster in Termina, so yeah, by the end of the trial they''re gonna have to be able to fight these things easily.


    Before they could catch their breath, the ground trembled slightly, and a familiar, ominous presence filled the air.


    Stark''s eyes narrowed as he looked down the street.


    Standing there, cloaked in the shadows of a crumbling building, was another figure¡ªa Moonscorched Commander: Chaugnar


    This one was different from the beasts.


    It was humanoid, dressed in tattered robes, one of its hands was cut off, and in the other it carried nothing but a bell.


    Its face was covered by a mask, and the aura it emitted was far more dangerous than anything they had faced so far.


    Though you could see its mouth.


    And it was smiling.


    [The Moonscorched Inquisitor.]


    "Looks like we''ve found the secondmander," Stark said, his voice tense.


    Sora tensed up, preparing for the fight.


    [Task #1: Defeat the Moonscorcher Sniper - Completed]


    [Reward: Cooldown Gem.]


    ...


    [Task #24: Defeat the Moonscorched Inquisitor]


    [Reward: ???]


    But before they could make their move, two more figures emerged from different streets.


    Shock and Artist, two participants.


    Both of them had evidently been drawn by themotion and had arrived just in time to witness the beginning of a battle that could decide their fates.


    "Well," Shock grinned, electricity crackling around him, "this just got interesting."


    Stark tightened his grip, knowing that this fight was about to be a lot moreplicated.

 Chapter 325: Inquisitor, The Second Moonscorched Commander

    The air around the group crackled with tension as Stark, Sora, Shock, and Artist stood in the eerie street of Termina, facing the Moonscorched Inquisitor.


    Its ckened robes fluttered with the unearthly energy that radiated from it, a bell in its single remaining hand.


    Stark kept his gaze steady, watching the other participants closely.


    The Inquisitor was a real threat, but the greater danger nowy in the ones standing beside him.


    "Guess it''s finally time to put on a show," Shock muttered, electricity flickering around his body like a second skin.


    His eyes darted between the Inquisitor and Stark, the grin on his face widening.


    Artist, as usual, remained eerily silent, his gaze lost in the void as if his mind was consumed by something else entirely.


    His paintbrushes, which seemed to materialize out of thin air, floatedzily by his side, dripping with vibrant, shifting colors.


    Sora said nothing, her vines subtly twitching, ready to strike at a moment''s notice.


    Her eyes remained locked on the Inquisitor, but Stark knew she was just as aware of the others as he was.


    It was Shock who spoke first. "Look, we all know we want the reward. But that thing''s no joke." He pointed at the Inquisitor. "How about we form a temporary alliance? Just long enough to wipe out that thing."


    "Temporary alliance, huh?" Stark said, his tone t.


    His eyes flickered to Artist, who still hadn''t spoken.


    Sora remained silent as well, but she gave a small nod, acknowledging the necessity of teamwork.


    At least, for now.


    Before they could finalize any agreement, the Inquisitor''s bell rang¡ªa sharp, haunting sound that cut through the air like a de.


    The street trembled, and from the shadows, five grotesque, three-headed beasts materialized, their monstrous forms twisting and writhing with malice.


    [Three-Headed Beast - Level 550]


    The same monsters he and Sora struggled against.


    The monsters were vicious, relentless, but they weren''t his immediate concern.


    He needed to know who he was fighting alongside¡ªor more urately, against.


    He turned his gaze toward the others then used [Perception].


    The first one he used was against Sora since he hadn''t done that since a while back.


    ...


    [Name: Sora]


    [Level: 109]


    [ss: Domination; nt Princess]


    [HP: 153,000]


    [Strength: 18,728]


    [Stamina: 17,201]


    [Speed: 16,472]


    [Defense: 15,983]


    [Skills: Domination, Flower Analysis, Radiance, Elements of Nature, Vine Surge, Pollen Bombs, The ming Rose, Regenerative Drop, Nature Distortion, Flower Barrier, The White Jade (Mythical), Evergreen Resilience, Petrification, Vine Barrier, Vine Smash, Carnivorous nt, The Flower of Hope (Godly), Flora-Guns (Mythical), The Birth of a Star (Godly), Vine Transformation (Godly)...]


    ...


    He already knew Sora''s capabilities, but it was good to have a reminder.


    Then, his eyes shifted to Shock, and his [Perception] skill activated once more.


    ...


    [Name: Shock]


    [Level: 127]


    [ss: Domination; Electric Overlord]


    [HP: 205,000]


    [Strength: 20,742]


    [Stamina: 19,991]


    [Speed: 22,183]


    [Defense: 17,632]


    [Skills: Domination; Thunderp, Lightning sh, Electric Surge, Stormcaller (Mythical), Thunder Prison, Overload, Shockwave (Godly), Static Discharge, Arc Lightning, Volt Burst, Thunder Crash, Chain Lightning, Thunder Blitz, Lightning de, Electrocution, Surge Barrier, Ion Pulse (Mythical), Electromaic Field (Godly)...]


    ...


    Shock was even more dangerous than Sora in sheer offensive power.


    That much was clear.


    Finally, Stark focused on Artist, who was still standing silently, his brushes dripping colors into the air.


    ...


    [Name: Artist]


    [Level: 130]


    [ss: Master of Colors]


    [HP: 189,000]


    [Strength: 19,582]


    [Stamina: 18,937]


    [Speed: 18,745]


    [Defense: 16,981]


    [Skills: Brush of Life (Godly), Palette Shield, Canvas Creation, Color Infusion, Stroke of Genius, Masterpiece Summon, Spectrum sh, Oil Wave, Canvas Barrier, Portrait of Power, Ink Torrent (Mythical), Watercolor Burst, Chromatic Storm, Paint Strike, Vivid Imagination (Godly), Brush Barrage, Pigment Veil, Artful Dodge, Stter Explosion (Mythical), Abstract Detonation (Godly)...]


    ...


    Artist, as bizarre as he was, had incredible potential to wreak havoc with his arsenal of artistic skills.


    As they said before, each of them could rival Stark in terms of power and skills.


    If it wasn''t for [Heaven''s Spear] being so overpowered, surely it would have been bad for him.


    Suddenly, the Inquisitor''s bell rang again, snapping Stark out of his thoughts.


    The five three-headed beasts lunged forward, charging with terrifying speed.


    Stark tightened his grip, and just as Shock moved to engage, a panel appeared in front of all of them.


    [Only the person who deals the final blow will have their tasks marked aspleted.]


    For a moment, there was silence.


    The implications hit everyone at once. Shock''s smirk widened.


    "Well, guess that alliance didn''tst long," he said, lightning sparking violently around him. "Everyone''s on their own."


    "Agreed," Stark muttered.


    His hand crackled with crimson energy as he summoned [Crimson Spears], aiming them directly at the oing beasts.


    They weren''t going to cooperate, but the bigger threat still loomed ahead.


    ...


    [Name: Inquisitor, Moonscorched Inquisitor]


    [Level: 560]


    [HP: 4,800,000]


    [Strength: 2738]


    [Stamina: 39382]


    [Speed: 2391]


    [Defense: 27837]


    [Skills: Bell of the Abyss, Curse of Unraveling, Echoes of Despair, Lunar Shroud, The Ultimate Summon (GOLDY)...]


    ...


    Sora unleashed a barrage of vines,shing out at the nearest beast, while Artist, with a flourish of his brush, painted swirling colors in the air that formed into a massive barrier.


    The beasts mmed into it, but the barrier held.


    Stark wasted no time, throwing one of his [Crimson Balls] into the air and snapping his fingers.


    In an instant, he teleported behind one of the beasts, driving a [Crimson Spear] into its back.


    -312,942


    The creature howled, but its regeneration kicked in immediately.


    ''Damn, they regenerate just like thest one,'' Stark knew they couldn''t waste time on these things¡ªthey had to focus on the Inquisitor.


    But Shock had other ns.


    With a wild grin, Shock summoned a bolt of lightning from the sky, striking the beast Stark had attacked.


    -656,482


    The damage was insane.


    "Thanks for softening it up for me," Shock sneered as the beast copsed.


    Stark gritted his teeth. "Focus on the Inquisitor!" he barked, but Shock was too engrossed in stealing kills to listen.


    Sora, meanwhile, unleashed her [Pollen Bombs], summoning a few pollens in her hand, then blowing them with her mouth, hitting nearby monsters.


    -474,390! -501,238!


    Artist remained oddly distant, his brush strokes growing more frantic.


    Stark noticed that his abilities were subtly shifting the battlefield¡ªcolors bled into reality, warping the space around them.


    The beasts would step forward only to be thrown off bnce by what looked like nothing more than a stter of paint.


    But the Inquisitor wasn''t idle.


    Its bell rang out again, and with it came a wave of curses. Enjoy exclusive chapters from §Þ??


    Stark felt a cold shiver run through his body as the curses took hold.


    [Cursed: Attack Power Reduced by 20%]


    [Cursed: Movement Speed Reduced by 10%]


    "Great," Stark muttered, his strength sapped by the curse.


    The Inquisitor let out a hollowugh, but before it could ring the bell again, Stark summoned his [Spear of Judgment] andunched it directly at the cursed figure.


    The spear tore through the air, but the Inquisitor''s bell rang once more, and the beasts surged forward, taking the blows meant for their master.


    -1,193,928!


    It killed three of them, but at least the inquisitor wasn''t hit.


    "Damn it!" Stark cursed, but he wasn''t done yet.


    He activated [Aura Smash], summoning five crimson fists thatunched in rapid session at the Inquisitor.


    -145,892


    -153,731


    -149,321


    The Inquisitor staggered but didn''t fall.


    It retaliated, swinging its bell in a wide arc that unleashed a wave of dark energy.


    Sora barely dodged it, and Artist erected a shimmering canvas barrier just in time.


    Shock wasn''t as lucky.


    He took the hit head-on.


    [You have been moonscorched.]


    But instead of retreating, he smiled. "That all you got?" With a roar, he unleashed [Chain Lightning], his body crackling with raw power as arcs of electricity jumped from him to the surrounding beasts.


    -318,294!


    -344,281!


    -332,180!


    The two beasts shrieked in pain, but none of them fell.


    Stark, however, had seen enough.


    Throwing another [Crimson Ball] into the air, he snapped his fingers and teleported directly behind the Inquisitor.


    Without hesitation, he summoned [Asura''s Arms] to summon four additional arms.


    Crimson energy erupted around him in a violent whirlwind as he smashed ground with all 6 of his arms.


    The energy smashed them into the ground, dealing devastating damage.


    -789,482!


    -823,193!


    All creatures were now dead as the others also dealt damage.


    The Inquisitor''s bell slipped from its hand, ttering to the ground, but it wasn''t done yet.


    It raised its head, grinning beneath its mask, and slowly reached for the bell again.


    "Not today!" Stark roared, summoning his [Crimson Spears] and aiming for the creature''s hand.


    Just as he was about tond the final blow, the Inquisitor raised the bell onest time, shaking it violently.


    "THE ULTIMATE SUMMON!"


    The ground trembled, and a massive, horrifying presence began to manifest in the sky above all of them.


    "What the..."


    "Huh."


    Even the participants that were far could see it.


    [Summoning Chaugnar...]


    The battle was far from over.

 Chapter 326: Chaugnar, The Inquisitors Servant

    As the Moonscorched Inquisitor''s bell tolled with a deep, ominous ring, the air around it rippled, growing heavy with the presence of something immense.


    The ground trembled, and in the sky above, a hulking figure began to materialize, its outline barely visible at first.


    Chaugnar, The Inquisitor''s Servant, emerged from the dark rift, its massive body casting a long, terrifying shadow.


    Its physique was grotesquely human, with bulging muscles and a towering stature.


    Its head, however, was a twisted mass of flesh resembling a woodsman''s helmet, but grotesquely deformed, ending in an enormous elephant-like trunk.


    Its skin darkened to an unsettling beige as its overalls warped into suspenders and a long, tattered skirt.


    Despite its immense power, the most unsettling detail was its bare feet, each one reduced to a single, grotesque toe.


    BOOOM!


    Itnded on the ground, right in front of the Inquisitor.


    Stark quickly activated Perception, scanning Chaugnar''s stats as they appeared in a status window before him.


    ...


    [Name: Chaugnar, The Inquisitor''s Servant]


    [Level: 560]


    [HP: 5,000,000]


    [Strength: 28,127]


    [Stamina: 29,853]


    [Speed: 27,632]


    [Defense: 29,249]


    [Skills: Crimson Rend, Abyssal Rush, Elephantine m, Force Crush, Lifebane Touch, Void Pulse, Graviton Copse, Infernal Stomp, Entropic Grasp, Void-Walker, Master''s Shield...]


    ...


    "5 million HP and stats through the roof¡­ This thing''s a nightmare," Stark muttered, his voice grim.


    The strongest monster he ever faced.


    Sora, standing beside him, clenched her fists, her body glowing with a faint aura.


    "Well, let''s just get Inquisitor and then deal with that thing," Stark proposed as he turned his head toward themander.


    But of course, it wouldn''t be easy.


    "Master''s Shield," Chaugnar immediately activated, and an unbreakable shield appeared around Inquisitor.


    [This shield is unbreakable, the only way to release it is to kill Chaugnar, even Heaven''s Spear won''t break it.]


    Sora looked over at Stark, her eyes gleaming with determination, "It''s fine, even with all of that, it''s not invincible."


    Shock snickered, flipping a dagger he summoned out of thunder in his hand. "Just remember who''s getting thest hit. This beast is nothing but a stepping stone."


    Artist stood silent, observing Chaugnar with cold calction.


    His hand hovered over the air, as though preparing to manipte the battlefield itself with his brushes.


    Without warning, Chaugnar bellowed, a deafening roar that reverberated through the air.


    It lifted its massive trunk-like appendage and swung it downward with terrifying speed, the impact shaking the earth.


    Sora was the first to charge, her body enveloped in a fiery glow.


    She lunged forward with her vines drawn, activating [Vine Surge], sending a wave of spiky vines slicing toward Chaugnar''s hulking leg.


    The impact was immediate, dealing 200,000 damage and dropping Chaugnar''s HP to 4,800,000.


    But the creature barely acknowledged the hit, turning its monstrous gaze toward Sora.


    Chaugnar retaliated, swinging its enormous arm down with [Crimson Rend], sending a crimson shockwave slicing through the air toward Sora.


    Stark moved in a sh, his [Invincible Dodge] activating as he phased through the attack, reappearing in front of Sora.


    "Watch it!" he barked, summoning his [Crimson Spears].


    Ten blood-red spears materialized around him, and with a sharp motion, he hurled them all toward Chaugnar, each one finding its mark in the creature''s torso.


    The impact was explosive.


    The spears tore into Chaugnar, and with each detonation, chunks of flesh were blown apart, dealing a cumtive 600,000 damage.


    "How''s that feel, you oversized freak?" Stark snarled, but his victory was short-lived.


    With a monstrous roar, Chaugnar activated [Elephantine m], its massive fist mming into the earth with such force that the ground rippled outward in a shockwave.


    Stark and Sora were knocked off bnce, the raw power of the attack sending them skidding backward.


    Shock took advantage of the brief opening.


    He vanished in a blur, his [Lightning sh] activating as he reappeared behind Chaugnar''s leg.


    With a gleeful smirk, he plunged his dagger into a weak spot, aiming for the tendons.


    His strikended true, and then without warning he activated [Volt Burst], his entire body exploding with electric aura.


    -746,389!


    Before Shock could retreat, Chaugnar''s massive trunk swung around, catching him in the side with a devastating blow.


    He was flung across the battlefield, crashing into a nearby boulder with a grunt of pain.


    -58,373!


    He struggled to his feet, spitting blood, but his grin remained. "That all you got?"


    [You have been moonscorched.]


    "Oh."


    "Brush of life..." Artist closed his eyes as he floated above the battlefield, eyes glowing with arcane energy.


    He lifted his hand, and with a flick of his wrist, the very fabric of reality twisted around Chaugnar.


    Instantly, he began to draw a massive meteor in the sky using his brush.


    Every movement of his brush creating a giant line in the sky.


    And in less than 30 seconds, he was finished.


    "Come to life... my creation..." he put both hands together.


    And then...


    BOOOOM!


    The meteor instantly became real, mming onto Chaugnar before it could even realize what was happening!


    -1,438,394!


    "WHAT THE FUCK?" Stark was astonished, "And I''m the threat?!"


    Chaugnar let out a furious roar, but getting up, it activated [Graviton Copse], summoning a vortex of crushing gravitational force that pulled everything toward it.


    Stark, Sora, Shock, and Artist all struggled against the pull, their bodies straining under the immense pressure.


    In the midst of the chaos, Chaugnar mmed its foot into the ground, unleashing [Infernal Stomp], a shockwave of molten energy that rippled outward, striking all fourbatants and dealing 53,384 damage to each of them.


    Artist was the only one that wasn''t moon scorched, and luckily for him, long-ranged attacks don''t do anything to you.


    "I''ve had enough of this thing," Stark growled, rising to his feet. His body surged with crimson energy as he activated [Aura Smash], merging his three fists into a massive one, almost as big as Chaugnar.


    It descended with devastating force, mming into monster''s chest.


    -847,839!


    Chaugnar''s body convulsed, its movements growing more frantic.


    In a desperate attempt to retaliate, it unleashed [Void Pulse], a st of dark energy that erupted from its body, aimed at obliterating everything in its path.


    But everyone avoided the attacks in their own way.


    Yet, what they didn''t expect was what followed next.


    "GRAAAAAH-" Chaugnar''s roared as it suddenly disappeared from view.


    "Huh?"


    "What?"


    But it wasn''t that it fled, or that it became invisible.


    Not at all.


    It was just too fast.


    [Behind you.]


    Focus warned him, but Stark didn''t even have the time to react.


    SLAM!


    He was sent flying toward a nearby building, crashing into it.


    His [Crimson Barrier] tanked all the damage, but it didn''t mean he didn''t feel pain.


    The same happening to all the others, each of them receiving an additional 30,000 damage from it


    [Artist: You have been moonscorched.]


    And as for Stark and the other two that were already infected...


    [Your moonscorch infection increased.]


    "That''s it! Time to end this!" Stark shouted, his aura ring to its peak.


    "SPEAR OF JUDGEMENT!"


    FWISH... BOOM!


    The spear hit Chaugnar directly, following it closely like some sort of missile even though it was moving at intense speed.


    BOOOOM!


    -1,237,293!


    Sensing the end, Shock darted forward, his eyes gleaming with excitement.


    But Stark was already ahead of him, summoning his [Clone Frenzy].


    Five clones materialized around him. Read thetest on §Þ??


    And for the first time since a while, he didn''t merge them.


    Instead, theyunched a synchronized attack.


    "Crimson Spears! Aura Smash! Domi-Chain Restrain!"


    Two of the clones died in the process, meaning that he wouldn''t be able to summon the [Ultimate Clone] for an hour, but it didn''t matter.


    For in the end...


    -349,382! -221,293! -233,291!


    Chaugnar let out a final, deafening bellow before copsing into the ground, its massive form dissolving into dust.


    [Chaugnar has been defeated.]


    With Chaugnar defeated, the protective barrier around the Inquisitor shattered, leaving him vulnerable.


    His eyes widened in terror, his HP disyed at 400,000, a shadow of the fearsome figure he once was.


    "It''s over," Stark growled, readying his attack.


    His crimson energy surged as he prepared to end the Inquisitor once and for all.


    But just as Stark was about to strike, Shock appeared out of nowhere, mming into Stark with a smirk. "Thanks for the setup," he sneered.


    Stark staggered back, eyes wide with fury. "You¡ª"


    Before Stark could react, Shock was already upon the Inquisitor, his [Thunder Dagger] plunging deep into the Inquisitor''s chest.


    "ION PULSE (Mythical)"


    The Inquisitor gasped, his eyes wide in disbelief as his remaining 400,000 HP drained rapidly from the electric shocks that kept going through him, dropping to zero in mere seconds.


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    [Global Announcement: The Moonscorch Commander Inquisitor has been in by Shock!]


    A smirk spread across Shock''s face as he twisted the dagger for good measure, stepping back as the Inquisitor''s body slumped to the ground, lifeless.


    Stark, still recovering from Shock''s sneak attack, stared in disbelief, his hands clenched into tight fists.


    "That little shit¡­" Stark growled, fury burning in his eyes.


    His entire body trembled with anger as he watched Shock casually wipe his de, acting as if he hadn''t just stolen the kill.


    With a cocky grin, Shock looked over his shoulder at Stark, giving a half-hearted shrug. "What? I told you from the start¡ªI''m getting thest hit."

 Chapter 327: Finding a Safe Zone, The Mayors Manor

    Before Stark could react to Shock''s audacious kill theft, a notification panel materialized before him.


    [You have in "Chaugnar, The Inquisitor''s Servant." Gained 7,000,000 experience points.]


    [You have defeated a Three-Headed Beast. Gained 1,500,000 experience points.]


    [You have defeated a Three-Headed Beast. Gained 1,500,000 experience points.]


    Ding!


    [Your level has increased to Level 112, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Experience: 4,357,000/9,250,000] (Level 112)


    Stark blinked at the notifications, momentarily stunned.


    Killing those beasts had been only enough for one level up?


    The experience gain was underwhelming.


    But that didn''t matter now. The only thing on his mind was vengeance. The bastard had stolen his kill, and Stark was determined to settle the score.


    "FUCK YOU!" he roared,unching himself at Shock with such speed that Sora could hardly track his movements.


    But Shock was a being of electricity, and in an instant, he vanished in a sh of lightning.


    "Not fast enough," he sighed, his voice echoing from the rooftop of a nearby building.


    "COME DOWN IF YOU''RE A MAN!" Stark shouted, his frustration boiling over.


    "I''d rather not," Shock shrugged, using [Lightning sh] again to teleport just out of Stark''s reach, his prize of the Inquisitor''s kill slipping further away.


    "I''m out too," Artist murmured, his own dark intentions flickering in his mind. He longed to im Stark''s blood for his masterpiece, but with [Heaven''s Spear] still in the boy''s arsenal, he couldn''t risk it.


    "Brush of Life," he muttered, sketching a door on the wall of a building before stepping through it, disappearing into the unknown.


    Stark shook his head, bewildered.


    "WHAT?"


    So let''s get this straight, one could move at lightning speed and another could draw things to make them real?


    These people were utterly bizarre.


    Maybe it was because Stark wasn''t used to seeing new domination abilities that he felt that way.


    Killing [Chaugnar] didn''t grant any reward beside experience, so basically, he had done all of this for no reason.


    With a resigned sigh, Stark nced at his panels, and a warning shed.


    [Warning! Moonscorch level at 50%. Find a safe zone!]


    "Let''s go," he ordered Sora, and she quickly followed him without saying anything, sensing that Stark was angry.


    The map they got as they entered Termina didn''t specify what constituted a safe zone or how to find one, but Stark was determined to wait until his Moonscorch percentage decreased, using the time to strategize his next move.


    This trial had proven to be far more challenging than the previous twobined¡ªnot just in terms of the monsters, but the twisted participants, too.


    The first trial had semi-normal challengers, the second had its share of madness, and now, they faced pure insanity.


    With a simple goal of entering the [Hollow Tower] to emerge victorious, each contestant fought tooth and nail.


    Stark may not have understood most of their abilities, but he still possessed the [Heaven''s Spear].


    Surely, that would see him through this ordeal.


    Wouldn''t it?


    Getting rid of a few additional [Three-Headed Beasts], as well as [Moonscorched Knights], Stark and Sora made their way through the outskirts of the city.


    They actually managed to somehow win against the monsters after understanding the fact you shouldn''t let them get too close to you if you want to survive.


    [Warning! Moonscorch level at 58%. Find a safe zone!]


    The percentage was climbing, but not fast enough to actually be a threat.


    "If we wanna remove our infection, we''re gonna have to get one of those [Moonscorch Cures]," Stark said to Sora, and she nodded.


    This meant they needed toplete at least two tasks if they wanted to have a decent chance at survival.


    Otherwise, they could soon turn into one of these beasts.


    [Stark: 1/5 Tasks]


    [Sora: 0/5 Tasks]


    After fifteen additional minutes of fighting and walking, both Stark and Sora leveled up to level 110 and 113, respectively, the former getting a new skill.


    And thankfully enough, less than five minutester...


    Ding!


    [Safe zone detected nearby!]


    One of the doors of the nearby buildings was glowing, and once they entered it, it revealed itself to be a safe zone!


    The interior was just as moldy and crumbling as the rest of the town, but at least, in here, the moonscorch infection rate would go down.


    [This safe zone is now marked on your map.]


    Opening the map, they noticed that a small dot appeared where they currently were, meaning they coulde back if the situation became too hard.


    "That''s... fair," Stark sighed as he sat on the couch, resting, "We''ll soon get them all."


    "Yes," Sora nodded as she sat beside him.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Shock had managed to put some distance between himself and Stark at breakneck speed.


    And after iming the reward frompleting the task, he immediately pulled up his map to assess his location.


    "Hm..." he mused, ncing at his surroundings. "Alright, I''m close to the Mayor''s Manor. Might as well rest there."


    A grin crept across his face as he examined the item in his possession.


    Defeating the Inquisitor had not only rewarded him with experience; it had granted him something more¡ªan opportunity.


    The prospect of taking down Chosen was no longer a distant dream.


    As he made his way toward the manor, he dispatched of the beasts that dared to cross his path quite easily, his electric aura crackling with energy.


    Each strike was swift and precise, leaving a trail of defeated foes in his wake.


    Upon entering the manor, he was met with an unexpected sight.


    Explore more stories at §Þ??


    "Hello, sir," a butler was at the entrance, greeting anyone who entered, bowing down in a way that made it impossible to see his face, "Wee to the Mayor''s Manor."


    "Hm," Shock scratched his chin, "Is there a-"


    "Yes, sir, a safe zone is avable right next to me."


    Shock looked to the right, and indeed, there was a door which was glowing.


    He didn''t trust that, obviously, but his map came to the rescue.


    Ding!


    [You have found safe-zone, marking it on your map!]


    "Nice..." Shock smiled, this meant he wouldn''t have to worry much, plus, this butler seemed to want to help them.


    As Shock approached the butler, he couldn''t shake the unsettling feeling that clung to the air.


    The butler, dressed impably in a tailored suit, exuded an air of sophistication, yet his face betrayed his Moonscorched state¡ªskin slowly melting away, draping over his features like wax on a candle.


    "Shit..." Shock instinctively took a step back, he hadn''t really paid attention to its face before.


    "Any problems, sir?" the butler said, his expression shifting, exuding a powerful aura, much more than even the [Inquisitor].


    "Hm... nothing much," Shock wasn''t scared of it, but this hospitality was probably the only one he would get in the trial, he couldn''t waste time.


    "Very well," the butler tried to smile, though it was just terrifying, "You can rest, and if you wish, you can meet up with the mayor of Termina, if you feel like it."


    "Huh... thanks..."


    A panel appeared in front of him as the butler mentioned the Mayor.


    [Task #66: Defeat the Moonscorched Mayor.]


    Shock''s eyes widened slightly.


    "You can take your time to enjoy our manor, sir," the butler bowed.


    This instinctively made him look around, and he was indeed surprised.


    In a trial dominated by squalor and despair, this manor radiated opulence, with ornate chandeliers dangling from the ceiling and rich tapestries adorning the walls.


    It felt surreal, as if he had stepped into another world.


    But no, he was still in the domination trial.


    "Thank you," he said, a sense of relief washing over him.


    Without further hesitation, he pushed open the door and stepped inside the safe zone, the air instantly shifting to a soothing calm.


    But he wasn''t the only one that was inside.


    There, at the center of the room, awaited CEO, a knowing smile ying on his lips.

 Chapter 328: Terminas Mayor, One More Death

    Inside the grand yet half-decaying safe zone of the Mayor''s Manor, Shock could sense an overwhelming presence even before his eyes settled on the figure seatedfortably by the firece.


    "Oh...?"


    "Hm?"


    It was CEO, the businessman that didn''t hesitate to kill his goon to pass the gate.


    Partner, CEO''s loyal henchman, stood silently to the side, his gaze flicking between Shock and his boss.


    "Well, well, well," CEO greeted, his voice smooth yet menacing. "I didn''t expect to see someone else so soon... Shock, was it?"


    Shock''s eyes narrowed as he stood his ground.


    He wasn''t particrly thrilled about this encounter but knew it was inevitable.


    Both of them, and every single participant in this trial, had onemon enemy: Stark Heartsouls, or Chosen, which is who they know him as.


    Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out the item he had obtained from defeating the Inquisitor.


    It glimmered slightly as he held it up for the CEO to see.


    "This," Shock began, "is the Skill Canceller."


    CEO raised an eyebrow.


    Partner, who had been standing stiffly, leaned in with mild curiosity, his head tilting slightly as if trying to get a better look.


    "And what exactly does it do?" CEO asked, though there was a glint in his eye that suggested he already knew.


    Shock''s lips curled into a thin smile. "Cancels any skill usage when you''re close enough to your target. A single touch, and their abilities are locked. Completely."


    CEO leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. "Now that," he mused, "is quite the treasure." He gave Shock a calcting look, the kind that promised both opportunity and danger. "What do you intend to do with it?"


    Shock shrugged, as if the immense power of the item didn''t particrly concern him. "You already know, no need to keep the act up," he sighs.


    Partner chuckled lightly but quickly stopped as CEO shot him a brief nce.


    With his item in hand, Stark''s feared [Heaven''s Spear], which is the perk everyone was scared of, could be deactivated.


    And even for a single second.


    Even if it was for a single moment, the moment Stark lost that ability, then they would kill him.


    It was a mutual understanding between everyone.


    The room was tense, the unspoken power dynamics between the three of them thickening the air.


    "Interesting," CEO finally said, his eyes gleaming. "But what brings you here, really? It''s not just to show off, is it?"


    Shock nced around the luxurious, albeit eerie, surroundings of the Mayor''s Manor before replying. "Moonscorch."


    "Ah." CEO sighed, "Same here."


    Even CEO got infected, and it wasn''t a surprise, because beside the girl that was meditating (her name is Lilith), everyone got moonscorched by now.


    "So, what''s the n?" Shock asked, he wasn''t in the mood for small talk, "Why are you here?"


    CEO''s expression darkened slightly. "There''s power to be gained here, and tasks toplete," he said. "Three tasks inside this Manor. We each get one."


    Shock didn''t fully trust CEO, not even close.


    But for now, he saw no point in making enemies when they could temporarily cooperate.


    He nced at Partner, who had been listening silently, and noticed something unsettling in the man''s demeanor.


    The look in his eyes suggested he was just waiting for an excuse to strike.


    "Fine," Shock said, relenting. "Let''s get this over with."


    They would need to kill each other by the end, but increasing your chances of survival is a good thing.


    They all stood up, the mood shifting toward action.


    As they exited the room and walked toward the grand staircase leading to the Mayor''s chamber, the eerie silence of the manor settled over them.


    The old wood beneath their feet creaked ominously, and the air carried a faint, sour odor, as if the building itself was decaying from within.


    The moonscorched butler reappeared as they approached the door, "I hope you enjoyed your rest, s¡ª"


    Before the creature could finish, CEO waved his handzily, and in a swift, brutal motion, a shockwave of dark energy surged forward.


    The butler disintegrated instantly, leaving nothing but a pile of ash where it once stood.


    "Too noisy," CEO muttered, not even bothering to nce at the now-dead servant.


    Shock watched silently, making a mental note of CEO''s nonchnce toward killing, but also filing away the power he''d just witnessed.


    "Let''s go kill that Mayor," CEO said, a grin creeping across his face. "It''s time we clean house."


    Shock simply nodded, still unsure of what CEO''s real intentions were, but willing to go along with the n for now.


    The three of them made their way up the grand staircase, passing portraits of former mayors who all seemed to gaze down with hollow eyes.


    The air grew heavier as they neared the Mayor''s chambers.


    The massive wooden doors loomed ahead.


    "Here goes nothing," CEO smirked, stepping forward.


    With a swift, powerful kick, he flung the doors open.


    Inside, sitting at the head of a grand rectangr table, was the Mayor.


    He was an unsettling figure, clothed in fine, noble attire, though his grotesque face was a reminder of his moonscorched condition.


    Beige skin sagged unnaturally from his face, and atop his bald head were two menacing, triangr horns.


    He regarded them with a smile that was far from weing.


    "Guests," he said in a slow, deliberate voice. "Do enter."


    Shock, CEO, and Partner cautiously stepped inside, sensing that something was very wrong.


    As soon as all three crossed the threshold, the door mmed shut behind them.


    "...?"


    The Mayor snapped his fingers, locking them all in here with him.


    They couldn''t escape anymore, and they actually tried.


    Kicking the door didn''t work anymore.


    "Take a seat," the Mayor said, his smile widening.


    CEO''s eyes narrowed as he turned back, "How about I¡ª" he tried to attack.


    But before he could do anything...


    "Take. A. Seat." The Mayor''s voice carried an undeniable weight of authority.


    BOOOOM!


    Without warning, an explosion of force sent CEO flying across the room, mming him into the wall.


    The impact was so powerful that it ripped through his defenses, a notification briefly shing in his peripheral vision.


    [You have taken 132,284 damage.]


    Shock''s breath caught in his throat.


    Even CEO wasn''t immune to the Mayor''s dominance.


    "Shit..." Shock and Partner didn''t expect this, and so they respected the Mayor''s wish, taking a seat, CEO following closely as they all sat around the table.


    The mayor''s voice cut through the silence once more, calm andposed. "Let us enjoy some delicacies while we speak now, shall we not?"


    [Termina''s Mayor ¨C Level 600]


    Shock''s eyes widened at the level indicator. Level 600.


    They were hopelessly outmatched.


    It''s not because the [Crimson Moons] are level 600 that enemies are below that after all.


    Quite the opposite: the moons were the strongest since they are the apostles, but regardless, some enemies above level 600 are present.


    The Mayor was one of them.


    He was extremely powerful.


    TOO powerful for any of them to take.


    "This is bad," Shock muttered under his breath, his mind racing as he weighed his options, "We shouldn''t have done that..."


    But before he could strategize further, the Mayor''s eyes locked onto him.


    "No talking while around the table, gentlemen." The Mayor''s smile faded slightly, his tone growing colder. "This is your first and final warning."


    In the eerie silence that followed, Shock studied the Mayor.


    But he mainly looked at the weird horns.


    [Do not mention his horns under any circumstances.]


    [You will be instantly cut if you do.]


    A warning panel appeared before all three of them.


    ''Ah shit...'' both CEO and Shock sighed.


    Partner, on the other hand, made the biggest mistake of his life: he gulped nervously, his face pale.


    But even that small sound was enough.


    SLASH! SLASH!


    With two swift movements, the Mayor''s hand, holding an ornate knife, shed through the air, and Partner was cut clean in half.


    -999,999!


    Blood sttered across the table as Partner''s bisected body crumpled to the floor, his lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling.


    CEO and Shock sat frozen, too cautious to let out a single sound: they weren''t angry or sad for the death of Partner, they just didn''t want to be next.


    A bead of sweat dripped down Shock''s temple as he realized the sheer impossibility of their situation.


    ''What the hell have we gotten ourselves into...''


    This was supposed to be a ce where they wouldplete tasks, level up, and dominate all others.


    Yet, now, even though they thought they had been so powerful, and that they would be able to defeat the moons.


    They were locked in a twisted game with the mayor, who seemed to enjoy seeing them struggle.


    The Mayor wouldn''t kill for no reason, but both CEO and Shock knew saying anything that it didn''t like would be an instant death.


    With the bloodied knife still in its right hand, and a massive fork in its left, they knew it could reach them.


    After all, it had moved so fast while killing Partner that they had a hard time following it.


    As if mocking them, three panels appeared in front of them.


    [Task #66: Defeat the Moonscorched Mayor.]


    [Task #67: Take the ''Basement Key'' from the Mayor and enter it.]


    [Task #68: Defeat the "Basement Demon"]


    ''Ah shit... here we go again...'' CEO and Shock let out a quick smile.


    It wasn''t the first time they were in impossible situations, after all.


    As [Domination] ss users, they had been ready for this, maybe not at the level they are currently at, but there was no denying it was exciting.


    If it came to it, they would fight the Mayor.


    But for now...


    "Let us y, gentlemen," the Mayorughed as he pointed both of his giant utensils at them.

 Chapter 329: 10 Participants Remain, The Orphanage

    Stark and Sora remained within the safe zone just outside the city''s decaying outskirts, feeling a temporary sense of relief.


    Their [Moonscorched] infection was down to 0%, which meant they could dy the inevitable decay a little longer.


    Then, out of nowhere, a notification popped up.


    Ding!


    [Global Announcement: Participant "Partner" has been killed by the "Mayor."]


    Stark''s eyes narrowed as he processed the message. "Partner''s dead. That means CEO''s probably in the manor with him," he muttered.


    Sora nced over, her usual calm demeanor unchanged. "So, where do we go now?"


    For Sora, following Stark had be almost second nature.


    It felt safer than making independent decisions, especially in the chaotdscape of Termina, where dangers lurked at every corner.


    All she needed to do was fight when necessary, and Stark seemed to know exactly where to go.


    Stark pulled up the [Termina Map], scanning the various locations scattered across the city.


    There were 97 tasks still left to possiblyplete, and they were spread out across multiple areas.


    Tasks were essential¡ªnot only for leveling up but for gaining any possible edge over the other participants.


    The longer they waited, the fewer tasks would be left, and time was running out.


    The other participants wouldn''t wait either, and as the trial wore on, the monsters and challenges would only grow stronger.


    "We''ve got a lot of options," Stark said, zooming in on one particr area. "But here¡ªthis ce." He tapped the map. "The orphanage. It''s nearby, and we can get several tasks done there."


    It wasn''t like they had any real choice.


    Sitting around the safe zone wasn''t an option.


    The so-called "safe zones" weren''t exactly safe; they merely reduced the [Moonscorched] infection.


    High-level monsters could still infiltrate them, and the other participants would eventuallye hunting. Besides, they needed to stay active¡ªstaying idle meant falling behind.


    "Let''s move," Stark sighed, getting up.


    Sora nodded. "Alright, to the orphanage, then."


    "Yep."


    Together, they left the safety of the zone and ventured out, battling monsters along the way.


    Each fight sharpened their skills, their movements in sync as they dispatched various foes that littered the outskirts.


    By the time they reached their destination, they had both gained two more levels.


    Stark was now level 115, and Sora had reached level 112.


    [Experience: 1,545,000/10,000,000] (level 115)


    [Skill Points: 88]


    As they arrived at the orphanage, another notification chimed.


    Ding!


    [You have arrived at the Orphanage.]


    However, another announcement immediately followed.


    [Global Announcement: Participant "Mao" has been killed by "Father Hugo"!]


    Stark stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing at thetest death notification. "Wait a minute..." He had heard that name before.


    Ding!


    [Task #13: Defeat Father Hugo in the Orphanage.]


    That''s right!


    Father Hugo, one of the fivemanders, was inside the orphanage.


    He had just killed Mao, and now they were about to walk into his domain.


    The orphanage, a ce that might have once been a haven for children, was now home to something far darker.


    Stark nced at Sora.


    The number of participants was thinning out fast.


    Only ten remained: Lilith, CEO, Shock, Clever, Dave and ire, Priest, Artist, Sora, and Stark.


    And of course, those that were still alive were the most powerful and important ones.


    Each of them was building their power for the ultimate showdown, preparing to enter the [Hollow Tower] where only one could im victory.


    Stark wasn''t fully confident, though.


    He had a bigger goal than just survival or beating other participants.


    If he could defeat the moons, he could end it all.


    But, deep down, even he wasn''t sure if he could actually pull it off.


    "Let''s go beat Father Hugo''s ass," Stark grinned.


    The fact that the priest had killed a participant didn''t bother him as much as it probably should have.


    After all, there were other tasks in the orphanage to deal with too. If Father Hugo turned out to be too difficult, they could always gather some helpful items along the way.


    From the outside, the orphanage looked like something pulled out of a nightmare.


    The structure was old, its wooden walls dark and splintered with age.


    The windows were cracked, the ss fogged up from the inside, casting an eerie gloom over the entire building.


    Vines snaked their way across the walls, creeping toward the roof, giving the impression that the orphanage was being consumed by the very earth it stood on.


    [Despite being a ce for children, you sense no joy, only dread.]


    Sora''s face remained neutral as they approached the heavy, worn doors.


    Stark pushed them open, and they stepped inside.


    As the door shut behind them, it made a distinct click, locking them in.


    "Hm," Stark muttered under his breath.


    It seemed that Termina had a habit of sealing off locations once you entered them, forcing you to face whatever lurked within.


    It happened when they first entered the city, and it was currently happening to CEO and Shock in the Mayor''s Manor.


    Though Stark had no way of knowing about thetter, so all he could focus on was the task at hand.


    The moment they entered, a series of panels appeared before them, each disying a new task.


    [Task 13: Defeat Father Hugo in the Orphanage.]


    Several other tasks shed up on the screen:


    [Task #14: Investigate the abandoned ssrooms, there may be something in there.]


    [Task #15: Find the missing orphan''s journal and bring it to its ghost.]


    [Task #16: Banish the lingering spirits in the dormitory.]


    [Task #17: Kill all entities inside the orphanage.]


    [#18: Destroy the cursed toys in the yroom.]


    [Task #19: Survive Father Hugo''s "test of faith."]


    Each task seemed to point to different areas within the orphanage, and the unsettling atmosphere gnawed at them as they explored.


    Stark and Sora explored the orphanage, but the deeper they went, the more unsettling the atmosphere became.


    The ssrooms were empty, their desks still neatly arranged as though the children had vanished in the middle of their lessons.


    All exit doors were locked, and windows shut.


    "This is... eerie," Sora said quietly.


    Stark chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. "Oh, you feel dread too? Thought you were emotionless to the core."


    Sora shot him a sideways nce but didn''t bite. "I just don''t like seeing a ce for children in this... state. This trial is truly wicked."


    Stark raised an eyebrow. "You like children?" He hadn''t expected that. Sora had alwayse off as indifferent to most things.


    "Yes," she replied simply.


    That caught Stark off guard.


    He was about to ask more, curious to learn something new about hispanion, but before he could say anything¡ª


    Tap. Tap. Tap.


    CREAK! BAM!


    A loud crack sounded as Stark stepped on a fragile floorboard.


    The wood splintered beneath his feet, and he fell through the floor.


    "Shit!" Stark cursed as he plummeted into darkness.


    He quickly tried to throw a Crimson Ball to stop his fall, but he missed it, and before he could attempt another, his body hit the ground hard.


    BAM!


    -13,371 HP


    Stark groaned as he pulled himself off the ground, wincing in pain.


    He wasn''t dead, but the fall had left him bruised and disoriented.


    Looking around, he realized he was in the orphanage''s basement.


    The hole he had fallen through was too high to climb, and there was no sign of Sora.


    "She''ll be fine," Stark mumbled to himself. "She can handle herself."


    The room he found himself in was unsettling.


    White walls surrounded him, but what stood out were the chains hanging from them.


    Scattered throughout the room were corpses, some of adults, others... children.


    "This ce just gets better and better," Stark sighed, trying to push the disturbing images from his mind.


    There was only one exit: a wooden door at the far end of the room.


    Stark headed toward it without hesitation, wanting to get out of here and meet up with Sora again.


    But just as his hand reached for the handle¡ª


    SLAM!


    The door burst open.


    A massive figure loomed in the doorway.


    Stark barely had time to react before it kicked him with a force that sent him flying back into the wall.


    His shield cracked under the impact.


    -83,394 HP


    But it didn''t break.


    [47,812/200,000]


    it still held on from his previous encounters.]


    "Fuck..." Stark groaned, pushing himself to his feet, feeling the sharp pain in his side. But he wasn''t about to go down that easily.


    A voice echoed through the room, deep and menacing, "Bad child. Escaping is not allowed."


    Stark''s eyes narrowed as he looked up, seeing a panel disy in front of him.


    [Moonscorch Commander: Father Hugo.]


    [Level 600]


    "Damn."

 Chapter 330: Orphanage Basement, Father Hugo

    Stark stood across from Father Hugo, staring up at the towering figure.


    The air in the basement felt suffocating, thick with the stench of decay and the oppressive weight of something far worse.


    Father Hugo, the Moonscorch Commander, was a living nightmare.


    His dark, priestly robes clung to his massive frame, and his face, twisted and swollen with corruption, barely resembled anything human.


    Stark wiped the sweat from his brow, eyes scanning for weaknesses.


    But he found none.


    There was a flicker of hesitation, but he shook it off.


    Level 600.


    That number burned in his mind.


    It was far beyond his capabilities, but he didn''t have the luxury of retreating now.


    He couldn''t show fear. Not aftering this far.


    Father Hugo tilted his head, his voice an eerie croak, "Children who stray must be... corrected."


    Without warning, the priest lunged forward.


    Stark had barely a second to brace himself.


    His instincts kicked in¡ª Invincible Dodge¡ªhe sidestepped the attack, narrowly avoiding Hugo''s fist, which smashed into the ground with terrifying force. Cracks splintered outward, shaking the entire room.


    "He''s too strong..." Stark muttered under his breath, but there was no turning back.


    Crimson energy surged around Stark''s body as he prepared his counterattack.


    "Crimson Spears!"


    Ten blood-red spears materialized in the air, swirling in a deadly formation.


    With a thought, Stark sent them flying toward Hugo''s chest, each spear aiming for a vital point.


    But Father Hugo barely flinched.


    His arm moved with frightening speed, swatting the spears aside like they were nothing more than twigs.


    Two of them managed to pierce his side, but the wounds were shallow, barely scratching his grotesque skin.


    -13,842!


    -14,437!


    Before Stark could react, Hugo''s massive foot mmed into his chest with bone-crushing force.


    CRACK!


    -83,394!


    Stark was thrown back, his shieldpletely cracking under the sheer power of the attack.


    [Your "Crimson Barrier" broke.]


    His vision blurred as pain seared through his ribs.


    Blood trickled from his mouth as he gasped for air.


    His health bar had plummeted.


    He was dangerously close to death.


    "I need to-"


    He couldn''t even finish his sentence that he sensed an overwhelming aura behind him.


    "Oh... god..."


    "Children, do you understand?" Hugo spoke, his entire figure darkened by his aura, only his eyes being white and leaving a trail as they moved.


    "Correction SMASH!"


    BOOOOOOM!


    Hugo smashed Stark''s head.


    If it was any other participant, then they would have died at this point.


    -170,383!


    He was about to copse from the pain.


    But then, like a spark reigniting, the familiar surge of power coursed through him.


    [Crimson Healing activated, Full Health restored.]


    "Get up... get up...!" Stark whispered to himself as his consciousness came back, adrenaline pumping as he scrambled to his feet.


    Father Hugo loomed over him, his eyes burning with a sick, religious stare.


    Stark knew he couldn''t win. Not now. Not against something this powerful. But he could run.


    The wooden door at the far end of the room was his only chance.


    Stark summoned what strength he had left, pushing through the agony that radiated from his cracked ribs.


    He nced at the chains on the walls, the scattered corpses, and something inside him screamed to move faster.


    With a burst of speed, Stark dashed toward the door, ignoring the ominous creaks and groans of the floor beneath him.


    Father Hugo''s heavy footsteps followed, methodical and unhurried, as if he had all the time in the world.


    "Crimson Ball Transmission!" Stark yelled, throwing one of his crimson orbs toward the door.


    He snapped his fingers, teleporting instantly.


    Just as Father Hugo reached out with one of his massive hands, Stark blinked through space and appeared on the other side of the door.


    He mmed it shut behind him and fumbled with the handle.


    His heart pounded in his chest as he searched for something to hold it closed.


    There!


    A small iron keyy on a nearby shelf.


    Stark grabbed it, thrust it into the lock, and twisted.


    There was a satisfying click, but Stark knew this would only give him around two seconds of additional spare time.


    He needed to get back to Sora.


    Father Hugo was too powerful, even with all his skills, his boosts, everything he had learned up until now.


    [Heaven''s Spear] came to his mind, but he shook it off.


    He needed it for the other participants, as well as the moons.


    He quickly noticed a flight of stairs that led up and found his way out of the basement.


    Ding!


    [You will not be able to leave the ''Orphanage'' until you defeat Father Hugo.]


    "Figured as much," Stark muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead.


    He knew he couldn''t just leave the orphanage.


    Whatever twisted magic this ce held wouldn''t let him go until Hugo was dead.


    But that fight¡ªhe wasn''t ready for that. He had to find Sora, regroup, ande up with a n or another way to leave.


    BOOM!


    He heard the sound of the door he had locked effortlessly being destroyed, and so he knew he needed to be faster.


    With a final nce at the basement door, Stark began to make his way through the narrow, dimly lit hallways of the orphanage.


    The eerie silence pressed down on him like a weight.


    The idea of seeing [Father Hugo] emerge from the corner of a hallway terrified him.


    After all, he knew that this thing was faster than him: it was walking to make sure Stark he was nothing but a bug.


    He passed several rooms, each more unsettling than thest.


    Cribs overturned, old toys scattered across the floor, their bright colors faded with time and dust.


    There were no signs of life, just remnants of a happier time long gone.


    His breath was ragged, his body still recovering from the brutal assault.


    Even with [Crimson Healing]''s recovery, he somehow still felt pain, which was weird.


    Where was Sora?


    She had to be okay. She was strong, he reminded himself.


    Maybe not as strong as the others, but they were alone in the orphanage, so it should be fine.


    But still, his mind raced with worst-case scenarios.


    He couldn''t afford to lose her¡ªnot here, not like this.


    "Sora?" he shouted.


    But nothing.


    Stark pressed on, moving through the dark corridors.


    Every creak and groan of the old building made him tense, expecting Father Hugo to burst through a wall or a door at any moment.


    He kept his fighting position at all times just for this reason.


    Then, he heard it¡ªsoft footsteps in the distance, light but deliberate.


    Stark''s heart leaped as he quickened his pace, turning a corner to find Sora emerging from one of the ssrooms.


    "Sora!" Stark called out, relief in his voice. "We need to get out of here!"


    She looked up, her expression calm, "What happened? You disappeared for a while."


    "I fell into the basement," Stark exined quickly, ncing over his shoulder, half-expecting Father Hugo to burst through the floor.


    "And Father Hugo... he''s a monster. I tried fighting him, but it''s not happening. He almost killed me."


    Sora''s eyes narrowed, instinctively activating her aura, "So what''s the n?"


    Stark shook his head. "There''s no n, Sora, that thing is killing us if we get too close, we need to find another way."


    "..." Sora''s eyes widened slightly.


    She had never seen Stark like this.


    It was apparent from his expression that he was serious.


    "QUICK, WE NEED TO-"


    He held her hand as he tried to quickly move.


    But... it was toote.


    "Found you, bad children."


    A voice could be heard from the corner of a hallway, and from it appeared [Father Hugo], the smile on his face still visible.

 Chapter 331: Completing Tasks in the Orphanage

    Stark''s heart pounded as he and Sora locked eyes with Father Hugo.


    The dark-robed figure was a nightmare brought to life, his twisted smile stretching unnaturally as he filled the corridor with his overwhelming presence.


    Every step echoed, the floorboards creaking beneath his weight, and that nauseating stench of decay rolled toward them, making Stark''s stomach turn.


    "There you are, little ones," Father Hugo murmured, his voice reverberating with a chilling edge. "Only the faithful will find salvation in this sacred ce."


    The notification red in front of Stark''s vision, listing out tasks he hadn''tpleted that were scattered throughout the orphanage.


    [Task #13: Defeat Father Hugo in the Orphanage.]


    [Task #14: Investigate the abandoned ssrooms; there may be something in there.]


    [Task #15: Find the missing orphan''s journal in the library and bring it to its ghost.]


    [Task #16: Banish the lingering spirits in the dormitory.]


    [Task #17: Kill all entities inside the orphanage.]


    [Task #18: Destroy the cursed toys in the yroom.]


    [Task #19: Survive Father Hugo''s "test of faith."]


    "Well, that''sforting," Stark muttered, eyes scanning the corridor for a way out.


    He tightened his grip, ncing at Sora. "Let''s move. That thing''s going to tear us apart if we stay here."


    Sora''s face was tense, but she nodded, her aura ring around here, ready to deflect or block any attack, "Where?"


    "Anywhere that isn''t here," Stark hissed, and they bolted down the corridor.


    Father Hugo''s footsteps were slow, almost measured, as if he was savoring the chase.


    Stark and Sora dashed through the narrow hallways, their feet pounding against the decaying wood.


    Every so often, they''d catch a glimpse of Hugo''s shadow stretching across the wall, his presence relentless.


    He was walking so slowly, yet always caught up no matter.


    Stark would try and send [Crimson Spears] or [Crimson Fists] at him.


    But...


    Fwish! Fwish! Fwish!


    For some reason, Father Hugo blocked it all.


    Maybe he had actually let Stark''s spear hit him before? Who knows.*


    Even the [Spear of Judgment], who Stark thought was incredibly powerful, was blocked and broken.


    [Task #15: Find the missing orphan''s journal (in the library) and bring it to its ghost.]


    Stark spotted a roombeled Library to his right. "In here!" he whispered, gesturing for Sora to follow.


    The room was cluttered with dust-covered books and forgotten toys, their once-bright colors dulled.


    Stark''s eyes scanned the shelves, searching for anything that resembled a journal.


    Atst, he spotted a small leather-bound book tucked away on a shelf and pulled it out.


    The faded name of a child, "Samuel," was scrawled on the cover.


    [You have found the missing orphan''s journal.]


    Before they could take a breath, a low, cold whisper filled the room, "Have youe to read my story?"


    A translucent form, the ghostly figure of a child, appeared near the corner of the room, his pale face drawn with sorrow. Stark held out the journal, offering it to the child.


    "It''s yours, isn''t it?"


    The ghost nodded, taking the journal in trembling hands before fading away, leaving a strange, cold silence in its wake.


    [Task #15 Complete. Reward: "Blood-Stained Amulet" (Reduces the infection rate)]


    Stark slipped the amulet between his neck alongside his [Sculk Ne] and gave Sora a nod. "One down. Let''s keep moving."


    He did try to attack with [Sculk] by the way, but Hugo didn''t even budge.


    He needed toplete the most amount of tasks possible.


    "Where do you think you''re going?" but as they tried to leave the library, Father Hugo suddenly appeared, grabbing Stark from the neck and lifting him up.


    "S-SHIT!"


    "Vine Smash!"


    BAM! BAM! BAM!


    Sora then tried to strike Father Hugo repeatedly, but a single movement of his empty hand sent her flying.


    "...Die, child," Hugo smiled.


    "FUCK YOU!"


    Crimson Ball Transmission!


    Stark threw the ball behind and snapped his fingers, teleporting away from Hugo''s grip.


    Him and Sora immediately ran away.


    "Keep running, it only excites me more!"


    As they crept further down the hallway, an open doorway led them into the Dormitory


    .


    Shadows hung heavy in the air, and faint murmurs drifted from the beds where spectral forms tossed and turned in a restless slumber.


    Stark sensed it was the perfect ce to cleanse.


    "Sora, I''m going to purify this area."


    With a nod, Sora took her position at the entrance, ready to intercept anything that might interrupt him.


    Stark closed his eyes, summoning the radiant crimson energy of his skill.


    "Crimson Purification!"


    A wave of holy aura surged outward, washing over the dormitory.


    The restless spirits dissolved in its warmth, their expressions of anguish easing before they vanished into the ether.


    [Task #16 Complete. Reward: "rity Orb" (Negates all hallucinations for 60 seconds upon use).]


    Stark exhaled, his breath hitching as the energy drained from him slightly. "Not this... fuck..."


    Sora''s eyes darted down the corridor. "He''s here," she whispered, her toneced with urgency.


    They barely had time to react. Father Hugo''s massive form stepped into the doorway, blocking any path to freedom. His arms stretched out as if weing them into an embrace, a sickening smile stered across his face.


    "Children must be obedient," he murmured.


    Without hesitation, he lunged forward.


    Stark activated


    Invincible Dodge,


    sidestepping the priest''s grasp just in time.


    Sora spun out of the way, her [Vine de] which she summoned shing as she attempted to strike Hugo''s side, but the priest merelyughed, his skin repelling her de as though it were made of straw.


    Stark''s instincts screamed at him to run. "We can''t hold him off like this. Move!"


    They ducked into another hallway, and Stark''s eyes fell upon a door marked yroom


    .


    They entered to find rows of dusty shelves lined with broken, malformed toys.


    Dolls with hollow eyes stared back at them, and stuffed animals were twisted in unnatural poses.


    Each toy seemed to emit a faint, malevolent aura, tainted by years of abandonment.


    [Task #18: Destroy the cursed toys in the yroom.]


    Sora picked up one of the toys¡ªa ragged bear with a sewn-on smile.


    As soon as she touched it, its eyes glowed red, and it lunged at her hand, trying to bite down.


    "These toys are cursed¡­ they''re alive."


    Stark''s crimson energy red around him. "They won''t be for long. Crimson Spears!"


    The spears materialized, and with precise control, Starkunched them into the cursed toys, tearing them apart one by one.


    The toys writhed and twisted, releasing small bursts of dark energy as they were destroyed.


    [Task #18 Complete. Reward: "Master Key" (Unlocks any lock in the orphanage).]


    "I DON''T WANT ANY OF THESE THINGS," he shouted, "I WANT A GODDAMNED COOLDOWN GEM!"


    If he didn''t have his [Heaven''s Spear] ready at any point, every contestant would try to kill him.


    He wanted to make sure he had it at all times.


    Otherwise, he would have to use it on [Father Hugo] and put himself at risk.


    When using [Heaven''s Spear], a giant angel appears in the sky, so if the angel throws the spear, it wouldn''t take a genius to realize that Stark didn''t have it anymore.


    Especially CEO, that asshole, even though he is alone now, probably is strong enough to take him on without issues.


    "Wait, Stark!" Sora mumbled, looking at the key, "This can be useful!"


    "...Yeah," Stark''s mind raced as he clutched the Master Key.


    There had to be one ce left they could escape to.


    His memory snapped back to a map he''d glimpsed earlier¡ªayout of the orphanage showing a courtyard just beyond the main hall.


    "Come on, Sora. I think we can reach the courtyard," he said, pulling her along as they navigated the winding hallways.


    As they neared the main hall, Hugo''s voice boomed behind them, filled with unholy wrath. "Your insolence shall not go unpunished!"


    They threw open the final door leading to the courtyard, bursting into the night air.


    Stark''s chest heaved as he looked around, taking in the vast, open space filled with tangled vines, decrepit statues, and a suffocating darkness that shrouded the area.


    For the first time, he allowed himself a brief moment to catch his breath.


    But the reprieve was brief.


    A strange chill filled the courtyard, coiling around them like a suffocating fog.


    Stark and Sora froze as the ground in the center of the courtyard began to tremble.


    Shadows pooled together, congealing into a massive, writhing figure, its form shifting and pulsing as it absorbed the darkness around it.


    In an instant, Stark''s vision shed red, warning of an iing enemy:


    [Eternal Regret ¨C Level 600, Formed from the Tormented Souls of the Orphanage''s Lost Children]


    The creature stood taller than Father Hugo, its translucent body shuddering with the faces of dozens of children, mouths twisted in agony.


    The cries of the lost souls pierced the air, a dreadful chorus of pain and sorrow.


    "Oh god," Sora breathed hard, still trying to keep her cool, "Stark¡­ what do we do?"


    Stark''s mind raced.


    His skills weren''t fully cooled down, and he knew that facing the Eternal Regret head-on would be a death wish: it could be just as strong as Hugo.


    But there was nowhere to run.


    They were trapped between Hugo and this monstrous embodiment of pure anguish.


    The beast''s eyes flickered, focusing on them both, a single word echoing from its hollow chest in dozens of different voices.


    "Release¡­"


    Stark steadied himself, his jaw set. "Sora, whatever happens, stay close and don''t let go."

 Chapter 332: Eternal Regret, The Orphanage Courtyard

    As Stark and Sora faced the towering horror of Eternal Regret and the relentless Father Hugo, an icy wind gusted through the courtyard.


    The courtyard was vast but closed in by stone walls and towering iron gates, a cage that had be theirst stand.


    With Eternal Regret blocking any escape and Hugo advancing behind them, retreat was no longer an option.


    "Stay close," Stark spoke to Sora.


    She nodded, her eyes narrowed, looking back and forth between the two enemies.


    Father Hugo, though walking at rtively slow speed, was now already visible to them, still marching.


    And on the other hand, Eternal Regret loomed over them, its translucent form shifting, the faces of anguished children trapped within the creature''s body shifting in silent screams.


    Stark steadied himself, knowing full well that whatever he did next had to count.


    With a flick of his hand, he conjured his [Crimson Spears],unching three toward Eternal Regret''s core, hoping they would hit something substantial in the nebulous mass of shadows and souls.


    The spears shot forward, piercing the creature''s form, but instead of any satisfying impact, they seemed to dissolve within it, each face in Eternal Regret''s body twisting into brief expressions of even deeper sorrow before the spears vanished.


    "No good," Stark muttered, frustration building.


    This wasn''t like Father Hugo¡ªthere was nothing solid to strike.


    "Perception!"


    ...


    [Name: Eternal Regret]


    [Level: 600]


    [HP: 1]


    [Strength: ???]


    [Stamina: ???]


    [Speed: ???]


    [Defense: ???]


    [Skills: Release...]


    ...


    "Huh?" Stark was confused, and he actually stopped doing whatever he was doing because of this.


    He couldn''t see the stats?


    And what about its health points, why were they at one?


    Only one skill as well?


    ...


    [Skill: Release]


    [Description: Release all of your regrets and destroy anyone who tries to stop you.]


    ...


    "Stark!" Sora''s voice was sharp with warning as she nced over his shoulder.


    "Huh?" he snapped back to reality and looked behind.


    Father Hugo had drawn close, his lips curling into that sadistic smile as he whispered, "There is no escape."


    Without hesitation, Stark lunged to his right, avoiding the priest''s outstretched hand.


    He activated [Invincible Dodge].


    [Perfect Dodge!]


    He let the world slow for a split second as he slipped out of the way, but just as he did, Eternal Regret let out a horrific wail.


    The ground trembled, and Stark staggered as his dodge window ended, thrown off bnce by the force of the cry.


    "Sora!" he called, looking at her.


    She nodded, eyes shing with determination as she gripped her [Vine de], her literal newest skill.


    Stark took a steadying breath and then activated [Double Assault].


    His strength and speed doubled in an instant, and his senses sharpened as time seemed to slow around him.


    He moved in a blur, striking at Eternal Regret''s shadowy limbs, hoping to break through its defenses and give Sora an opening.


    Each punch from Stark was met with wisps of darkness dissipating, and though the creature wasn''t physically harmed, its form seemed to tremble, a resonance of pain echoing back at him.


    He punched so hard and fast that his fists became almost invisible, averaging 50 hits per second.


    "LET''S DO THIS!" he shouted, "ASURA''S ARMS!"


    He summoned the four arms, and they also began to punch [Eternal Regret].


    0! 0! 0! 0!


    He just needed...


    0! 0! 0! 0!


    One single point of damage.


    0! 0! 0!


    Yet even with everything, he didn''t manage to damage it.


    He spent his entire 20 seconds hitting the creature, but the max he did was make its form twitch slightly.


    Father Hugo wasn''t even moving anymore, seeminglyughing at Stark''s futile attempt.


    "Alright," once the timer stopped, he looked back at Sora, "Physical attacks won''t work-"


    BOOOM!


    Father Hugo quite literally teleported next to Stark, and though the boy saw it, he didn''t manage to avoid the fist.


    SLAM!


    He was sent crashing toward one of the courtyard walls, destroying it.


    -18,374!


    But it was fine, because as long as he still had his six arms, he could manage something.


    Father Hugo''s mockingughter echoed, his twisted smile widening.


    He continued marching toward Stark, actually walking right past Sora and ignoring her.


    "Not worth my time," he whispered when she could hear.


    "..."


    "Come," Father Hugo gestured for the other monster, and it followed his orders.


    "Follow... Father... Hugo..." the voices on its body wailed.


    Stark wiped the blood from his lip, gaze flicking between the two menacing threats.


    Eternal Regret''s ghostly wails intensified, the faces of trapped souls swirling faster within its shadowy form, as though sensing an opening to feed off his growing despair.


    Stark clenched his fists, feeling a surge of resolve.


    They couldn''t afford to retreat, not when every second wasted meant giving these creatures more control over the situation. "Alright," he muttered to himself, "if direct attacks are useless, then maybe¡­"


    His mind raced, considering his options.


    His gazended on the red glow of his [Crimson Purification].


    Perhaps¡­ it was risky, but it might work.


    Focusing his energy, he summoned the holy skill, and as a crimson aura enveloped him, he felt a wave of purifying heat course through his body.


    "CRIMSON PURIFICATION!" he roared, unleashing the energy in a blinding burst.


    The light radiated outward, its holy energy aimed directly at Eternal Regret''s shadowy form.


    For a moment, the creature recoiled, the shadowy faces within it contorting, mouths open in silent screams as the holy aura washed over them.


    "!!!"


    0!


    It didn''t receive damage.


    But...


    "Alright."


    At least now he had a way to momentarily stun it.


    Father Hugo on the other hand shook off the energy with overwhelming easy, a simple swing of his arm cutting it off.


    Wielding Cross!


    Stark needed to keep trying, though.


    SMASH!


    He summoned his giant cross, hovering above him, and then swung it like a baseball bat toward Father Hugo.


    "Fool."


    But the old man grabbed it with his bare hands, took it away from Stark, and threw it.


    "...Dude."


    That guy had quite literally every solution to his skills.


    He wanted to use [Heaven''s Wrath] at this point, but he was sure Hugo would avoid it with no problems.


    "So you think a little trick will save you?" Hugo taunted, his eyes gleaming with sadistic pleasure. "Only the faithful will find salvation."


    Stark tensed as the priest lunged forward, swinging his arm in a brutal arc.


    Sora tried to intercept, her [Vine de] shing as she aimed for his side, but Hugo''s hand snaked out, grabbing her by the wrist and twisting it painfully.


    "This useless child is only causing us trouble, getting rid of her will make it all easier."


    "Sora!" Stark shouted, but Hugo tossed her aside as if she were nothing.


    Stark gritted his teeth, fury bubbling up inside him.


    He couldn''t waste any more time; Hugo had to be stopped.


    He clenched his fists, summoning all the power he had left.


    His aura took over his entire body, covering it entirely, only leaving his eyes visible with a visible white aura.


    With a burst of speed, Stark lunged forward, his fist crashing into Hugo''s chest with enough force to crack the air.


    The impact reverberated through the courtyard, sending the priest skidding backward.


    -47,839!


    "DIE. YOU. FUCKING. HERETIC."


    But Hugo simplyughed, straightening with a sickening crack. "Is that all, child?" he taunted, wiping a thin line of blood from his lip.


    Stark growled in frustration, the energy draining from him. He was running out of time and options.


    Hugo took a step forward, raising his hand, dark energy swirling around his fingers.


    "Sora¡­ find cover!" Stark shouted, throwing up his six arms as a wave of darkness exploded from Hugo''s palm, engulfing the courtyard in shadow.


    The air grew cold as ice, and the shadows seemed to press in on them, cutting off all light.


    Stark blinked, his vision adjusting to the darkness, trying to find Sora.


    But all he could see was Hugo''s eyes glowing faintly, piercing through the ck.


    His heart pounded, each beat echoing in his ears as he struggled to steady his breath.


    He wouldn''t give Hugo the satisfaction of showing fear.


    A low chuckle rumbled from the darkness. "Lost, are we?" Hugo''s voice slithered through the shadows, taunting him.


    [Test of Faith]


    [Task #19: Survive Father Hugo''s "Test of Faith."]


    "God damn it..."

 Chapter 333: Heartless One and Tormented One

    CEO and Shock are stuck in the Mayor''s Manor, discussing with him around the table.


    Stark and Sora are inside the Orphanage, forced to participate in Father Hugo''s [Test of Faith].


    But... there are still 6 other participants, isn''t there?


    In a city this big, filled with monsters and secrets, what could they potentially be doing?


    Lilith, Clever, Dave and ir, Artist, and finally, Follower.


    ...


    Clever is simply resting inside of a store in the [Shopping District], humming a small tune while spinning his cane, he is so unbothered by everything that it''s actually scary.


    Is he this powerful?


    Lilith is also meditating inside a moldy apartment in the [Business District], as always, her eyes are closed, and she''s floating in the air, a cyan aura surrounding her.


    Eyes shut, mind open, she waited for the right moment, gathering strength in stillness.


    But now that these two, who seem to be unbothered by the trial, are out.


    Let''s get to those that are actually acting.


    ...


    Artist - Museum


    The streets of Terminay silent, steeped in shadows, as Artist pushed open the grand doors of the museum.


    Inside, darkness cloaked the walls, and statues stared with hollow eyes.


    He gave them no thought.


    Artist tightened his grip on his brush, feeling its power surge.


    Monsters crawled everywhere, skeletal and warped, their limbs distorted beyond reason, their moans hollowed by madness.


    Most of these monsters seemed to have escaped the paintings they had been in.


    With a flick of his wrist, he summoned [Oil Wave], sending a cascade of shimmering, viscous liquid surging across the marble floor, washing over his foes.


    Artist then lifted his brush, chanting with quiet intensity, "Stter Explosion."


    The wave ignited, bright tendrils of fire leaping through the museum, sttering the walls with monstrous remains.


    The monsters were relentless, but Artist was a blur, killing them all with ease.


    He barely paused as he painted through the assault, sttering, slicing, and weaving through his attackers with a deadly rhythm.


    There are only three tasks in the museum:


    [Task 56: Steal the "Power Ruby" from the museum.]


    [Task 100: Kill The Heartless One and The Tormented One.]


    [Task 79: Find the "Cursed Painting" and break it.]


    Artist''s goal is to take the [Power Ruby], it is the only thing he is interested in.


    Anything else would be a risk, and dying meant that his masterpiece would never beplete.


    After twenty minutes, he finally reached the final chamber of the museum.


    He pushed open the chamber''s heavy doors and there, in the center of the room, upon a pedestal carved from ancient stone, sat the Power Ruby.


    Crimson light pooled around the pedestal, illuminating the ruby''s sharp edges.


    Artist''s eyes gleamed, admiration flickering across his face.


    He immediately tried to reach out for it, as there was nothing else to do here.


    But just as his fingers grazed it, the floor shuddered.


    [Warning. Intruder.]


    Before he could react, the ground gave way beneath him, stones crumbling, sending him plummeting downward.


    Hended hard, his brush ttering beside him.


    "Damn."


    Dusting himself off, Artist took in his surroundings.


    A tunnel stretched ahead, dimly lit by torches lining the walls.


    The pathway could lead only one way: forward.


    He walked through the tunnel, feeling an oppressive weight in the air.


    Once he arrived at the end, he noticed an exit door at the far end of a giant room.


    But before that door is a fountain.


    [Tormented and Heartless Altar]


    [Drop your blood in it to summon them.]


    "..."


    [They are one of the moonscorchedmanders.]


    "Oh."


    So they were the final moonscorchedmanders.


    The Mayor was one, Father Hugo another, and these two were thest.


    "Well, might as well," he smiled.


    With a quick sh of his brush across his palm, crimson dripped into the altar''s basin.


    And the moment the blood met the liquid...


    BOOM!


    It surged upwards, twisting and contorting into shapes.


    Artist watched, captivated, as the blood spun higher, transforming into the first figure: a skinless humanoid, basically it had no human skin and you could see the red interior.


    It was wearing a cloak made out of its skin, and it had no mouth, as if it did, you would have to constantly hear its screams, for it is always tortured.


    [The Tormented One.]


    A second figure took shape beside it, feminine and almost divine.


    She wore a dark suit over her body, the only exposed part of her being her face, which retained a disturbingly serene beauty.


    In her right hand she was carrying a golden spear, and in her left a ck de, there was also a golden halo above her head, and ck wings on her back.


    [The Heartless One.]


    "A mix of angel and devil...?" Artist pondered as he prepared to battle.


    But Artist hadn''t realized something, none of the participants did.


    The Sniper and Inquisitor are the weakestmanders by far, only serving the purpose of making the participant''s confidence grow.


    They are dummies, basically, they serve no purpose.


    But the other three on the other hand: the Mayor, Father Hugo, and The Altered Ones (which is the duo name for Tormented One and Heartless One) are on another level.


    [Tormented One - Level 600]


    [Heartless One - Level 600]


    They are also the strongestmanders out of the lot, stronger than both Mayor and Hugo.


    Basically, Artist was facing something almost impossible to beat.


    "..."


    The Heartless One''sughter rang through the chamber, cold and mocking. "A cute little human¡­ releasing us, just to die."


    "You aren''t good enough to be part of my masterpiece," that is all Artist said as he stared at the two of them, "Begone."


    The two figures loomed closer, indifferent to his words.


    Their levels¡ªan overwhelming 600 each¡ªdid not escape him, but Artist''s confidence never wavered.


    He had no illusions; he understood the stakes, but even then, he didn''t feel like running.


    He would only run if the situation required it.


    The Tormented One shifted, the grotesque form radiating a nauseating heat, its hollow eyes fixated on him.


    The Heartless One moved with fluid grace, brandishing her spear, wings arcing back as she prepared to strike.


    Artist moved first, holdinghis brush, colors spilling into the air.


    He cast [Ink Torrent], a jet of dark ink whipping forward, blinding the Tormented One momentarily.


    Before the creature could regain sight, Artist followed with [Brush Barrage], each stroke sharp and swift, cutting through the air in blurs of color and force.


    The Heartless One sidestepped, her movements graceful and deadly.


    She lunged, her spear gleaming in the dim light, aiming straight for his chest.


    Artist twisted, narrowly evading the strike as he unleashed [Chromatic Storm], an explosion of colors that engulfed the room, bursts of energy forcing the Heartless One to retreat, her golden halo dimming.


    But even then...


    -0! -0!


    Artist couldn''t harm them for some reason.


    He had believed he could maybe just try to test his luck and see if he could take them on.


    But he now removes everything he said before: these things couldn''t be beaten, not a chance.


    "Well," he sighs, "I guess I''ll just leave," he drew a door in the ground, opened it, and jumped inside right as the [Tormented One] was about to st him off.


    Artist had just unleashed two monsters in the trial, and they could now leave the Museum and chase other participants.

 Chapter 334: Godless Demon Follower, Two More Deaths

    The square in front of the Hollow Tower was steeped in an eerie calm, punctuated only by the asional distant groan of the moonscorched roaming nearby.


    Dave and ire stood before the massive structure, its colossal doors bound by an ancient magic that pulsed faintly.


    They had tried to break the seal multiple times, their attacks repelled by the invisible force that shimmered around the doorway.


    [Hollow Tower]


    [Be thest participant alive,plete 5 tasks and kill all moonscorchedmanders to open the door.]


    Dave, the brown-haired, broad-shouldered man, nced down at his hand, where his sword felt like an extension of himself, constantly humming withtent energy.


    His gaze shifted over to ire as she held her ground beside him, blonde hair catching the cold light of the square.


    The two of them had made a formidable team since entering this trial, their powersplementing each other perfectly.


    And for some strange reason, almost no monsters dared to approach the tower.


    They could see the moonscorched monsters around the square, staring at them, but none entered.


    Dave was carrying his sword in his right hand like always.


    It didn''t seem like he was powerful, but he was in fact a monster.


    As shown before, every domination user''s power has a specific name:


    For Shock, it is [Domination: Electricity], for Sora it is [Domination: nts].


    What about Stark, you might ask.


    Well... who knows?


    Maybeter.


    Dave''s power was named: [Domination - Reach] and ire''s was [Domination - Monster]


    The former can teleport almost aywhere in an area because of his reach, and even his sword can elongate itself up to one kilometer.


    It would be hard to keep up with him in an actual battle.


    ire on the other hand can transform any of her body parts into [Aleor], the monster she awakened when getting her ss.


    Whether it is arms, legs, face, she can transform anything into the ck beast!


    She can also fully transform, but that is her [Godly] skill.


    Together, they exuded a quiet confidence, standing before the Hollow Tower undisturbed by the foreboding aura it cast.


    But that quiet confidence would soon be shattered.


    They expected to be alone here.


    But they were wrong.


    "More... More..."


    [Prove your devotion.]


    [Kill 5 participants.]


    [2/5]


    "I need more..."


    Follower had gained incredible abilities from the [Godless Demon], allowing him to grow so strong he could defeat a moonscorchedmander by himself.


    As you probably realized, he had contracted with the godless demon himself to grant him more power.


    It was something you could do: contract with one of the apostles, or the godless demon himself to be one of his followers.


    As a price for that, he would need to follow the orders of the godless demon forever, but it didn''t bother him: he actually liked it.


    "I need... more..."


    And in the end, if he manages toplete his ultimate task, then he will rank up to being one of the [Godless Demon Apostles].


    [Ultimate Task]


    [Kill Stark Heartsouls, AKA Chosen, and escape this trial alone.]


    The more he fed on these powers, the more powerful he would be.


    Being an apostle was a honor to him.


    Oh, yeah, and let''s just say... he wasn''t the only one who received this offer.


    Actually, the task [Kill Stark Heartsouls] had been given to two other people beside Follower.


    They were people the [Godless Demon] deemed strong enough to be possible apostles.


    Anyway, back to the trial, Follower was moving fast through the city, killing anything he saw, unbothered by the experience gain as two attacks were enough to end most monsters now.


    And then... he arrived at the square where the massive [Hollow Tower] is located.


    A low voice, barely a whisper yet filled with an insatiable hunger, echoed through the square.


    "More¡­ more..."


    Dave''s grip tightened on his sword as he scanned the darkness beyond the square.


    He saw the figure approaching, slowly stepping into the faint torchlight.


    The figure''s eyes glinted with an unnatural gleam, and his presence alone seemed to make the air heavy, thick with malice and an insidious intent.


    The man''s skin seemed pallid, almost gaunt, as though drained by something far darker than death.


    "..."


    "..."


    Follower''s eyes, ssy and intense, locked onto them, a crooked grin spreading across his face.


    His fingers traced the edge of his [Cross-Sword], the weapon gleaming with a deadly, crimson aura.


    He muttered something under his breath, and the shadows seemed to grow thicker, the world closing in around him.


    He stopped a short distance away, standing before them with an air of reverence, yet somehow still seething with a quiet, feverish madness.


    "Prove your devotion," he whispered, voice tinged with something unhinged. "Three more¡­ for the godless demon."


    Dave and ire exchanged a quick nce, understanding shing between them.


    There was no need for words; they''d been in this trial long enough to know that anyone who wore that expression was either an enemy or a dead man walking.


    Without hesitation, Dave surged forward, his sword elongating to strike from a distance.


    The de stretched out, hurtling toward Follower, but with a smirk, Follower sidestepped, his movement fluid and disturbingly fast.


    With barely a pause, Dave teleported beside him, using his [Reach] to close the gap in an instant and unleash a powerful overhead sh.


    Yet Follower was already ready, moving in sync with Dave''s assault.


    His [Cross-Sword] flickered upward to meet Dave''s de in a harsh ng of metal.


    Follower''s smirk grew, his voice lilting as he taunted, "Is that all you can do?"


    ire''s eyes narrowed as her arm began to shift, ck scales creeping up her skin as she transformed it into the monstrous w of Aleor.


    She rushed forward, thrusting the w toward Follower''s torso.


    He spun, narrowly dodging her attack, his movements as smooth as liquid, and in one swift motion, he brought his sword down toward her exposed side.


    Dave''s sword whipped through the air, intercepting Follower''s blow and deflecting it with a burst of energy.


    "You''re not getting through that easy," he growled, stepping in front of ire.


    ENERGY SWING!


    His elongated sword shimmered as he swung it, creating arcs of energy that swept across the square, forcing Follower to leap back, momentarily on the defensive.


    "Well... at least I tried to be nice," Follower sighed, "This is gonna be painful."


    But as they moved, they felt an overwhelming pressure, an aura thick with an unnatural power that seemed to crush the very ground beneath it.


    Follower''s eyes glowed as he lifted his [Cross-Sword], a twisted smile on his face.


    His voice dripped with a chilling satisfaction. "You don''t understand, do you? You''re not fighting a mere participant anymore."


    CRIMSON CORRUPTION!


    With a dark incantation, the [Godless Demon''s Blessing] surged through him, transforming his aura into a pulsating, corrupted energy that radiated outward.


    He vanished, reappearing behind Dave in an instant, bringing his sword down with a vicious sh.


    Dave barely had time to parry, his arm vibrating from the impact.


    Follower''s strength was unreal, like the weight of several men pressing down on him at once.


    ire lunged at Follower, her left arm shifting into Aleor''s w as she swung at him, aiming to tear through his chest.


    He sidestepped, his movements impossibly swift, and retaliated with a precise strike to her side, the de grazing her flesh with a sh of crimson.


    -43,414!


    ire hissed in pain, retreating a few steps. "He''s stronger than he looks," she muttered, clutching her side, blood seeping through her fingers.


    "Stay focused," Dave replied, his voice grim.


    He raised his sword once more, determined not to let their opponent overpower them.


    Follower grinned, feeding off their fear and desperation.


    His [Godless Demon''s Blessing] had pushed his abilities beyond human limits.


    He raised his hand, dark energy swirling around him as he whispered another incantation.


    DEMON''S GRASP!


    In the next instant, he disappeared from sight, reappearing behind ire and thrusting his sword toward her back.


    Dave''s instincts kicked in, his [Reach] activating as he teleported beside her, intercepting the strike just in time.


    The impact sent both of them skidding backward, but Follower didn''t let up.


    He pressed forward, his strikes relentless and brutal, his eyes zed with a fanatical hunger.


    ire transformed her legs into Aleor''s, kicking Follower back with a monstrous force.


    ALEOR COMBO!


    She followed up with a flurry of shes, her limbs shifting between human and monstrous, her strikes erratic and unpredictable.


    But Follower''s reflexes were razor-sharp. He dodged each blow with an almost supernatural ease, retaliating with a brutal sh that sent her sprawling.


    "ire!" Dave''s voice was strained, his own energy waning as he charged forward, summoning all his strength tounch a final assault.


    STAR REACH... EXPLOSION!


    His sword stretched to its maximum reach, a blur of steel and fury as he swung with every ounce of his power.


    Follower merely smirked, raising his [Cross-Sword] to block. "Is that all?"


    ATTACK NEGATION!


    With one powerful swing, he shattered Dave''s attack, the force of the collision reverberating through the square.


    Dave staggered, struggling to stay on his feet, his sword trembling in his grip.


    "Die," Follower whispered, his tone devoid of mercy.


    With one swift motion, he plunged his sword through Dave''s chest, the de gleaming with crimson light as it tore through flesh and bone.


    DEMON DEVOURING!


    "Adios," Follower smiled.


    His de turnedpletely dark as he whispered his strongest perk.


    And then...


    BOOM!


    -999,999!


    Dave''s eyes widened, a gasp escaping his lips as he slumped forward, life slipping from his body.


    ire screamed, her form shiftingpletely into Aleor''s monstrous shape as she lunged at Follower, her ws shing with a desperate fury.


    But Follower was calm, his movements a blur, and with a calcted swing, he sliced through her, cutting her down with ruthless precision too.


    As the blood pooled around his feet, Follower wiped his de, a twisted satisfaction settling in his gaze.


    He knelt before the massive doors of the Hollow Tower, bowing his head in a mockery of reverence.


    "For you, my crimson lord," he murmured, voiceced with devotion.


    The Hollow Tower loomed above him, silent and unyielding, but to Follower, it was alive with the presence of the godless demon he served.


    Two more fallen¡ªtwo more steps closer to bing an apostle.


    With a cruel smile, he rose, turning his gaze toward the city, ready to continue his bloody path through Termina.


    [8 participants left.]


    [Global Announcement: Participant "Wielder" has been killed by "Follower."]


    [Global Announcement: Participant "Demon" has been killed by "Follower."]

 Chapter 335: Hugos Trial of Faith, Hollow Teleporter Escape

    As Follower rose from his bow, blood still dripping from his de, he felt an intoxicating rush


    Killing Dave and ire hadn''t merely been a victory.


    It had been a revtion, a stepping stone that allowed him to get closer to ascending as an Apostle.


    The Godless Demon''s voice, distant yet omnipresent, pulsed in his mind like a silent drumbeat, a low, resonant call that he felt deep in his bones.


    [Kill. The. Chosen. One.]


    It wasn''t a task anymore.


    It was an order.


    A cold gust swept through the square, rustling the hem of his cloak as he surveyed the square, the flickering torchlight casting ominous shadows over the Hollow Tower''s towering facade.


    "Where is he," Follower kneeled, "Show me where he is, master Godless, and I shall execute him on the spot."


    [...]


    The silence hung heavy, as if the entire world were holding its breath.


    [Very well.]


    Then, slowly, a dark, shimmering arrow materialized before him, floating in midair, and pointed steadily in the direction he was to go.


    It pulsed with an unnatural glow, almost breathing with life as it awaited him to follow.


    The Godless Demon''s voice resounded once more, its power vibrating in his very core.


    [It will show you Chosen''s position wherever he goes.]


    Follower grinned, nodding in appreciation. "Thank you," he murmured, straightening and locking his gaze on the arrow.


    Without another word, he began to follow it, every step bringing him closer to his target.


    ...


    Back to the Orphanage.


    Far from the square, deep within the courtyard of the orphanage.


    Stark blinked, his vision struggling to adjust.


    But there was only darkness, a thick, oppressive void that smothered everything in its path.


    All he could make out were two pinpricks of light, faint but deadly, piercing through the ck¡ªthe cold, glowing eyes of Father Hugo.


    "Lost, are we?" Hugo''s voice slithered through the shadows, mockingly, hisughter echoing in every direction.


    A notification shed before Stark''s eyes.


    [Test of Faith]


    [Task #19: Survive Father Hugo''s "Test of Faith."]


    "God damn it¡­" Stark cursed under his breath, his fists clenched tightly.


    He felt his heart pounding, each beat sounding like a war drum in the silence, but he forced himself to stay calm.


    This was just another obstacle, another twisted trial.


    But as he reached out for his powers, the dark energy of Hugo''s spell constricted around him, dulling his senses, his focus slipping from his control.


    He struggled to summon his crimson aura, but it was like grasping at smoke.


    Every skill, every bit of his strength was being suffocated by this hellish darkness.


    "Show yourself!" he roared, his voice echoing uselessly into the void.


    But Hugo only chuckled, his voice omnipresent. "Show myself? Why would I, when you''re already so¡­ helpless?"


    A cold shiver ran down Stark''s spine as he realized that Hugo''s voice wasn''t just taunting him¡ªit was everywhere.


    Surrounding him, closing in on him.


    And then, suddenly, pain shot through his body, sharp and unyielding.


    -14,924


    "Your senses are so dulled you don''t notice pain until it reaches you," Hugoughed, "So weak."


    He staggered, his legs buckling as he struggled to stay on his feet.


    Father Hugo had punched him in the gut, and to put it in perspective, each one of Father Hugo''s punches could destroy a small building.


    No kidding.


    Stark was running out of options, and fast.


    "Do you not see that everything is useless?"


    PUNCH! BAM!


    "ARGH-"


    -17,493!


    ''That guy isn''t attacking Sora at all...'' Stark thought, ''Good... it''s better this way.''


    PUNCH! PUNCH!


    Two more swings at his face brought him back to reality.


    -14,495! -13,921!


    Father Hugo took pleasure in knowing Stark was defenseless.


    "COME ON!" Hugo shouted for the first time, "SHOW ME!"


    Crimson Ball Transmission!


    Stark tried to teleport, but Hugo would be there, waiting for him.


    Crimson Purification!


    He would send a wave of aura outward, but it didn''t hit anything.


    "Tsk tsk," Hugo appeared in front of him, shaking his finger, "Bad child."


    PUNCH!


    -18,384!


    Stark''s HP was getting dangerously low.


    Domi-Chain Restrains: Chains of Judgment!


    He sent all three chains toward the white eyes he could see, and also summoned [Gortox] to send a few dozen more.


    But even then.


    SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!


    "Do you think these can hold me down?" Hugo keptughing, "This. Is. Nothing."


    None of this worked.


    NONE OF IT IS WORKING!


    "Do you believe..." Hugo''s figure appeared before Stark, looking down on him as he was nothing more than a bug, "That you can win?"


    "..." Stark''s looked down, clenching his fists.


    There was no way he could win against [Father Hugo] and [Eternal Regret].


    But Hugo hadn''t finished his sentence.


    "When even she couldn''t?"


    He grabbed onto the darkness, and from it pulled Sora''s head,pletely separated from her body.


    Her eyes were hollow, blood dripping from her mouth, eyes and nose.


    "!!!" Stark''s eyes widened,pletely shock written on his face.


    "Your little friend won''t be watching your dying face, but at least see hers."


    At that moment, Stark saw red.


    He couldn''t even feel his surroundings anymore.


    [This is fake, by the way.]


    A panel appeared before him.


    [It is one of his illusionary skills, do not trust it.]


    But even then, Stark couldn''t stop feeling rage.


    How dare this ugly looking thing do this.


    [Oh well, just eliminate him.]


    Before he could even realize it himself, Stark moved his fist toward Hugo''s face.


    It was so fast, in fact, that even he didn''t see it.


    And neither did Father Hugo.


    SLAM! BOOOOM!


    -273,941!


    The punch was like an explosion, destroying everything around it, including the darkness that had taken over the courtyard.


    Ding!


    [Task #19: You have survived Father Hugo''s "Test of Faith"]


    [You have received the "Hollow Teleporter"]


    [Description: Will teleport you in front of the Hollow Tower instantly. Can be used by several people if holding hands.]


    Notification rang out, but Stark was too focused in taming his anger.


    He quickly calmed down as he saw Sora use her vine powers to block [Eternal Regret]''s attacks, though.


    "Phew..." he mumbled.


    Father Hugo on the other hand had been sent flying toward yet another wall, destroying it.


    He had actually received damage!


    But Stark didn''t n to stay here any longer.


    By sheer luck, he had gotten an item that could allow him to leave this ce.


    Though, when he looked up again, he realized it wasn''t luck at all.


    [Talent: Chosen One, activated]


    "Damn."


    Without wasting a moment, he reached out, calling, "Sora! Grab my hand, now!"


    She looked back while restraining the giant beast that was on the verge of breaking through her barrier, then ran toward Stark, not questioning what he wanted to do.


    Stark didn''t hesitate.


    He activated the Hollow Teleporter, gripping Sora''s hand as the courtyard around them began to warp and twist, the darkness melting away into a blur of motion and light.


    In an instant, they were gone, leaving behind the hauntingughter of Father Hugo and screams of [Eternal Regret] as they vanished into thin air.


    The world stabilized around them, and suddenly they found themselves sprawled on the cold stone floor of the square right before Hollow Tower.


    The air was heavy, filled with the ominous energy of the tower, but it was safe¡ªsafe from Father Hugo, from the suffocating darkness that had nearly imed them.


    Stark and Soray there, panting, their chests heaving as they struggled to catch their breath.


    Stark''s mind raced, processing everything that had just happened.


    They had been inches from death, standing against one of the most terrifying entities in this trial.


    And they had only barely escaped.


    Stark''s gaze drifted up to the towering ceiling above, the walls lined with shadows that seemed to pulse and breathe with a life of their own.


    "That''s... the ce," he looked up, impossible to see the top of the tower from there.


    The conditions to open it were still written on the door for him to check, but he didn''t bother as he already knew them.


    As he sat up, a fierce determination glinted in his eyes. "We were so close¡­" he muttered, his fists clenching at his sides.


    He could still feel the lingering chill of Father Hugo''s darkness, the way it had constricted around him, choking the very life from him.


    He wouldn''t forget it.


    The ominous silence of the Hollow Tower loomed around them, but Stark''s thoughts were sharp, focused.


    They were far from safe, but they were alive.


    And in this hellish trial, that was something to hold onto.


    Elsewhere in Termina, the remaining participants fought for survival, each one entangled in the twisted games of the trial.


    Eight remained.


    One seeking for another to achieve the great status of [Godless Demon Apostle].


    Two stuck in a manor with a crazy mayor that could kill them at any moment if they didn''t follow his rules.


    Two so calm it didn''t even seem like they cared about this trial at all.


    One having just unleashed two terrifying beasts on the rest of the participants.


    And thest, Stark and Sora, just escaped death from one of themanders they were supposed to defeat.


    The Mayor, The Tormented One, The Heartless One, Father Hugo, and Eternal Regret.


    These entities were the strongest in the trial.


    If they wanted to win this trial, they would need to kill them all.


    "This trial is¡­ fucking¡­ insane¡­" Stark grit his teeth, a vortex of crimson energy swirling inside his eyes as he clenched his fists.


    The sheer force of his aura pulsed outward.


    "I''m going to fucking¡­ destroy¡­ EVERYTHING."


    [EGO Meter: 100/100]

 Chapter 336: The Mayors Game, CEO and Shocks Assault

    The Mayor''s oppressive presence loomed over CEO and Shock as they sat, nerves taut like wires, around the grand table in his ominous chamber.


    Facing a level-600 Moonscorchedmander was more than enough to keep their pulses racing.


    And even though the Mayor wasn''t on par with Father Hugo or the Altered Ones, his aura alone was enough to chill them to the bone.


    "Eat your dish, fools," the Mayormanded, pping his hands together with a sinister gleam in his eyes. "Butler, bring our dinner."


    CEO''s face went pale: didn''t he kill the butler?


    ''You fucking idiot...'' Shock shot a re at CEO, his expression filled with anxiety.


    They both knew that if the Mayor discovered his servant was dead¡ªand worse, that they were responsible¡ªthey''d be as good as corpses.


    The Mayor wouldn''t just punish them; he''d make sure they suffered.


    They both tensed, bracing to either fight or flee.


    Then, with an echoing SLAM, the chamber doors swung open.


    Three butlers entered the room, each carrying massive covered dishes.


    CEO''s brows knit in confusion.


    He could have sworn¡ª


    The truth hit him as he used his eyes to scan the neers.


    [Mini-Boss: Butler Trio]


    [Level: 590]


    [Skills: Loyal Regeneration, Moonscorched, Butler Swing, Random te, Mayor''s Servant¡­]


    CEO focused on [Loyal Regeneration] for a split second:


    [Loyal Regeneration: As long as the Mayor is alive, they will regenerate indefinitely, unable to leave his side as their loyalty transcends life itself.]


    "Damn¡­" he muttered, realization dawning.


    They couldn''t kill these things, not with the Mayor around.


    Even the notion of an ambush was out of the question.


    The butlers ced their dishes on the table, each one heavier and more ominous than thest.


    Then, without a word, they bowed and exited the room as silently as they hade.


    "Let''s y a game," the Mayor said, his grin widening as he uncovered the dishes with a flourish. "These," he announced proudly, "are the specialties of Termina."


    The sight was grotesque: a bubbling ck slime, a mangled Moonscorched creature that looked half-digested, and a pile of unidentifiable, rotting remnants.


    Shock scowled. "Specialties, my ass."


    The Mayor''s eyes narrowed, and an unsettling aura filled the room. "What did you say?"


    Shock stiffened instantly. "¡­Nothing. Looks delicious."


    "Good!" the Mayorughed, his mood shifting back to dark amusement. "Because each of you will take a bite from every one of these marvelous dishes."


    The silence stretched painfully as CEO and Shock exchanged looks.


    Each dish seemed to be worse than thest.


    But the Mayor was waiting, and they were running out of options.


    The Mayor snapped his fingers, and a distant metallic click reverberated from downstairs.


    [The manor is locked.]


    [Find the key, obtain the Mayor''s permission, or defeat themander to escape.]


    CEO clenched his jaw. "If we eat this¡­ we can leave, right?"


    The Mayor grinned wider. "Perhaps."


    [You have received an additional secret task: Eat the disgusting food.]


    [Reward: Key to the Basement.]


    Shock''s eyes widened as he saw the notification.


    Eating this stuff would be their ticket to the basement¡ªand, potentially, a way to an exit.


    The Mayor picked up a chunk of the Moonscorched beast and swallowed it whole, smacking his lips in satisfaction. "Come on. It''s delicious!"


    The ck slime-like liquid was literally moving.


    And he expected them to eat it?


    It wasn''t the disgust that was the problem either, as if it was only that, CEO would have begun eating it all.


    But...


    [Moonscorched food: Every bite will add 50% to your infection rate.]


    There was quite literally no way to escape this without being transformed


    Shock didn''t need the specifics to feel the dread creeping in as well.


    He eyed the shifting ck goo, visibly recoiling.


    "Businessman Analysis," CEO whispered, scanning the room in desperation.


    His gaze settled on a glint of metal around the Mayor''s neck¡ªthe Basement Key.


    It dangled from a chain, just within reach if they dared to act.


    With a decisive breath, CEO stood up, drawing the Mayor''s attention.


    "All right," he said, clenching his fists as his aura red around him.


    Chapter Enjoy:


    "Oh?" the Mayor tilted his head, amusement glinting in his eyes. "You''re so eager to enjoy the meal that you can''t even sit still?"


    Shock, who had frozen in ce, gave CEO a panicked look, signaling for him to sit back down.


    But CEO''s mind was made up.


    "Hey, Mayor." He let his energy gather, his beam charging in his hand. "You''ve got terrible taste in food."


    Then, without another word, he fired a focused beam at the Mayor''s chest.


    The Mayor''s smile didn''t falter.


    He flicked his knife to intercept the st, but it disintegrated in his hand, leaving him with only a fork.


    His expression turned cold. "Oh, I see. I suppose dinner''s over, then."


    "That''s right," CEO replied, dropping into a ready stance. "Let''s end this."


    The Mayor raised his arm, but just as he began to move¡ª


    "Ion Pulse (Godly Skill)," Shock''s dagger glowed with electric energy, and he teleported with [Lightning sh] to the Mayor''s side.


    He plunged the weapon into the Mayor''s knee, releasing all his pent-up energy.


    ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!


    Electricity coursed through the Mayor, temporarily locking him in ce.


    Lines of damage numbers floated over the Mayor''s body:


    -13,934! -12,952! -11,431!


    [Mayor has been stunned.]


    "GRAB IT, IDIOT!" Shock yelled, feeling the Mayor''s menacing gaze on him despite the stun effect.


    The Mayor''s eyes held a twisted glee, even as he growled, "Another bad guest."


    Even stunned, the Mayor managed to speak and move slightly.


    Shock had never encountered such resistance against his stun before; it wasn''t supposed to happen.


    CEO sprang forward, seizing the key from around the Mayor''s neck.


    Not willing to waste a moment, he fired another beam at the Mayor''s arm to prevent him from retaliating.


    The Mayor instinctively blocked with his fork, barely holding off the st.


    Shock ceased his Ion Pulse, stumbling back with fatigue.


    The two exchanged a look, and without a word, bolted for the door.


    As they sprinted through the dark hallways, the Mayor''sughter echoed after them. "So it''s a game of cat and mouse, then?" He flicked his wrist, summoning another knife to his hand.


    They dashed through the corridor, twisting around corners in a frantic bid to escape.


    CEO held the basement key tightly, his mind racing through potential escape routes.


    There was no time to formte a solid n¡ªthe Mayor would be right behind them any second.


    "We need to find a way to trap him," CEO muttered as they reached a flight of stairs.


    Shock nced back nervously. "Do you see the size of this ce? Trapping him won''t be easy."


    "Then we''ll settle for dying him," CEO replied, his voice grim. "He''s toying with us, but he won''t take us lightly if we put some distance."


    On the way down, they met up with the [Butlers Trio], which tried to stop them.


    "Escaping Master M is useless."


    "Master M will catch you."


    "He is toying with you."


    They keptughing, pointing at CEO and Shock.


    "WELL, FUCK YOU," CEO shouted as he unleashed [Triple Beam], shooting one at every butler, exploding their bodies before they could even say anything else.


    The two men then dashed forward, noticing that the butlers were already starting to form back, their exploded bodies merging back.


    They could also hear the footsteps of the Mayoring for them.


    There was only one ce they could go to at this point: the basement.

 Chapter 337: Unleashing The Basement Demon

    Shock and CEO tore down the narrow corridor, hearing the Mayor''s slow, taunting footsteps echo from above.


    Hisughter sent chills through their spines, a twisted reminder that he was only toying with them.


    "COME ON¡­!" Shock hissed, practically throwing himself forward.


    He was mainly saying that to CEO, though, as he was the one holding the key.


    Shock would have been much faster, but the businessman wouldn''t give the key.


    They had one mission now¡ªget the basement door open and figure out an exit n.


    In front of them, the door leading to the basement loomed, a promise of escape that was already starting to slip through their fingers.


    They fumbled with the key, hands slick from the adrenaline.


    The Mayor''sughter grew louder.


    "Shit¡­ hurry," CEO muttered.


    Finally, with a loud click, the door swung open.


    [You have opened the basement.]


    [The exit key is ced beyond the "Basement Demon." You can choose to fight it or try to take the key and run.]


    [Note: Opening the manor door without killing the Basement Demon will unleash it on Termina.]


    Shock nced at CEO, his brow furrowing. "Doesn''t matter. There''s already like five of those level 600 monsters roaming around out there. What''s one more?"


    Nice thinking, Shock, release something else in addition to Father Hugo, the Altered Ones and Eternal Regret.


    8 participants left, and at this point, already 5 level 600 monsters were on the move.


    But of course, releasing one more wouldn''t make a difference anyway, right?


    They dashed down the stone steps, the basement spreading out beneath them, wider than they''d expected, dimly lit and filled with a sour, decaying stench.


    Flickering lights cast shadows against the walls, twisting into shapes that seemed to move of their own ord.


    Groans and shuffles echoed, and figures lurked in every corner¡ªa hellish greeting party.


    They tore through the darkness, ducking and weaving past smaller monsters prowling the basement.


    These creatures were low-level, practically irrelevant to them, but a distraction they couldn''t afford.


    A quick sh of CEO''s beams sliced through their ranks, leaving nothing but twitching limbs and the scent of scorched flesh.


    And then they saw it: the Basement Demon, a shadowed silhouette that lingered in the farthest reaches of the darkness.


    Its figure was massive, a monstrosity barely visible except for the faint glimmer of light against its grotesque, unblinking eyes.


    And at the very back of the room, almost taunting them, hung the exit key on the wall.


    Right before they could reach the key was a massive hallway of darkness: the territory of the demon.


    "That''s our way out," Shock muttered.


    But first, they need to go through the darkness ahead, the face of the basement demon visible beyond, seemingly waiting for them.


    They could also hear the footsteps of the mayor getting closer.


    Shock groaned as he suddenly dashed toward the darkness, but then was immediately stopped by dozens of handsing out of the walls, blocking him.


    "AH, FUCK!" Shock swore, his de shing as he shed through the hands.


    But he wasn''t fast enough; some of the ws dug into his skin, raking down his arms, leaving trails of blood as he pushed on.


    After a few seconds, his fingers finally closed around the key.


    He turned back, only to see the Basement Demon shift, pulling itself out of the shadows.


    Its body was a twisted blend of scales, ws, and muscle, a hulking beast seemingly patched together from nightmares.


    It roared, the sound like shattering ss and grinding metal, reverberating through the entire basement.


    "Oh, shit," CEO muttered, firing off a beam that sted part of the creature''s hide, though it seemed barely fazed.


    Shock was forced to use [Lightning sh] again to dash from the end of the basement all the way back to CEO.


    But now, he couldn''t be as fast as before.


    They sprinted, the Basement Demon hot on their trail, ws shing through the air.


    It was fast, faster than they''d anticipated, and every time they nced back, it seemed even closer, its eyes locked on them with a gleeful, malicious hunger.


    And then, up ahead, stood the Mayor, still calm, stillposed, like he was watching a particrly amusing y unfold.


    His expression was unreadable, though a glint of satisfaction crossed his eyes as he saw them struggling.


    "Oh, seems like you unleashed ''it,''" he chuckled. "Well, good luck with that."


    He even bowed, stepping to the side.


    Shock blinked, barely processing what just happened. "Uh¡­ what?"


    The Mayor smiled, "I just received some rather interesting news. So, for now, I think I''ll sit back and enjoy watching all of you scramble. Do your best to survive."


    "AH, FUCK, I DON''T CARE!" Shock shouted.


    The basement demon''s guttural snarl echoed from behind, making him practically dive up the stairs, the key clutched tight in his hand as they finally burst out of the basement and up toward the manor''s entrance.


    They skidded to a halt, throwing the door open just as the creature''s ws scraped against the steps behind them.


    With ast nce back at the Mayor, they bolted through, leaving him standing in the hallway, his expression a mix of curiosity and amusement.


    They left the Manor, but as they did, a message appeared.


    [You have unleashed the "Basement Demon" on Termina.]


    [Pray for your survival.]


    The more time they spent doing random shit, and the more they unleashed these monsters, the harder it would be.


    And then, just as they caught their breath outside the manor''s gate, another notification rang out.


    [Global Announcement]


    Across Termina, every yer paused, their attention turning to the floating panels in front of them.


    Stark and Sora, sitting on the square near the Hollow Tower, looked up, squinting at the message.


    Lilith and Clever both opened an eye, ncing up from their ces of rest.


    In the museum, Artist, who had finally managed to steal the coveted [Power Ruby], froze mid-movement.


    Every single yer was glued to the screen, bracing themselves for what mighte.


    Chapter Your:


    It wasn''t another death notification, though.


    It was worse.


    [Global Announcement: All elite monsters have now been unleashed and are roaming Termina. Encountering one is nearly guaranteed death.]


    [Have fun, participants!]


    Shock and CEO exchanged a grim look as the announcement ended.


    They were neck-deep in a trial that was now spiraling out of control.


    [The Basement Demon, Father Hugo, the Altered Ones (Heartless and Tormented), Eternal Regret and the Mayor.]


    [They are all out there now, stalking Termina, each one more bloodthirsty than thest (except the Mayor for now).]


    "Well," Shock exhaled, trying to catch his breath. "That''s... not good."


    "No kidding." CEO ran a hand over his face, his usual stoic expression slipping as he stared at the sprawling town before them. "This whole ce is about to turn into a war zone."


    And somewhere out there, Stark, Sora, Artist, Lilith, Clever¡ªeveryone was now on a collision course with these monsters.


    One slip-up, one wrong turn, and any of them could find themselves staring down one of these elite monsters, facing a near-certain death.


    Shock shook his head. "I''m out of here, didn''t n to be buddy-buddy with you anyway, you fucking maniac."


    Shock ran away, and CEO just shrugged.


    "Neither did I."


    They both ran as they didn''t want to meet with the [Basement Demon].

 Chapter 338: Clever, The Strongest Participant of the Trial

    Follower stalked the empty, decaying streets of Termina, his vision fixated on the arrow floating above him, its gleaming edge supposed to guide him toward Stark''s aura.


    He had trailed it without question, but then, without warning, it simply vanished.


    "Lord?" he muttered, confusion twisting his face. "What happened?!"


    The familiar, chilling voice of his patron spoke into his mind:


    [The connection has been cut. Either Chosen has died, or he used an item that teleported him somewhere.]


    Follower clenched his fist, frustration bubbling under his calm exterior. "Then bring it back! I don''t care how. Just bring the arrow back!"


    [Impossible. His aura is the key. Unless he uses it again, I won''t be able to locate him.]


    The voice grew colder, almost amused.


    [It''s rare to find an aura so filled with raw hatred. It''s one of the strongest I''ve ever sensed.]


    Follower suppressed a snarl.


    Stark''s aura was supposed to lead him, yet now it slipped through his grasp, leaving him in silence.


    For now, he''d have to bide his time, he could maybe try toplete his own tasks, or get rid of the other participantsmanders.


    The weight of loneliness settled in¡ªhe despised thepany of people as much as he did monsters.


    Only Godless, the true power in this, earned his admiration.


    Everyone else was nothing more than a distraction, and Follower''s pulse quickened with the prospect of being rid of them.


    Follower trudged forward, sweeping through a horde of minor creatures, tearing them apart with single-handed strikes, his movements bored yet lethal.


    Another beast¡ªa twisted, hulking wolf¡ªlunged at him from the shadows, but he dodged with barely a shift of his foot, his eyes zed with boredom.


    [You should be careful of Chosen,] Godless warned, the voice prickling in his mind.


    A message suddenly appeared in front of Follower.


    "Hm?" Follower barely reacted, brushing off the warning.


    It wasn''t the Godless Demon himself speaking, but the curse that he had infused into him using his aura.


    "Why should I be careful of him, he is far weaker than we are," Follower shrugged, nonchnt about it.


    Then, out of nowhere, a message materialized in front of him, the voice deeper now, almost hesitant:


    [Chosen... He''s not what he seems.]


    Follower raised an eyebrow, ready to question it further, but was interrupted by a thunderous roar.


    Startled, he nced toward the direction of the sound, the ground rumbling beneath his feet as it grew louder.


    [Never mind.]


    The voice cut off abruptly, vanishing as Follower''s curiosity peaked.


    "''Be careful''?" he echoed, still half-distracted by the warning, "of Chosen?"


    He followed the direction of the noise, moving swiftly between alleyways until he caught sight of the source: a massive, monstrous beast roughly the size of a car, its ws digging deep into the ground as it fought a lone figure.


    His eyes narrowed as he recognized both the beast and its opponent.


    [Basement Demon], the creature''s name zed above it in crimson letters.


    This was the same creature that had recently escaped from the mayor''s mansion.


    Across from it, a lean, elderly man stood in ce, facing the monster.


    Follower didn''t know him well enough, but there was no doubt this was Clever, the old, unassuming participant who, despite his frail appearance, radiated an aura of cold calction.


    Clever''s silhouette was backlit by a golden glow, which took the form of a towering, serene statue of a woman, her arms folded in rest.


    It had at least a hundred arms, each golden hand gracefully poised as if waiting to be called into action, her main arms grouped in a prayer, and her eyes closed.


    The statue was at least three times the size of a skyscraper, by the way.


    Follower watched, transfixed.


    With a single motion from Clever, the statue''s hands came to life, following his everymand.


    The old man didn''t even need to do anything other than sp his hands together in some sort of prayer, mimicking the statue''s pose tomand it, the dozens of hands mming down and blocking every attack.


    Each hit from the golden hands sent shockwaves echoing through the streets, creating deep fissures in the ground.


    [This guy is dangerous.]


    "Obviously," Follower replied under his breath, watching as Clever effortlessly controlled his golden guardian.


    Follower knew instantly¡ªif he tried to face this man, he''d be overpowered.


    [This guy is... don''t fight him.]


    [No matter what.]


    "Fighting him is not worth it anyway," Follower shook his head, "I''ll watch."


    The [Basement Demon], which had been named as one of the strongest beasts of this trial, a level 600 monster that could cause havoc in the real world, even going as far as destroying whole cities, was currently being fought by Clever alone.


    And yet, that old man didn''t seem scared.


    In fact, his eyes weren''t opened either.


    He didn''t move at all as all the arms and hands of his giant golden status did the work.


    The monster wed and screeched, but each of its attacks was met by the golden statue''s massive hands, crushing its defenses.


    SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!


    The relentless barrage echoed across the city, each strike widening the cracks in the ground.


    The Basement Demon stumbled, its body bruised and bleeding, its monstrous strength crumbling under the assault.


    "Guess I''ll need to adjust my rankings," Follower muttered, watching in awe as Clever''s powers unfolded before him.


    In his mind, he made a note:


    Follower could barely believe Clever''s strength.


    Though they were in a level 100 trial, Clever was operating on apletely different ne.


    [Clever - Level 156]


    This old man could take on level 700 monsters if he wanted, maybe a bit more thanks to his abilities.


    Because right now, Clever was quite literally only using his basic skills.


    [Hand m], [Golden Chop], and [Hand Synchro] were the skills he was using among the 25 he currently had.


    It made no sense for this old man to even be here.


    In fact...


    [That old man has an Immortal-Level skill.]


    Clever had a skill from the highest category.


    A skill so powerful it could possibly rival Stark''s [Heaven''s Spears].


    [Follower''s Power Ranking:]


    [1. Clever]


    [2. Follower]


    [3. CEO]


    [4. Artist]


    [5. Shock]


    [6. ??? (Girl that didn''t tell her name)]


    [7. Chosen.]


    [8. Sora.]


    This was the power ranking he made, and he gradually changed it as he saw the others unleash more abilities.


    Chosen wasst because he was one of the weakest, the only problem was the [Angel of the Spear] that was protecting him.


    He would need to find a way to get through that.


    Meanwhile, with a final, devastating blow, Clever''s golden statue mmed one of its hands down, slicing the Basement Demon cleanly in half.


    The creature let out onest, anguished roar before copsing, its body lifeless as the remains sizzled in the dirt.


    [Global Announcement: "Basement Demon" has been killed by "Clever!"]


    Follower took a breath, ncing around to see if other participants had been drawn by the noise.


    But the streets remained silent.


    The other yers had work of their own and, for now, stayed distant.


    Clever, however, didn''t seem fazed by the announcement.


    He finally exhaled, dispelling his aura, causing the golden statue to dissipate as he cracked his neck with a faint sigh. "This trial''s too easy."


    Follower narrowed his eyes, his curiosity piqued as Clever muttered under his breath.


    Clever could probably take care of the [Crimson Moons] that stopped them from leaving by himself, and with his basic attacks too.


    The other participants were an eyesore, and none of them, except for Chosen, had actually interested him enough.


    "This whole thing isn''t even a challenge," Clever continued, a slight smile touching his lips. "I might just kill them all and be done with it."


    The other participants were an eyesore, and none of them, except for Chosen, had actually interested him enough.


    "Maybe I''ll save Chosen forst," Clever mused to himself, his gaze turning towards the center of Termina, where the other participants roamed. "But first¡­ a little rest."


    A [Moonscorched Cure] had appeared in his hands, and he instantly used it, curing him from his conditions.


    The only reason he had been infected in the first ce was because he actually allowed the monster to hit him, just to see how it felt.


    Clever''s skill with his golden arms and statue meant he could summon them in less than a second, rendering any ambush futile.


    He didn''t even need his eyes open to sense an attack.


    As he resumed his calm, leisurely walk through the ruined cityscape, Follower remained transfixed, every instinct urging him to stay out of Clever''s path.


    "This is insane," Follower''s pupils were shaking in ce.


    He wanted to kill, he wanted to shed blood.


    But it would be impossible to kill this guy, there was no chance anyone could do anything, even if all the monsters,manders, and participants of this trial joined together.


    In the end, your [Domination] powers are the result of luck.


    Clever''s power was named [100-Golden Arms Statue], and it must be among the top 10 strongest domination powers in the entire world.


    Why the hell did he end up in this trial? It wasn''t fair!


    Maybe it was to give them all a chance to actually win by killing every enemy, then the moons?


    Who knows...


    "That guy is the most dangerous, I''ll need to be more careful than I thought," Follower turned around, but not before eyeing the remains of the [Basement Demon], who wasn''t even able to get close to Clever.


    But suddenly... right as he thought of that...


    [No.]


    Follower stiffened, feeling Godless'' consciousness grow colder and sharper.


    [Clever isn''t the most dangerous here.]


    "What?"


    It was the consciousness of the godless demon speaking, meaning that he could detect auras and powers.


    He couldn''t deny Clever was powerful.


    But... power isn''t everything.


    "Who could possibly be more dangerous?"


    [Chosen.]


    [No one is as dangerous as Chosen. His hatred, his aura, his potential... they are unlike anything in this world.]


    Follower''s breath hitched, and he swallowed hard.


    Themand in the voice left no room for interpretation.


    [Stop him while he is in his weakened state, no matter what.]


    Follower clenched his fists, feeling a thrill surge through his veins.


    "Yes, Master Godless." He turned, determination hardening his gaze.


    Stark, weakened or not, would not escape his wrath.

 Chapter 339: Lilith, The New Party Member

    Stark and Sora took a moment in the Hollow Square, thest safe spot before reaching the tower.


    The air was heavy, and Sora leaned against a stone bench, ncing at her hands with emotionless eyes.


    The encounter with Father Hugo and Eternal Regret didn''t even seem to shake her.


    But it had been around 30 minutes since they left the orphanage so it made sense.


    So many [Global Announcements] happened as they were resting, meaning that the trial probably changed a lot.


    "35%," Sora muttered as she checked her infection level again.


    Stark''s infection was slower, thanks to the [Blood-Stained Amulet] he''d picked up in the orphanage.


    [Moonscorch Infection: 14%]


    His disy read, far more manageable. But Sora''s was climbing fast.


    Not fast enough to actually be an issue, though, as each minute would grant you around 1% of moonscorch.


    "We can''t stay here much longer. We have to get somewhere else," Stark said. "There''ll be something out there that can help us."


    Every participant was growing stronger, and they couldn''t be the only one just sitting there doing nothing.


    She nodded, standing straighter as they scanned the path ahead.


    But then, out of the silence of the Hollow Square, dozens of monsters roaming around, a voice called out.


    "Well, I didn''t expect to see anyone here."


    Stark and Sora turned, and there she was¡ªa red-haired girl with a rxed, easygoing smile, nothing like her meditative state back in the vige square.


    The girl from before, the one who hadn''t bothered to share her name.


    "Oh, it''s you," Stark muttered, watching her carefully.


    She grinned, her red hair glowing in the dim light, and waved. "Yeah, I was wondering if you''d remember me. Chosen and Sora, right?"


    They exchanged a nce. Stark had a feeling she wasn''t here by chance.


    "What do you want?" Sora was the one who spoke, seemingly protective of Stark.


    No one would dare approach Chosen and Sora, the number one enemies of this trial.


    Everyone, even Clever, knew that angering Stark could result in getting hit by a spear capable of destroying entire cities.


    So, no thank you!


    "The name''s Lilith, and I''m just like you: aiming for the moons," she said cheerfully, "You are the only duo left, everyone else is solo, so they probably all n to kill each other."


    The ease in her tone caught Stark off guard, especially after seeing how silent and calm she''d been before. "You didn''t seem too talkative back in the vige," he pointed out.


    "Yeah, well, that was me in my [Meditation] state," she said with a shrug, "Helps me keep my skills up, tune out distractions. But I don''t mindpany once in a while."


    It was strange seeing someone so rxed, almost cheerful, in this bleak ce.


    Stark sized her up.


    But he couldn''t trust anybody.


    "Mind if I ask what level you are?" Stark said, his voice casual, but his [Focus] skill activating just in case.


    "Level 136," she replied, looking him dead in the eye. "Just enough to take down a level 600 elite boss on my own. Still want me on the team?"


    Sora''s eyes widened slightly, and even Stark was impressed, though he hid it well.


    A level 600 elite boss on her own?


    That was pretty much like taking out amander.


    She was stronger than Stark, no denying it.


    But this meant a higher chance of betrayal.


    ''Flower Analysis,'' Sora mumbled, and dozens of flowers came out of the ground, stopping right in front of her ears, whispering things to her.


    Stark was about to refuse the invitation.


    But before he could say anything.


    "She can be trusted, I believe," Sora spoke, nodding.


    "..." Stark was confused as to why Sora would suddenly say that, but he trusted her, "Alright, you can join... for now."


    But to be safe, he activated [Flow], focusing on her for ten seconds, enabling the ability that allowed him to track her every movement one second before she made them.


    He then used [Target Set] from his [Focus] skill to pinpoint her location.


    No way was he was letting her wander out of his sight unnoticed.


    With these two things, there was no chance she could ambush him.


    Plus, he always had his second life in case he needed it.


    "Let''s head out," he said after a moment, leading the way out of the Hollow Square. "We''re going wherever we feel like."


    "No problemo," Lilith winked while making a small ok sign with her hand.


    Stark didn''t know who she was, and her appearance was too sudden for his taste, but at the end of the day, if Sora said it was okay, then so be it.


    Lilith was extremely beautiful, her long red hair reaching her waist, and her crimson eyes always ring with aura.


    There was some kind of tension around her wherever she went, and she was undeniably powerful.


    Whether she was an ally or a future traitor, it didn''t matter to Stark.


    If he got killed, he would revive and instantly use [Heaven''s Spear].


    No one knew of his revives besides the one of [Crimson Healing], so it didn''t matter.


    As they made their way through the eerily quiet streets, Lilith chatted with Sora, their conversation casual, almost too casual for the tension all around them.


    Stark kept an eye on them, but Lilith seemed genuinely friendly, if a bit enigmatic.


    There was no denying her confidence.


    But there was also something about her that Stark couldn''t quite put his finger on.


    On the way to their next location, Lilith showed incredible power: she could fly, use her energy, beams, magic swords, everything, basically.


    Her [Qi Aura], which she got from the [Domination Talent] was something she could use to make almost anything.


    [Name: Lilith]


    [Domination Talent: Cultivation]


    It was yet another top 10 strongest domination talents.


    And of course, it was normal: this trial regrouped the strongest at their level, so no wonder.


    Lilith even managed to take down a level 550 elite by herself, not allowing Stark and Sora to act under the pretext of "let me show you what I can do".


    Stark kept noting every single skill she used in his mind, though, in case they ever fought.


    ...


    An hourter.


    Their moonscorch infection was getting pretty high, and so they needed to find another safe zone.


    [Most safe zones in Termina are destroyed by now, you need to find one inside of a specific structure.]


    Knowing that, the trio soonapproached the [Temple District], the path ahead marked by grand pirs and massive, ancient carvings.


    The towering stone structures loomed over them, casting long shadows across the ground.


    Stark couldn''t shake the feeling that something dangerousy ahead.


    But Sora''s moonscorch rate was at 94%, so he needed to be quick.


    "I''m sure there''s a safe zone inside," Lilith nodded, optimistic.


    She was actually the only one not moonscorched for some reason.


    Unlike Clever, the idea of being touched by these beasts disgusted her, and so she didn''t test it out.


    "Probably, just make sure to be quick," Stark replied, ncing at Sora''s disy, her infection still ticking up.


    He quickened his pace, leading them toward the central structure.


    The entrance to the temple loomed before them, its doors partially opened as if inviting them in.


    The air inside was still, a stark contrast to the chaos they had left behind in the orphanage and Hollow Square.


    "Just for your info, every ce you enter locks itself behind you," Stark informed Lilith, "We''ll probably have toplete a task or something."


    "Hm... no problem, I''ll help," Lilith shrugged, unbothered.


    But as soon as they stepped into the vast hall, Stark''s instincts red.


    He immediately sensed a presence ahead, something ominous and overpowering.


    And then they saw him.


    A massive figure knelt at the center of the room, his back turned to them, head bowed in prayer.


    The aura around him was cold and merciless, filling the room with a suffocating pressure.


    Stark''s breath hitched as the name and level appeared above the figure''s head.


    [Father Hugo - Level 600]


    A chill washed over him.


    He''d barely survived theirst encounter.


    And here he was, praying as if waiting for their arrival.


    "OH COME ON!" Stark shouted, instinctively shifting into a defensive stance, "That guy is pretty much stalking us at this point!"


    Sora''s face went pale, and even Lilith''s rxed demeanor tensed as she took in the threat before them.


    Father Hugo slowly rose, turning toward them, a smirk ying across his lips.


    "Children... I found bad children to y with..."


    His gaze held the cold confidence of someone who knew he was invincible, towering above them in his moonscorched form.


    That thing could roam through the entire city, but the first thing it did was head to the [Temple]?


    Stark almost wanted to say he was a good priest, but that would be too good for such a disgusting being.


    "I had hoped you''de," he murmured, his voice carrying through the vast hall. "You saved me a lot of trouble children."


    Stark''s grip tightened, his mind racing through every skill he had.


    This wouldn''t be like before.


    He''d barely scraped byst time, and Sora wasn''t in a better state than he was.


    Click!


    [Door of the temple has been locked!]


    [There are no tasks in the temple as they have been removed for this asion!]


    "Are you serious?" this trial was pretty much toying with them.


    [The only way to leave is to kill Father Hugo.]


    [Good luck!]


    "Stark¡­ can we even¡­?" Sora''s voice was barely a whisper, her eyes locked on the massive figure.


    "We don''t have a choice," Stark replied, his voice steady.


    He activated his aura, the thought of retreating didn''t even cross his mind anymore.


    Not with Father Hugo standing between them alone now.


    Previously, there was [Eternal Regret] to take care of too, but now, he was alone.


    Lilith stepped forward, her usual cheer reced by a fierce, determined re.


    Her aura red, a wild, almost feral energy emanating from her as she pulled out two swords made out of blue QI.


    "Well, then," she said, her voice a low growl, "looks like I''ll have a bit of fun after all."


    Father Hugo''s smile widened as he raised one hand, summoning a swirling mass of dark energy.


    Stark could feel the weight of his power, every fiber in his being screaming to run, but he held firm, focused on every movement, every second that ticked by.


    Father Hugo let out augh, a sound that echoed through the temple as if mocking their determination.


    "Come, then. Show me what makes you think you can survive, or maybe... you want to run just likest time, little rabbits?"


    Stark, Sora, and Lilith didn''t wait another second.


    They lunged forward, theirbined auras zing.

 Chapter 340: The Temple, Father Hugos Return

    Father Hugo appeared in the doorway, towering and dark, his eyes glowing a sickly yellow that barely lit the shadows around his face.


    Stark used [Perception] immediately, the details of Father Hugo''s stats flooding his mind.


    [Name: Father Hugo, Moonscorch Commander (Immortal)]


    [Level: 600]


    [HP: 8,000,000]


    [Strength: 34,127]


    [Stamina: 17,853]


    [Speed: 8,632]


    [Defense: 37,249]


    [Skills: Correction Smash, Divine Wrath, Holy Bind, Redemption Beam, Aura Suppression, Soul Cleaver, Sacred Ground, Iron Fist, Celestial Judgment (Mythical), Punishment, Blessed Chains (Mythical), Salvation''s Edge, Abyssal Silence (Mythical), Test of Faith (Godly), Penitent''s Fury, Martyr''s Barrier (Godly), Return to Sender (Immortal)]


    ...


    Stark swallowed.


    "He''s level six hundred¡­" he already knew that, but the stats and skills looked too powerful for his taste.


    And he had an [Immortal] level skill, which is the highest rank.


    Father Hugo''s gaze shifted to him, a slow smirk tugging at his lips as his fists began to glow with a golden light.


    The power radiating from him was almost unbearable, pressing on Stark, Sora, and Lilith like a physical weight.


    Stark clenched his fists and summoned [Asura''s Arms].


    With a burst of crimson energy, four powerful, aura-infused arms materialized around him, each one crackling with barely-contained force.


    "Alright," he muttered, more to himself. "Let''s go."


    [3...]


    Father Hugo cracked his fingers and neck.


    [2...]


    "Bad children will be disciplined."


    [1...]


    "I''ll use your bodies and hang them around the temple."


    [FIGHT!]


    Lilith shot forward with a speed that made her almost invisible.


    In a sh, her [Celestial des] appeared, dual swords of shimmering qi, and sheunched a rapid strike.


    She shed at Father Hugo, but his [Martyr''s Barrier] red up, blocking her des with ease.


    His eyes gleamed as he turned to her, and with a swift motion, he swung his hand to deliver a punishing [Correction Smash].


    Lilith managed to dodge at thest second, twisting mid-air andnding on her feet just outside the range of the strike.


    She avoided the [Moonscorch] effect.


    The impact left a deep crater in the floor, cracks spidering outward as Father Hugo''s fist crushed the ground.


    "Lilith, keep your distance!" Sora shouted, her hands already weaving vines.


    With a sweep of her arm, she summoned [Vine Surge], roots and nts bursting from the ground to wrap around Father Hugo''s legs. "We need to slow him down!"


    Father Hugo chuckled, hisughter deep and chilling. "You think such pitiful attempts will hold me?"


    With a burst of energy, his [Aura Suppression] red, and the vines withered and snapped under the sheer pressure of his aura.


    Seeing the vines break, Stark sprang into action, using his speed to maneuver around Hugo, dodging the wild swings of his iron-d fists with [Invincible Dodge].


    [Perfect Dodge]


    This slowed time just enough for Stark to glimpse Hugo''s movements, allowing him to counter with his own attacks.


    One of Stark''s aura fists lunged forward, crashing into Hugo''s side with enough force to send a shockwave through the room.


    Hugo staggered, momentarily caught off-guard.


    -11,849!


    Low damage.


    But he quickly recovered, smiling, "Nice one, child."


    Lilith took the opening, using [Dragon''s Breath] to unleash a zing stream of energy directly into his face.


    The mes seared Hugo''s skin, leaving charred marks across his face and neck.


    "..."


    -4,384! -7,371!


    But Hugo barely flinched again, his defense and magic resistance too high.


    "Is that all?" he sneered, his eyes gleaming with a twisted satisfaction.


    He raised his arm, summoning [Celestial Judgment].


    A massive, glowing de of divine energy formed in his hand, radiating a blinding light.


    "Watch out!" Stark yelled.


    Hugo swung the de down with immense force, aiming at Sora.


    She threw up her [Flower Barrier] just in time, the translucent shield taking the brunt of the strike.


    But the barrier shattered instantly, sending her flying backward.


    She hit the ground hard, gasping for air.


    -32,834!


    That thing does high damage, and takes little to none.


    How was this fair.


    He wasparable to a level 750 normal monster.


    "The moonscorch is the true way to strength," Hugoughed, "Join me."


    "Alright, that''s enough!" Stark growled, pushing himself to his limits.


    Hebined his six aura arms and lifted them up, then he concentrated on his [Aura Smash], merging of all his fists into a giant one.


    "Fool," Hugoughed, "Martyr''s Barrier!"


    The crimson fist collided with Hugo''s barrier, it was the thing that allowed him to endure so much and receive so little damage.


    But...


    "FUCK YOU!"


    Right as the fist was about to collide, Stark overused his aura on the fist.


    BOOOM!


    And it exploded right as it was about to reach Hugo.


    This wasn''t one of his [Aura Smash] perks, not at all: he just made it in the moment after knowing from the orphanage chase that no projectiel would work.


    The fist exploded, sending Hugo flying across the room and mming him into the far wall.


    CRACK!


    And the [Martier''s Barrier] cracked a little.


    It didn''t break, but it was progress.


    For a moment, the room was silent, dust swirling around the area where Hugo had crashed.


    -37,939!


    But then, a low, sinisterugh echoed from the debris.


    Hugo stood up, brushing dust from his shoulders, not even fazed.


    His eyes locked onto Stark. "Impressive... but futile."


    He raised his hand, summoning [Blessed Chains].


    Glowing, divine chains shot out from his palm, homing in on Sora with terrifying uracy.


    She tried to dodge, but the chains adjusted mid-air, wrapping around her limbs and binding her tightly.


    "NO!" Stark yelled, rushing forward, but Hugo raised a hand, his aura ring with a golden light. "[Sacred Ground]."


    A dome of divine energy surrounded Sora, blocking Stark''s path as the chains tightened around her.


    She struggled, but the chains sapped her strength, glowing brighter with each passing second.


    Sora''s eyes widened as her energy drained rapidly, and her movements slowed until she finally went limp.


    [Sora is knocked out!]


    "This dome is unbreakable," Hugoughed, "Good luck saving her."


    BAM! BAM! BAM!


    Stark tried to hit the dome with everything he had, using all of his fists, but as Hugo said, it didn''t even budge.


    ''Damn it... I would have to use EGO''s Negation...'' he thought, but he didn''t want to do that now.


    [EGO Meter: 100/100]


    "Your struggle is worthless," Hugo sneered, his voice cold and mocking. "Bow before the authority of the Moonscorch."


    Fury boiling within him, Stark activated [Crimson Purification].


    A shockwave of crimson holy energy burst from his body, flooding the room.


    The energy shed against Hugo, but he wasn''t phased.


    "I am quite literally unaffected by holy attacks," he shrugged, "It''s obvious, isn''t it?"


    "...Yeah, it kind of is."


    But that wasn''t why he did that.


    Beside him, Lilith raised her hand while flying with [QI Flight], and unleashed [Divine Energy Spear].


    A colossal spear of pure qi formed in her hand, radiating divine blue energy.


    With all her might, she hurled it at Hugo.


    ''Not as strong as mine, though,'' Stark noticed.


    The spear headed toward Hugo, but right as it was about to hit his barrier, the priest quite literally just grabbed it with his hands.


    "Hm," and just likest time, he broke it in half, "That''s all?"


    "STOP DOING THAT," Stark was growing more angry every attack Hugo casually dodged or shrugged off.


    He seized the moment, summoning all ten of his [Crimson Spears].


    They hovered around him, each one glowing with a fierce, red energy.


    Then he sent them hurtling toward Hugo, each spear striking with deadly precision.


    "Aura Supression," Hugo put both of his hands together, closing his eyes, and a transparent shockwave was sent through the temple.


    And the exact moment he did that...


    BAM!


    "Huh?" Lilith''s [QI Flight] was cancelled, resulting in her falling down, forcing Stark to grab her.


    In addition to that, all of Stark''s spears were reduced to nothing.


    But of course, it couldn''t end so easily.


    "Return to Sender... Initiation..." Father Hugo was using his strongest skill now.


    Even for such strong foes, using Immortal-Level skills was a difficult task, and Hugo was concentrating as hard as he could, drops of sweats appearing on his bald forehead.


    "Your efforts are wasted," he said coldly. "You cannot stand against the Moonscorch."


    "Not yet," Stark muttered, clenching his fists, his aura ring, "I''m gonna murder you..."


    But then...


    "RETURN TO SENDER!"


    Father Hugo finalized the usage of his strongest skill.


    Victory was now impossible.

 Chapter 341: Underground Temple, Only One Left

    Father Hugo''sughter echoed in the temple as the dark, crimson, and blue auras swirled around him.


    The air grew thick with a mix of intense energy, twisting and melding into something that looked both holy and corrupted.


    He begun hovering a few feet above the ground, his expression one of twisted delight.


    "Look at this power!" Hugo''s voice boomed, his eyes glinting with an unsettling joy. He raised his hand, allowing thebined auras to dance along his arm. "Your strength, your skills¡ªthey''re now mine!"


    Stark''s fists tightened, his gaze fixed on Hugo''s smug expression. The realization hit hard: Hugo had just absorbed [Crimson Spears] and [QI Flight].


    They were staring down an even more monstrous version of the priest than before.


    "Can''t believe it¡­" Stark muttered, gritting his teeth.


    He could still feel his connection to his skills, but seeing them twisted in Hugo''s hands felt like a vition.


    Lilith, by his side, looked equally horrified as Hugo raised one of his newly copied spears, its crimson glow matching Stark''s.


    "QI flight!" Lilith used her skill, and it seemed as though she could still use it.


    ''So he copied it...'' Stark thought.


    "You''ve both proven quite entertaining," Hugo said, his voice dripping with arrogance. "But ytime is over."


    With a smirk, Hugo summoned ten [Crimson Spears], their familiar red glow casting ominous shadows across the walls.


    He held them around himself, the ease and familiarity he disyed making it clear he''d instantly mastered Stark''s ability.


    Hugo waved his hand, sending the spears hurtling toward Stark and Lilith with terrifying speed.


    "Dodge!" Stark shouted, leaping to the side.


    He summoned his own [Crimson Spears], countering with his own barrage to intercept Hugo''s.


    The two volleys of spears collided in mid-air, sending shockwaves throughout the temple.


    The ground beneath them cracked and trembled from the impact, each explosion adding more destruction to the temple.


    Lilith took advantage of the chaos, darting forward with [sh Step], her swords materializing with a shimmering glow as she lunged at Hugo.


    Her de met Hugo''s arm, which was shielded by his barrier.


    "You can''t touch me," Hugo taunted, his voice dripping with mockery.


    Lilith red, raising her hand to summon another [Divine Energy Spear].


    She hurled it toward Hugo, but he countered with Stark''s [Spear Block], deflecting it away as if it were nothing.


    Stark watched in frustration, feeling the depth of Hugo''s mastery over his stolen abilities.


    Then Hugo raised his arm high, his eyes locked onto Stark with a twisted grin.


    Stark felt the surge of energy even before he saw it¡ªa colossal spear forming in Hugo''s hand.


    The weapon radiated a raw, overwhelming power.


    "Oh no¡­" Stark''s eyes widened as he recognized his own [Spear of Judgment].


    Hugo was using one of his strongest abilities, a colossal spear that could shatter even the toughest defenses, and also followed the target no matter what.


    But strangely enough, he didn''t actually throw it at Stark or Lilith.


    With a dark smile, Hugo lifted the spear high above his head and then, with a forceful downward swing, mmed it into the temple floor.


    The ground buckled and shattered, splitting open as the spear''s impact reverberated through the entire room.


    Cracks shot out in all directions as the floor gave way.


    "Get down!" Stark shouted, reaching out to grab Lilith''s arm as the ground copsed beneath them.


    They fell, tumbling through the crumbling stone andnding hard in the [Underground Temple] below.


    "Just how many fucking buildings have underground zones?!" Stark shouted as he fell.


    The air was thick with dust, and Stark pushed himself up, coughing as he tried to get his bearings.


    The dimly lit underground chamber stretched out before them, with ancient pirs and worn-out symbols etched into the walls.


    Somewhere in the darkness, Hugo''s mockingughter echoed.


    "Well, well," Hugo''s voice sneered from above as he floated down, his silhouette barely visible through the dust. "Wee to the depths, children. Let''s make this even more enjoyable."


    Stark got to his feet, eyes narrowing as he watched Hugo descend, the stolen [QI Flight] making him hover effortlessly.


    Lilith was right beside him, her breathing heavy but her eyes still fierce with determination.


    "We need a n," she whispered. "This ce is smaller¡ªthere''s less room to dodge."


    They were in a circle arena under the temple, and the hole was so big it was impossible to get back up, even using [Crimson Ball Transmission].


    They were stuck now, with no exit on sight.


    Stark nodded, ncing around at the columns and walls. "Yeah, but maybe we can use that to our advantage."


    Before they could coordinate any further, Hugo raised his hand, calling forth more [Crimson Spears].


    This time, they were tinged with a faint, dark aura that seemed to taint the crimson glow, making them even more menacing.


    He let them loose while flying around, sending a relentless rain of spears toward the two.


    Stark and Lilith dove behind one of therge stone pirs, the spears mming into it with explosive force, cracking and splintering the ancient stone.


    As the dust cleared, Stark darted out from cover.


    He lunged forward, focusing all his strength as he aimed for Hugo''s head.


    But just as his fist was about to connect, Hugo activated blocked with [Iron Fists], both of his arms turning silver.


    "Didn''t think you could actually hit me, did you?" Hugo taunted, delivering a counterstrike that sent Stark stumbling backward.


    [Moonscorch infection increased.]


    Lilith took advantage of the opening, flying upward with her [QI Flight] andunching herself at Hugo with her twin des.


    She moved with impressive speed, her attacks swift and precise, but Hugo matched her move for move, wielding his many skills with an eerie familiarity.


    But then...


    Stark made a second mistake.


    "DOUBLE ASSAULT," he was getting tired of this bullshit, and so he decided to activate his skill, doubling his stats and aura for 20 seconds, "ALRIGHT, HUGO, AVOID THIS!"


    Stark was ready to dash, his speed surely enough to instantly overpower Hugo.


    But that was when he made his second mistake: and it was to assume Father Hugo couldn''t use his Immortal Perk again.


    "Aura Suppression..." He allowed a hit from Lilith to ce his palms together.


    FWISH!


    And Stark''s aura was taken straight out of him again.


    It didn''t cancel his own [Double Assault], but he had a bad feeling.


    "RETURN TO SENDER...!" Hugo''s eyes opened, and his dark aurapletely took over his body, "DOUBLE ASSAULT!"


    He used the skill too, and suddenly, right as Lilith was about to swing at him, he moved to fast it almost looked like he disappeared.


    "Thanks for the skill, child," Hugo appeared before Stark, punching him in the gut and sending him flying backward.


    "GARGH," even with his own [Double Assault], Stark struggled to stay in ce.


    -43,839!


    His defense was doubled, but Hugo''s attack was as well.


    "Stay put, I''ll deal with youst," Father Hugo grinned before disappearing from view.


    That exchangested less than a second, and so it meant was still in the air, confused as to where Hugo could have gone.


    "Hello, there, child," he smashed her down.


    [You have been infected with moonscorch.]


    And he didn''t waste any time in appearing behind her again as she looked up.


    "You are slow, child."


    Lilith, even though she was level 137, couldn''t understand how this was possible.


    Her eyes widened before she received another punch in the face.


    What followed was aplete beatdown.


    Lilith gasped as thebined assault tore through her defenses.


    She tried to dodge, but the energy struck her squarely, sending her crashing into the wall.


    She slumped to the ground, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.


    [HP: 37,374/232,000]


    "Lilith!" Stark yelled, rushing toward her, but Hugo stepped between them, blocking his path with a sneer.


    "No interruptions," Hugo mocked. "It''s time she learned what happens when you defy the Moonscorch."


    He raised his hand, his aura ring as he activated [Blessed Chains] again.


    Glowing chains shot out, wrapping around Lilith''s limbs, holding her in ce as she struggled against them.


    Her strength faded as the chains tightened, draining her energy.


    "Stark..." Lilith mumbled, smiling, "Kick that guy''s ass..."


    He didn''t know Lilith for long, not even two hours actually, but even then, he was mad.


    "Let her go!" Stark shouted, fury igniting within him.


    He charged forward, but Hugo casually extended one hand, using [Sacred Ground] to summon a wall of crimson energy that threw Stark backward.


    Hugo turned his gaze back to Lilith, his expression darkening as he increased the power of his chains.


    Her struggles grew weaker, her breaths shallow as the chains squeezed the life out of her.


    "You¡­ will¡­ break," Hugo whispered, his voice cold and merciless.


    Lilith''s eyes widened in terror as she felt her energy slipping away, her vision blurring.


    [Lilith has been knocked out!]


    "I like to make sure the children are aware of the torture, a slow death isn''t beautiful, after all," Hugoughed as he turned back toward Stark, "You are thest one."


    "I''ll kick your ass alone, I don''t need anybody else anyway," Stark''s expression turned cold, positioning himself for what was next.

 Chapter 342: Double Heavens Spear, Dark Angel

    Stark didn''t waste a second.


    He was beyond angry, but that anger had alreadye and gone, leaving him feeling nothing but focused.


    In the ruined remains of the temple, he nced around, assessing the damage.


    Soray crumpled nearby, still breathing, though she was unconscious.


    Stark exhaled in relief. At least she''d made it.


    A few feet away, Lilith''s body was sprawled on the ground, her energypletely drained.


    Stark barely knew her, but she''d helped him fight, and that was enough for him.


    For a 3v1 battle, Father Hugo hadpletely wiped them out.


    The fact that Hugo had managed this said everything about his power.


    Maybe Hugo was as strong as the moon trio themselves?


    No, Stark shook his head. No way.


    "Child, let us continue," Hugo''s voice echoed, cold and mocking.


    He lifted his arm, summoning a spear glowing with raw, ominous energy.


    It was [Spear of Judgment], a move Stark owned.


    Hugo''sugh boomed as he raised it. "Or do you no longer have the strength?"


    "Not going to fly anymore?" Stark asked, deadpan.


    "I can''t," Hugo shrugged, unbothered.


    Stark quickly pieced it together: Hugo could only use stolen abilities if the original user was actively using them.


    That was why Hugo had only been able to take his [Crimson Spears] and [Double Assault] earlier.


    An unconscious person meant he couldn''t do it anymore.


    Stark needed to be careful of what he used.


    Or at least, that is what the him 5 minutes ago would say.


    But now? He didn''t care if Hugo took his abilities.


    "You want my powers?" Stark lifted his hand, summoning his own [Spear of Judgment], "Fine. Let''s fight."


    Fwish! Fwish!


    The two massive, crimson spears hurtled through the air, colliding with an explosive shockwave before shooting upward.


    "What the?" Stark was confused, was that a normal reaction.


    Or maybe the fact the spears followed one another resulted in a constant loop of going up.


    BOOM!


    The impact shattered what remained of the temple ceiling, revealing the sky above.


    Stark saw the two colossal crimson moons, each with a singr eye, ring down at him.


    But as soon as his gaze met theirs, they fled, vanishing into the night.


    "Cowards," Stark muttered, his focus returning to Hugo.


    "Alright, Hugo," he said. "Copy this."


    Stark drew his energy from deep within, channeling every bit of his aura into a single, destructive move.


    He knew what he was about to attempt was reckless, but he was far past the point of caring.


    "Heaven''s Spear!"


    A dark rift tore open in the sky, spilling forth a radiant, towering angelic figure nearly fifty kilometers high.


    The being hovered, massive and imposing, its white, ethereal wings stretching across the horizon.


    With a slow, deliberate movement, it raised an enormous spear of pure crimson energy, its size capable of leveling entire cities.


    Stark couldn''t help but feel a surge of confidence¡ªuntil he looked at Hugo.


    The man was grinning, his eyes filled with twisted satisfaction.


    A second rift appeared beside Stark''s, this one inky ck, as Hugo summoned his own angelic figure¡ªa shadowy, warped imitation of Stark''s.


    This one wielded a dark spear, crackling with a vile energy.


    The two divine beings faced off, each with their spears raised high, awaiting their masters''mands.


    "You think you''re special, child?" Hugo sneered. "You''re nothing but another pawn."


    Stark clenched his fists. He didn''t respond. Talking wouldn''t do any good here, not with someone like Hugo.


    Suddenly, Hugo leapt forward, fists zing as he tried to catch Stark off guard.


    Stark met him, and the two shed, exchanging brutal blows.


    Each punch shook the ground beneath them, sending shockwaves through the already crumbling temple.


    Stark''s anger was allowing him to activelypete with Hugo in terms ot physical strength, his eyes leaving a trail of crimson aura as he moved.


    "YOU''RE GOING TO DIE, HUGO, YOU KNOW IT!" Stark punched the air so fast that even though Hugo blocked with his arms, he was still stumbling back.


    -17,948!


    "Heh, getting stronger, I see," the priestughed.


    Atst, Hugo''s dark angel began to move.


    He was ready to strike.


    With a menacing grin, Hugo pointed at Stark. "It''s time," he said coldly, directing his angel to hurl its spear down toward them.


    "Come on, dark angel, show them who''s the king."


    [Very well, you damn fucking idiot.]


    "???"


    The air around them grew heavy, thick with energy as the spear hurtled toward the earth.


    The shockwave alone was enough to make the ground beneath Stark''s feet tremble.


    "Holy shit!" Shock gasped while fighting monsters, "STARK IS..."


    "There''s two of them?" Artist questioned, while drawing on the buildings.


    Even the other participants who''d been watching from afar couldn''t hide their shock.


    One [Heaven''s Spear] was already unimaginable¡ªtwo was enough to bring sheer terror to everyone in range.


    "Master... I see what you mean now," Follower looked at the two angels, his vision flooded by their beauty, "Chosen is truly the most dangerous of all."


    Stark didn''t flinch. He''d expected this.


    "Alright, asshole, let''s do this," he muttered, a smirk breaking across his face as he activated [Dodge Control].


    Immediately, his body shifted, flowing like water as the world around him began to slow down.


    The power of [Dodge Control] took hold, his body adapting in real-time to avoid anything that came his way, no matter how powerful or destructive.


    In front, Hugo stared at the falling spear, his face a mix of fascination and resignation.


    "Child¡­" he murmured, eyes fixed on the massive energy above. "This world is already in ruins." His mouth twisted into a bitter smile. "Let''s both die together."


    It dawned on Stark then¡ªHugo didn''t n to survive this.


    His goal had always been to take out as many participants as possible, even if it cost him his own life.


    No way anyone survives something so powerful, not even he could.


    So his n was to take the four of them with him.


    The domes would probably survive since they are indestructible, but he was already using them on both Sora and Lilith, meaning that as he died, the girls would slowly begin to suffer and moonscorch.


    "My n is perfect!" Hugo cackled, throwing his head back as the spear continued its descent.


    But Hugo wasn''t stupid¡ªhe noticed Stark activating a skill, one that might let him escape the spear''s impact.


    And just as predicted, Hugo nned to copy it and mimick Stark''s actions.


    Whether he survived or not, in the end, he would be there to end the humans.


    Hugo smirked, immediately calling forth another shockwave of dark energy from [Aura Supression] in an attempt to absorb Stark''s skill.


    If he could pull Stark''s [Dodge Control] from him and copy it, he would be safe.


    But this time, it wouldn''t work.


    "Has anyone ever told you that you''re an idiot?" Stark stood in ce as the shockwave was approaching him, his expression so malicious that it became even scarier than Father Hugo''s.


    "What the hell are you talking about, child-" it didn''t take Hugo long to realize just how fucked he was.


    [Dodge Control] didn''t just evade attacks.


    It made Stark''s body teleport around anything that could hit him¡ªeven if that "attack" was an unavoidable shockwave.


    Without it, Hugo couldn''t use [Return to Sender].


    The shockwave passed through empty air as Stark''s body blinked between locations faster than Hugo could register, teleporting around the assault until he was beside Hugo, gripping his shoulder with a vice-like hold.


    [Your shockwave didn''t hit anything.]


    "You''re fucked, and you know it," Stark muttered, still smiling.


    He raised his other hand, pointing toward the sky, where the colossal spear Hugo himself sent was only meters away from impact.


    Time slowed down, their gazes fixed on the destructive force about to consume them.


    Hugo looked up, eyes wide, a final trace of fear flickering in his gaze.


    "¡­Child of demons," he murmured to Stark, "You win."


    And then, the spear hit the ground.


    The world detonated in a blinding explosion of crimson and shadow as the spear impacted the ground, tearing the temple and everything around it into shreds.


    The impact was felt far beyond the immediate area, a shockwave of light and sound ripping through thendscape.


    Every participant, monster, and even the moon apostles themselves were stunned, momentarily frozen in awe and horror.


    When the dust settled, Stark was gone from the point of impact, [Dodge Control] allowing him to escape the explosion''s reach.


    With Lilith and Sora in his asura arms, he leapt and dashed over debris, using his agility to scale the remnants of the temple.


    He reached the edge of the crater, ncing back at the devastation.


    A massive hole marked the area where the temple had once stood, stretching out like a scar across thendscape.


    Stark exhaled, satisfaction coursing through him.


    "And to think," he muttered, "that was just a pale imitation." If Hugo''s [Heaven''s Spear] had been that strong, his own must be even stronger.


    He hadn''t even used it!


    That stupid Father Hugo quite literally killed himself using the skill he thought would end them all!


    Ding!


    A notification shed in his vision.


    [You have in "Father Hugo, Moonscorch Commander," +50,000,000 Experience Points!]


    [Task 13: Defeat Father Hugo in the Orphanage - Completed]


    [Gained two rewards: Priest''s Cross (???) and Moonscorch Cure (Use topletely heal moonscorch).]


    A smirk tugged at Stark''s lips.


    "Looks like the priest is going to hell."


    Stark didn''t waste a single second though, dashing forward as he needed to find a safe zone.


    [Sora: 98% Moonscorched]


    [Lilith: 13% Moonscorched]


    Thetter had been hit several times, so no wonder it was going up this fast.


    It should stabilizeter, but until then he simply decided to not try his luck and so to use the newly acquired [Moonscorch Cure] on Sora.

 Chapter 343: Leaving The Temple, Shocks Last Moments

    [Task 13: Defeat Father Hugo in the Orphanage - Completed]


    [Gained two rewards: Priest''s Cross (???) and Moonscorch Cure (Use topletely heal moonscorch).]


    He used the [Moonscorch Cure] on Sora, and stored the [Priest''s Cross] in his system inventory since he couldn''t see the description.


    [Experience: 1,545,000/10,000,000] (level 115)


    He had gained 50,000,000 experience from this, and thankfully enough this time there wasn''t any curse to block him.


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    [Your level has increased to level 116, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Your level has increased to level 117, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    .


    [Your level has increased to level 119, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Experience: 5,545,000/14,000,000] (level 119)


    It seems that from 10,000,000 experience and moving, it now added 1,000,000 experience every level.


    "Fine by me," he mumbled.


    The air around the ruined temple hung thick with smoke and debris, the aftermath of Stark''s brutal sh with Father Hugo still fresh.


    Sora and Lilith remained unconscious, held securely in the four additional arms of his [Asura''s Arms] skill, which granted him the strength to carry them both with ease.


    Thankfully enough, by an absolute miracle, Hugo actually didn''t deactivate the [Domes] that he had ced around them, essentially saving them.


    He murmured a tired acknowledgment as he studied his stats and newly earned skill points.


    He could still feel the pulse of energy from [Heaven''s Spear] in the air, and he knew that everyone in Termina, humans and monsters alike, would have noticed its power.


    The angelic figure summoned by the skill remained hovering in the sky, watching over him with an otherworldly gaze.


    [I see many participants and elite monster, master].


    [Should I shoot them?]


    "No, juste back," Stark shook his head, he needed to keep the angel with him.


    Now that everyone witnessed the power of his [Heaven''s Spear], no chance in hell they would try anything.


    But of course, the fact he created such a massive explosion meant that many monsters, and even participants, woulde to check what the hell all of this was about.


    Ahead, his map revealed that the museumy only a short distance from the temple ruins.


    Stark opened up his map, noticing that the museum was actually not far from the destroyed temple.


    If he met a secondmander, it woud be incredibly difficult, so all he could do was hope.


    [Asura''s] four additional arms allowed him to use his normal ones freely while steal making sure Lilith and Sora were safe.


    Maybe he could fight like this, actually, who knows.


    But...


    "I''m so tired..." he mumbled, his eyes on the verge of closing, his body swaying as he carried on toward the museum.


    Avoiding both that [Aura Supression] shockwave, then the massive [Dark Heaven''s Spear] (Hugo''s Variant) was still exhausting, even though he had [Dodge Control].


    He carried on though, knowing that dropping here was guaranteed death.


    Actually, he finally decided to summon his [Ultimate Clone] by merging all of those he had since the cooldown of the skill was reset.


    Ding!


    [Ultimate Clone summoned!]


    [Took... you.. long... enough...]


    "Yeah, sorry."


    He couldn''t have used it before, and when he was in constant battle it was difficult sine the clone could die in one strike.


    Well, except if he transfered some of his HP to it, but he was already pretty much on the verge of death himself, so it was stupid.


    [Its... fine...]


    Finally, they reached the museum.


    Stark could tell it had once been a grand ce, but now it bore the scars of the battles that had ravaged Termina.


    Columnsy crumbled, the remnants of shattered disy cases littering the floor.


    The silence felt almost unsettling after the chaos.


    But then, he saw it.


    An open doorway bathed in a gentle glow.


    Stark''s heart skipped. He stepped forward, relief flooding him as the notification appeared:


    [Safe zone discovered!]


    Sighing, he guided Lilith and Sora over to a small bed.


    When looking at them from this position, they were pretty damn cute.


    But Stark didn''t think of that.


    He was too focused on what''s next, and so as he sat on his chair, he ced his chin on his hands and began thinking, a spinning vortex of aura appearing in his eyes as he was deep in thought.


    "Kill..." he whispered.


    [Participants Alive:] Sora, Clever, Lilith, Shock, CEO, Artist, Follower, Stark


    [Enemies Alive:] Tormented One, Heartless One, Eternal Regret, The Moon Apostle, The Mayor


    ...


    Meanwhile, outside the temple ruins, another figure lingered, his eyes wide as he took in the scorched earth and wreckage.


    "Wow¡­" Shock muttered, inching closer to the smoking battlefield.


    The sight of the massive crater and the faint traces of the [Heaven''s Spear] st made his breath catch. "So, this is what Chosen''s power looks like¡­"


    Seeing the extent of the devastation left him feeling unsettled.


    As he observed, a creeping sensation of being watched tingled at the back of his neck.


    He froze, his gaze darting around.


    From behind a half-destroyed column, a figure stepped out, his presence dark and chilling.


    Shock stiffened as the tall, looming figure of Follower came into view.


    Follower''s expression was nk, his movements slow, almost measured, like a predator sizing up its prey.


    "The maniac..." Shock mumbled, a forced grin creeping onto his face.


    Follower tilted his head slightly, studying Shock with an unblinking intensity.


    He looked unfazed by the destruction around them, as if it were simply another day.


    The corner of Follower''s mouth twitched slightly as he let out his aura, "Why are you here?"


    "I mean, I was curious." Shock''s grin faltered as he took a step back, his instinct for survival kicking in. "You know, just checking things out."


    "Curiosity," Follower murmured, his eyes narrowing as he took a step forward. "Such a dangerous thing."


    In an instant, the atmosphere shifted.


    Follower''s presence became suffocating, his gaze sharpening with a bloodthirsty glint.


    Shock felt a cold sweat break out as he realized the danger he was in.


    There was no amusement in Follower''s expression now¡ªonly raw, lethal intent.


    Shock scrambled back, his hands already reaching for his weapon.


    But Follower was faster.


    With a burst of speed, Follower closed the distance between them.


    Shock barely had time to raise his guard before Follower''s hand mmed into his chest, sending him sprawling onto the ground.


    Shock coughed, the wind knocked out of him. "H-Hey, hold on! We don''t have to do this!"


    But Follower''s response was only a cold stare as he approached.


    His movements were calm, precise, as though he''d already decided how this encounter would end.


    He lifted his arm, energy crackling around his fingers.


    [Godless Demon perk activated.]


    "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU-"


    Before Shock could finish, Follower lunged, his fist mming into Shock''s gut with brutal force.


    Shock doubled over, gasping, his knees hitting the ground as pain tore through him.


    Desperation wed at him. He raised his hand, trying to summon a skill, but Follower was relentless.


    "Please¡­ don''t¡­" Shock''s voice wavered, his body shaking from the sheer force of Follower''s attacks.


    His plea was cut short as Follower grabbed him by the throat, lifting him effortlessly off the ground.


    Follower''s eyes were unreadable, cold and merciless.


    He didn''t react to Shock''s pleading expression, nor did he flinch at the panic in Shock''s eyes.


    With a sudden twist, Follower tightened his grip, and Shock''s cries grew weaker.


    DEMON DEVOURING!


    He yet again used up his most powerful perk, a dark aura emerging from his body and gripping onto Shock''s, devouring himpletely.


    "N-No¡­" Shock''s voice was a whisper now, his strength fading as his vision began to blur. "Please¡­"


    But his plea fell on deaf ears.


    BOOM!


    -999,999!


    Instant death.


    Follower watched, unblinking, as Shock''s body went limp.


    Then, with a final, swift movement, he released his hold, letting Shock''s lifeless body slump to the ground.


    Ding!


    The notification rang out, cold and final:


    [Participant "Shock" has been killed by "Follower."]


    Seven remained.


    Follower knelt beside Shock''s body, his hand brushing over the item Shock had carried¡ªthe [Skill Canceller].


    A smile yed at the corners of his lips as he held the device, feeling the power it held.


    Ding!


    [You have stolen "Skill Canceller"!]


    The implications of his new prize sank in.


    With the ability to cancel one skill, Follower knew he now had a weapon powerful enough to take down even Chosen''s [Heaven''s Spear].


    And also...


    There was onest thing...


    [Prove your devotion.]


    [Kill 5 participants.]


    [5/5]


    Ding!


    [You truly are a follower of the Godless Demon.]


    [You have received a new perk: "Godless Demon Transformation" (Immortal)]


    [Ultimate Task: Kill Chosen.]


    [0/1]


    "Yes... Master..." Follower grinned.


    He had been following Stark''s aura since he used it to fight Hugo, but it seemed the explosion let out so much energy he yet again lost trace of Chosen.


    "I''ll get you... Chosen One..."

 Chapter 344: The Announcement That Would Change Everything

    [Participant "Shock" has been killed by "Follower."]


    Stark sat in silence beside the bed where Lilith and Sora were resting.


    He was tired, probably more than anyone else, but still, he needed to stay up.


    He couldn''t let his [Ultimate Clone] do all the work, and a sudden attack on this room would probably destroy all of it before they even realized it.


    Plus, he was too pre-upied by what would happen next to sleep.


    Shock''s death meant there were only seven people left in the trial now.


    The one who''d stolen his kill on the [Inquisitor] was gone.


    Removing himself, Sora, and Lillith, it left 4 other powerful participants.


    The fact they each survived in solo already said enough about their power.


    Clever? He was an old man, but Stark had a bad feeling about him regardless, almost as if none of the monsters or participants in this trial were worth using his powers on.


    CEO? A maniac, truly, and he was the one who exposed Stark at the beginning, as well as started this whole attack.


    Artist? Extremely powerful too, the only one Stark saw the powers of live, since he also fought the [Inquisitor] with him.


    And finally, Follower, the most mysterious of them.


    His [Focus] skill kept shouting [WATCH OUT] every time he got close at the start, was there a reason for that?


    And on the other side of the trial, there were the monsters.


    Stark hadn''t met many normal monsters anymore, meaning that they either got all killed, or that the moon trio realized that it would just give experience to the participants, thus removing them.


    In both cases, it means only the elite of the elite remained:


    Eternal Regret, the creature made of the hundreds of souls from the orphanage children.


    The Mayor, Stark hadn''t met him, but he had killed one of CEO''s goons, so he was definitely powerful.


    Tormented One, Never met either, no idea what it could be, same thing for the Heartless One.


    And finally, the big boss of this trial: the moon apostle.


    Stark didn''t know it, but he theorized that the [Moon Trio] was actually but a facade for the real [Moon Apostle].


    Maybe defeating all three would reveal him.


    Not that it would make a difference anyway.


    Right as he was about to continue thinking about the future, though...


    The most important announcement of this trial appeared.


    An announcement that would change the entire trial.


    No.


    It would change the entire world.


    [Global Announcement: More than half of the participants have been in, and all conditions have been met for the "Grand Initiation".]


    [Go outside if you aren''t already.]


    "Huh?"


    The atmosphere around the entire trial darkened.


    And it wasn''t just a feeling anymore, it quite literally did.


    Stark felt like he needed to go outside, no matter what.


    "Clone, protect them," he whispered, gesturing to Lilith and Sora, and the [Ultimate Clone] nodded in understanding. "I have... a bad feeling."


    Stark left the safe zone of the museum, avoiding the debris from the fallen structure, and finally, he opened the entrance door of the museum.


    And that''s when he saw it.


    The sky, now a menacing crimson red, cast an eerie glow over the entirendscape.


    And most importantly...


    "What the hell is that..." he looked up, specifically toward the [Hollow Tower].


    The tower was massive, but at the very top of it, a timer appeared, ticking down.


    [Time before the ''Grand Initiation'': 59:37 minutes... 59:36...]


    Everywhere in the trial, except for Lilith and Sora, every participant could see that timer too.


    And they all wondered: what the hell is the [Grand Initiation].


    [This will change the entire world outside.]


    [Enjoy while you still can.]


    At this point, they were used to the trials and their random encounters/events.


    But never has any of them imed to "change the whole world".


    Were monsters from this trial appear in the real world? Would they be forced to do tasks in the real world, killing millions?!


    What the hell was it?


    All they could do was wait the hour to see.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Three rifts split open in the sky, and the three [Crimson Moons] appeared.


    ''So he''s back...'' Stark thought.


    [You need to kill all three moons to reveal the "Moon Apostle", otherwise they regenerate at some point.]


    To keep things clear, Stark mentallybeled them Moone, Motwo, and Mothree.


    "So it''s time," Moone grinned, though that was only visible by the massive eye it had.


    "Yeah, I guess it was bound to happen at some point," Motwo sighed, sounding almost indifferent.


    "From today onward, the moment this timer hits 0, the end of humanity will begin," Mothree added.


    The three moons couldn''t hear the participants, nor could they see Stark''s exasperation as he shouted, trying to get some kind of response.


    It seemed as though they were speaking, but the main goal of this conversation was to announce something to the participants.


    "This trial is reaching its halfway point."


    "Agreed."


    "Now the whole world shall see what is happening behind the scenes, beyond what they believed."


    "They will discover the truth."


    "The participants should feel honored," Moothree dared to add,ughing.


    Moone shrugged, as if the lives of the participants were trivial, "Will they be honored? After all, this will be a big deal, won''t it?"


    "We''re going to kill them anyway," Motwo stated tly. "This is just a warning for humanity."


    The three moons then spoke in unison, their voices merging into a chilling harmony as they all stared at Termina, and specifically at the participants, their pupils darting at their positios.


    "The new world order ising. You will all be bound to your fates."


    And with that, the three moons vanished, leaving Stark to stand alone in the blood-red glow of the sky.


    He stared, dumbfounded, at the timer ticking down.


    Every word they''d said only served to deepen the pit of dread in his stomach.


    "Bro what?" Stark was bbergasted.


    The hell were they even talking about?


    "The end of humanity? The truth? New world order?" Stark murmured to himself, reeling from the cryptic words.


    None of it made sense, yet every part of him sensed that whatever wasing was monumental.


    What in the flying fuck does any of that mean?


    For a few moments, he just stood there, transfixed by the timer.


    The entire trial was eerily silent now. No monsters roamed the streets; it was as if everything had gone still in preparation for the "Grand Initiation."


    All the moonscorch was gone.


    "The halfway point... huh..."


    The trial had always been deadly, with monsters and participants killing each other at every turn. But this was different.


    This felt like something muchrger, something beyond just survival.


    Another way of escaping this trial? Maybe?


    But before that, they would need to go through the [Grand Initiation].


    They imed that it would change the entire world.


    "Probably rted to the godless demon," was Stark''s guess, and he waspletely right.


    Knowing that no monsters were there anymore, he just sat on the stairs of the museum, looking up.


    It was the same thing for all other participants.


    Artist drew a bed and rested on it, knowing that no monsters woulde to disturb him.


    Clever spun his cane, unfazed, biding his time.


    CEO too, didn''t do much, deciding to still roam around in case he could find anything.


    And then there was Follower.


    [It is our time.]


    "Yes, master," Follower whispered to himself, a twisted smile spreading across his face.


    [You have received the information. The world will now kneel before "Domination" users. Be ready.]


    "Yes..."


    He was ready for the [Grand Initiation], more than anyone else.


    No... he was thrilled.


    The chaos toe was exactly what he had been waiting for.

 Chapter 345: The Grand Initiation of the World

    Stark sat on the museum steps, eyes locked on the crimson sky, which had grown darker since the timer appeared.


    The clock counted down, second by second, showing just under an hour left.


    Whatever the [Grand Initiation] was, it loomed closer with every tick.


    Around Termina, the remaining participants waited, each feeling the weight of the impending event.


    Stark thought back to the ominous announcement: "This will change the entire world."


    The words gnawed at his mind, a sense of dread settling in his chest.


    Yet even as Stark''s nerves frayed, he knew he couldn''t afford to lose focus.


    He was one of the few domination users left, and this [Grand Initiation] would likely push them all to their limits.


    After all, even in the real world, what actually was the number of domination users who survived until the third trial?


    Maybe less than 1%.


    ...


    Elsewhere, in a dark alley across the city, CEO paced, eyes darting between the timer in the sky and the buildings around him.


    For once, even he seemed to understand that this event was bigger than any scheme he''d devised.


    "So, the halfway point¡­ if they''re revealing this to the world, then everything we''ve done here¡­ it''s going to mean something outside, too." He clenched his fists, determination shing in his eyes.


    "Just you wait, all of you," he muttered to himself. "I''ll survive this, and then I''ll be the richest man alive..."


    ...


    Meanwhile, Clever, an old yet sharp-eyed participant, observed the sky from the shadows at a quiet corner of Termina.


    His calm demeanor hid a mind constantly analyzing every detail.


    The moons had hinted at something biging, and he knew that the battle ahead would be unforgiving.


    "Let''s see if you young ones are ready for what''sing¡­" Clever murmured, leaning back against the wall.


    ...


    The timer dropped to 30 minutes.


    Stark shifted his focus to the door of the museum, where Sora and Lilithy resting in the museum''s safe zone.


    He knew he had to n not only for himself but for the two of them as well.


    That is if they didn''t wake up.


    It would be bad if they didn''t, though.


    But after getting hit by Hugo''s attacks, it was normal anybody would feel down.


    With only ten minutes left on the timer, a low, ominous hum vibrated through the sky.


    Stark and the others all froze, sensing that something massive was about to happen.


    And then¡­


    BOOM!


    A deafening crack split the air as a colossal rift opened above the [Hollow Tower].


    It looked like the sky itself was tearing apart, revealing swirling ckness beyond.


    The three crimson moons reappeared,rger and more terrifying than before.


    Their voices echoed across the city, chilling every participant to the bone.


    "Wee¡­ to the end."


    The words resounded within their minds.


    Stark gritted his teeth, looking up at the moons, his fists clenched. He could feel it¡ªthis was just the beginning.


    As the timer reached its final seconds, a new message appeared in bright red text across the sky:


    [The Grand Initiation has begun.]


    1:00¡­


    0:59¡­


    0:58¡­


    The countdown continued, but as it did, a series of panels appeared in the air.


    [Since the beginning of it all, the "Domination" ss was always the secret one.]


    [No one except a select few and those that have it know of its existence.]


    [But it is time for it to change.]


    "Huh?"


    "What?"


    [The Grand Initiation of the world to the Domination ss will begin once the timer hits zero.]


    [You will all be participants of this game, watched by the entire world.]


    [Are you ready?]


    [The descent of the Godless Demon is happening soon.]


    "Mhm," Clever nodded, smirking.


    "???" CEO raised his eyebrows, confused. "What?"


    "Descent of the Godless Demon?" Artist climbed out of his makeshift bed, startled.


    And finally¡­


    "YES! YES! THE WORLD SHALL WATCH AS WE KILL ALL OF THEM!" Follower was on his knees, crying tears of joy. "THE WORLD WILL FALL!"


    10¡­


    9¡­


    8¡­


    Stark watched as the timer neared its end, a deep sense of foreboding settling over him.


    He didn''t know exactly what wasing, but he knew he had to be prepared.


    7¡­


    6¡­


    5¡­


    Reveal the Domination ss to the whole world? How? And why?


    Why were they suddenly yers in a game? Weren''t they already in a deadly trial?


    Or maybe it was another one of those massive events that could kill them all?


    4¡­


    3¡­


    2¡­


    1¡­


    And when would the [Godless Demon] descend?


    Stark braced himself.


    0!


    FWISH¡­ BOOM!


    The entire trial seemed to explode upon itself.


    And every participant suddenly felt a piercing headache, even Follower and Stark.


    "What the...?" Stark clutched his head, trying to resist the pain, his vision flooded by shadows and images he knew weren''t real.


    [Wee.]


    [To the Grand Initiation.]


    [Your fates are now sealed.]


    Inside the museum, Sora and Lilith woke up, both clutching their heads in agony.


    They''d each had a nightmare¡ªa vision of a massive demon, its voice urging them to wake up and not miss the [Grand Initiation].


    Sweat dripped from their foreheads, fear gnawing at them.


    For Sora, this fear was even greater than any she''d felt before, it was more than the one she had against the warden of the second trial.


    "Did you... see that too?" Sora asked Lilith, her voice trembling.


    "...Yeah." Lilith nodded, eyes wide.


    "Can''t be a coincidence. Let''s go outside."


    Stark''s ultimate clone, who had been guarding them, noticed they were awake and gestured for them to follow it toward Stark.


    They made their way through the museum''s wrecked halls, stopping at the entrance where Stark stood, looking up at the sky.


    The pain in their heads dulled, but as they lifted their gaze, they saw something they could never have imagined.


    In the sky, the figure of a colossal demon materialized, its two crimson eyes locking onto them.


    Its overwhelming aura filled the air, making them all feel weak.


    A single second of inattention would result in them being knocked out again.


    [Domination users.]


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    [The entire world is watching you now.]


    [Do whatever you feel is right.]


    With those simple words, the creature faded away.


    But in that brief nce, it seemed as if it had directed its disgust of the human race particrly toward Stark, as if his mere presence was offensive.


    "What did it mean by ''the whole world is watching us''?" Lilith asked, still shaken as she looked up at the sky.


    Silence.


    Stark didn''t respond, his gaze fixed above.


    "Hello?" The two girls approached him, trying to catch his attention. "HOLY¡ª!"


    They flinched, recoiling from the intense hatred radiating from Stark''s aura.


    His body seemed cloaked in a crimson energy, his white pupils shaking with fury.


    "It meant it literally," he finally spoke, his voice a low growl. "The whole world''s watching us. The Domination secret is out."


    "Huh?"


    "What?"


    Across the city, every other participant wasing to the same realization.


    This trial was but a game to the apostles and godless demon.


    That is why they organized this whole [Corpse Festival] thing: they enjoyed seeing those that could defeat them kill one another.


    Stark didn''t know who was making these trials, but it seemed that they were now cooperating with the godless demon.


    [Every trial needs to be fair.]


    That is what Stark remembered, and the probable reason why they weren''t just instantly killed.


    There were rules to follow, and now, this twisted game of death would be watched by everyone.

 Chapter 346: Domination Class Exposed, The Entire World is Watching

    In the outside world.


    Not only in Ferbrug, but in all other countries in Rheria, something strange happened.


    In every country, every town, and every corner, electronic devices suddenly flickered.


    Phones,puters, billboards, and even holographic disys glitched for a second, then resumed, but not with their usual content.


    Each screen turned a deep, imprable ck.


    People across schools, businesses, cafes, and homes exchanged confused looks.


    The usual hustle fell silent, reced by murmurs of concern and bewilderment.


    Faces lit only by the cold light of the screens, they waited, wondering what was happening.


    On every screen, a shadowed figure appeared, his outline vague but menacing, with two piercing crimson eyes that seemed to look directly into the soul of each viewer.


    The feeling of being watched, of having something far more powerful than them seize control, settled over everyone.


    "What the hell?" someone muttered.


    "Is this some kind of hack?" asked another.


    But there was no answer.


    The figure''s voice echoed suddenly, resonating not from the devices but seeming to whisper directly into each ear.


    "Hello, humans."


    The voice carried an otherworldly authority, chilling everyone in an instant.


    Before anyone could react further, the figure raised its hand and snapped its fingers.


    SNAP!


    The world outside transformed in an instant.


    The sky shifted, bleeding into a deep, unsettling crimson that spread across the horizon, casting a sinister glow over the entirendscape.


    Sunlight dimmed as if absorbed by this red veil, leaving the world beneath it cast in an ominous glow.


    It was as if the world itself was plunged into a living nightmare.


    "AAAAH!"


    "What''s happening?"


    Even the strongest of ssifiers, those at level 600, 700 and up were confused.


    What was happening to the world?!


    In every corner of Rheria, panic erupted.


    Cars screeched to a halt, people pointed to the sky in disbelief, and even newscasters stammered over their words as they struggled to describe the bizarre events unfolding around them.


    Back to the broadcast, the Godless Demon''s figure still filled every screen, his crimson eyes burning brighter.


    His voice cut through the growing chaos with ease, grabbing everyone''s attention.


    "Wee to the Grand Initiation," he said, "Today marks a new beginning. You may not understand yet, but you will soon."


    In every city, in every gathering, people stared in stunned silence, their eyes glued to the broadcast.


    The figure gave a chilling smile.


    "Let''s cut to the chase," he said, snapping his fingers once more.


    The screens shifted, and five words appeared,rge and ominous.


    [Third Domination Trial: Corpse Festival]


    Everyone''s confusion only deepened as more words followed:


    [Difficulty: Death]


    [15 Participants.]


    On the screen appeared 15 squares, disying the faces of all the participants.


    "Huh? Isn''t that the CEO of the Amaterasu group?"


    "That''s Sora Gardenis!" another pointed.


    "And that''s Kai Algreen, the genius Artist!"


    Powerful figures, faces known all across Rheria¡ªthese were the participants.


    Shocked whispers spread as more faces were recognized.


    And then... the broadcast shifted again.


    BAM! BAM! BAM!


    [Starfire - Eliminated by Follower.]


    [Rightlef - Eliminated by CEO.]


    [Mao - Eliminated by Follower.]


    [Partner - Eliminated by the Mayor.]


    [Mio - Eliminated by Father Hugo.]


    [Dave - Eliminated by Follower.]


    [ire - Eliminated by Follower.]


    [Shock - Eliminated by Follower.]


    In seven of the fifteen boxes, gray-out effects started appearing, with red X''s crossing out the faces.


    The crowd gasped as one box after another was grayed out, the participants marked as eliminated.


    [7 participants Alive.]


    The 7 squares that remained were those of: Chosen, Lilith, Sora, CEO, Follower, Artist and Clever.


    It was undeniable¡ªthe implication was that they had died.


    "What... did they just say Starfire''s dead?"


    "Mio and Mao too? They were my favorites..."


    "That Follower guy is insane, someone has to stop him..."


    Then, another message appeared, jolting them from their shock:


    [Do you want to watch the trial?]


    [Yes] [No]


    [The choice that receives the majority vote will determine the oue.]


    [If yes is selected, you will have ess to watch the trial live from the perspective of any participant.]


    Instantly, all those that shouted quieted down, gulping.


    It felt unreal, like a twisted game, yet the allure of watching such a deadly trial was powerful.


    Slowly, people began to vote, curiosity overriding their fear.


    From teenagers to elders, from the poor to the rich, everyone made their choice.


    And in the end...


    [Results are in.]


    [99.99% of the poption has voted for ''Yes.'']


    [You will be able to follow the trial live now.]


    [Enjoy, for the world is in their hands.


    A haunting silence settled over the crowd as the screens turned ck once more, only to reawaken with the images of a crumbling city with a crimson sky.


    In the background, they could see a massive tower.


    And then, a prompt appeared on their screens.


    [Which participant do you want to follow?]


    The list appeared: [Sora, Clever, Lilith, CEO, Artist, Follower, Stark.]


    With trembling hands, people selected, and it was no surprise that Follower, the one who had already imed multiple lives, attracted the most attention.


    The allure of such a dangerous figure was irresistible to many.


    ...


    Meanwhile, in the Domination Association headquarters, a ce only known to those in the highest circles of power, the event had brought a storm of panic.


    "Boss!" one operative shouted. "This is unprecedented. We''ve never seen anything like this."


    The middle-aged boss, Oliver, narrowed his eyes.


    His gray hair and the weight of countless years of experience made him an intimidating figure, yet even he couldn''t hide his shock.


    "BOSS?!"


    "THIS ISN''T NORMAL!"


    "SHUT THE FUCK UP, ALL OF YOU," he shouted, "I know this isn''t normal, but we can''t do anything."


    The other domination users/staff fell silent, their fear evident but controlled as they awaited further orders.


    "The entire world voted, and they now all heard of the term domination trial, plus, it''s a death difficulty trial, so it doesn''t matter who''s in it, they are all going to die."


    "But chief, the problem is that the entire world will know about them... no... about us," a beige haired woman sighed.


    Oliver''s gaze hardened, "Doesn''t matter. Whatever is happening in that trial, it''s unlike any other we''ve seen.


    We have to watch and observe. There''s something... ominous about this. It''s as if these participants, as if this trial, is a threat to the entire world."


    No one dared to speak, the weight of Oliver''s words sinking in.


    "Way to say it, boss," only one figureugh through it all: Juan, the very same guy that first tried to get Stark to join the association.


    "We may be the strongest Domination users alive, but even we have limits. Watch and learn. I don''t know what awaits us if these participants fail, but my instincts tell me it won''t end well."


    "..."


    All the domination users inside the [Domination Association] were strong, but many hadn''t even entered their third trial yet.


    Even Oliver was only level 200.


    And once he confirmed there was no domination trial at level 200, he believed that it meant there wasn''t anything beyond that.


    It became too difficult to level up, and he had the strength of a level 1000 ssifier already, so there was no need to go any further.


    He had all the experienced and knowledge about the domination ss he needed, but something like that had never happened before.


    He turned to the screens, which showed the remaining participants.


    There were only seven left.


    "The whole world is watching..." Oliver whispered, "Don''t disappoint us. Domination users. It is a death trial, but I hope at least one of you survives."


    With that, he and the rest of the operatives settled in to watch, their fear tempered by a sense of pride and challenge.


    Across Rheria: Feburg, Ostount, Lampod and all other countries, hundreds of millions of eyes fell on their screens, watching.


    And so...


    [You are currently watching the third domination trial.]


    Ding!


    Their screens finally showed the participants they selected.


    [One final warning to you all.]


    A text appeared in front of everyone''s eager eyes.


    [If every participant dies.]


    [Then... well, let''s just say there won''t be much to observe of this world anymore.]


    No participant had transformed yet, but if all of them died, they would instantly transform into moonscorched beings in the real world, rivalling level 700-800 ssifiers.


    The lives of millions were at stake, at this point.

 Chapter 347: Head to the Hollow Square, Completing Final Tasks

    None of the participants could truly understand what "the world watching them" meant.


    It wasn''t possible that the outside world would have ess to the domination trial after all, right?


    Right as he thought of that, Stark suddenly felt the pressure of being watched from every direction.


    "What the..." his eyes widened, his pupils shaking, "Could it be..."


    But the new notification about their next objective snapped him back to reality.


    [Head to the Hollow Tower Square - Time limit of 2 hours.]


    [Those that don''t have 5 taskspleted by then will be instantly Moonscorched.]


    Stark''s heart skipped a beat.


    The Moonscorch threat was serious, and it was the first time this trial actually threatened them with instant death.


    Talk about fair, heh?


    He quickly checked his own status and breathed a sigh of relief.


    [Completed Tasks: 5/5]


    "Oh, then I guess it''s fine," he muttered, but not everyone was in the clear.


    Another panel popped up, showing everyone''s current progress:


    [Stark: 5/5]


    [Sora: 2/5]


    [Follower: 5/5]


    [Clever: 5/5]


    [Lilith: 5/5]


    [CEO: 5/5]


    [Artist: 4/5]


    "Huh," Stark nced at Lilith''s name. "How''d you finish all your tasks already?"


    Lilith shrugged, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Did all I could find in the shopping district, which is where I was resting."


    "So, you must have gotten some good items, right?"


    "Better than you''d think." Lilith tapped a few times on the air, pulling up her inventory for Stark to see.


    [Lilith''s Items: Cooldown Gem, Double Power, Revive Token, Teleportation Sphere, Moonscorch Cure]


    Stark''s eyes widened. "Those are¡­ insane items. You should use the Moonscorch Cure, though."


    "Good point," Lilith replied, activating the item.


    Instantly, the remaining traces of Moonscorch vanished from her.


    She flexed her fingers, looking visibly relieved.


    But then Stark''s eyes drifted back to Sora''s status.


    "Only 2 taskspleted. She still needs three more," he said, concern evident in his voice.


    Lilith nodded, thinking. "There were a few tasks left in the shopping district that I skipped. She could finish them quickly if we work together."


    "Then let''s move." Stark turned to Sora. "We have two hours. We''re going to get you those tasks and then head to the Hollow Tower. Stay close."


    The three of them bolted toward the shopping district, finding it easily.


    It was a massive street filled with dozens of shops, though most were overrun and had broken windows, shutdown, or covered with wood nks.


    They dashed past dpidated storefronts, overturned carts, and flickering neon signs casting eerie lights on the streets.


    Their first stop was an old bookstore, its windows cracked and dusty.


    "There''s a task here," Lilith informed as they followed her.


    Inside, books were scattered everywhere, but a strange panel appeared as they entered.


    [Task: Locate the Forgotten Tome. Reward: Teleportation Token]


    "It''s like hide and seek," Sora muttered, already scanning the room.


    Stark and Lilith split up, moving methodically between aisles and stacks of books, knocking aside debris as they searched.


    Minutester, Lilith''s voice rang out as a book at the very far end of the bookshelves emitted some sort of dark energy, "Found it! Come get it, Sora!"


    If Lilith grabbed it, it would be considered that she was the one thatpleted the task, and you couldn''t have that.


    Sora walked toward Lilith, then lifted a thick, leather-bound book from a stack on a high shelf.


    The moment she touched it, the book glowed, and a new item appeared in Sora''s inventory.


    "Double Speed Token," Sora read out, looking pleased. "That''lle in handy."


    "One task down. Let''s keep going," Stark urged, already moving back out onto the street.


    The next task wasn''t far.


    An old bakeryy around the corner, its ss door hanging off one hinge.


    The smell of something burnt and stale lingered in the air as they stepped inside.


    A new notification greeted them.


    [Task: Recover the Golden Rolling Pin that is guarded by the "Baker".]


    "Huh, so there''s still monsters?" Stark wondered.


    It would indeed feel refreshing to be able to fight.


    The ce was a mess, flour and broken ss scattered across the floor.


    Sora darted behind the counter while Stark checked the back kitchen.


    There, he found a door with the sign [Employees Only].


    "Come!" he shouted to Sora and Lilith, whom arrived 20 secondster, "Watch out, there might be a boss."


    He slowly opened the door, his aura activated in case anything ambushed them.


    But strangely enough... there was nothing.


    Actually, no, there was something.


    "Look down!" Lilith pointed, and as Stark did that, he noticed arge corpse.


    [The Baker - Level 600 Elite]


    This elite boss was dead before anyone even got to it, and there was some sort of ck liquid covering half of his body, eating him out.


    "Moonscorch," Stark whispered, "Well, doesn''t matter."


    "Got it!" Sora''s voice almost sounded happy as she grabbed it, holding a dusty golden rolling pin, and with a sh, the rolling pin transformed into something else.


    "Armor Reinforcement Shard¡­ not bad." Sora held up the shard.


    "Alright, two down, one to go," Stark said, feeling the tension ease a bit.


    But as they stepped outside, he caught a glimpse of the red sky and remembered the time limit.


    "Let''s keep moving."


    Theirst stop in the shopping district was an abandoned electronics store.


    Flickering lights cast ominous shadows across the shattered disy cases, and most of the screens were cracked or covered in dust.


    A panel appeared as soon as they entered.


    [Task: Restore Power to the Store. Reward: Protection Amulet]


    "We''ll need to find the breaker," Stark muttered.


    Lilith pointed towards the back, where a faint hum indicated the presence of a power source.


    "Come on, it should be here somewhere."


    They hurried down a narrow hallway lined with broken disy cases, moving deeper into the store until they reached a dusty breaker panel.


    Stark yanked open the panel, inspecting the wires and switches inside.


    "It''s... a puzzle," he was quite surprised to see this, as it was straight out of a video game.


    Basically, you needed to ce the wires in the good order.


    It didn''t take Sora much time to do it, though.


    The fact these tasks were so easy was mainly because of the facts that there were no monsters to slow their progress.


    The library would have had the [Librarian] elite, the bakery would have the [Baker], and the electric store would have had the [Electric Manager].


    Without these things, it became too easy.


    What was the goal of this trial in stopping the monster spawn...?


    "Done!"


    The store flooded with light, illuminating everything with a cold, artificial glow.


    The Protection Amulet appeared in Sora''s inventory too


    "Got it!" she cheered. "That''s all five."


    They shared a quick, relieved smile.


    They''d done it¡ªSora had her five taskspleted.


    They stepped back out onto the crimson-lit streets, the Hollow Tower visible in the distance, looming over the ruined cityscape.


    The clock was still ticking, and other participants were undoubtedly already on their way there.


    Stark nced at the timer on his panel. "We still have time, but we should hurry."


    As they made their way through the shopping district, the city around them felt like it was holding its breath.


    The streets were empty, an eerie silence pervading everything.


    The only sound was the faint hum of electricity and the echo of their footsteps.


    When they reached the square before the Hollow Tower, they saw that everyone else was already there, standing at various points across the wide, open space.


    The atmosphere was tense, each participant eyeing the others warily.


    "Why aren''t they fighting one another-" Stark wondered as he stepped foot, after all he was sure any of these people would kill at any moment.


    An answer came as soon as he entered.


    [Fighting between participants is prohibited currently, anyone who does it will be moonscorched.]


    CEO stood with his arms crossed, his eyes cold and calcting.


    Follower''s face was twisted into a grin, as if savoring the tension in the air.


    Lilith shifted closer to Stark, keeping her gaze sharp as she assessed the crowd.


    Artist and Clever exchanged brief nces, as if mentally preparing themselves for whatever came next.


    Stark felt the weight of the moment.


    The silence stretched, everyone seemingly waiting for someone else to make the first move to talk, or just wait for another panel to appear.


    Finally, another notification appeared, breaking the standoff.


    [Congrattions onpleting the tasks. You''ve reached the Hollow Tower.]


    [Now, let us put on a show for all of our spectators.]


    BOOM!


    An explosion in the distance could be heard, and suddenly, a dark barrier formed around the [Hollow Tower Square], blocking all of them from leaving.


    [Escape isn''t possible anymore.]


    All the participants could feel that what was about to happen was bad.


    And the fact the trial described it as the halfway point meant that there were still things to do.


    In the real world, everybody was in the edge of their seats, waiting to see what could possibly happen.


    No one even bothered doing their work correctly, focusing on their screens and the trial.


    The world had one question: just how much would the participants have to go through.


    The answer coulde sooner than expected.


    Businessmen? Who even cares about the clients, they''re also watching their screens after all.


    Restaurant/coffee shop workers? We''ll prepare your food when something dull happens, until then you''ll have to wait.


    And let''s not talk about the powerful families.


    Lana''s family, Stark''s family, Sora''s family, all guilds and groups, they all watched it happen with amazed eyes.


    This was unlike anything that happened until now.


    And so now, the name of the 7 alive participants was known to everybody in Rheria.


    They became world-known celebrities in less than an hour.

 Chapter 348: Reactions of the Families, The Trial Continues

    Moonless Family Home.


    Louise Moonless, Arthur Moonless, and Aoki Moonless sat in the cozy living room, leaning into their family discussion.


    The soft glow of themps barely outshone the massive 4K television that dominated the wall.


    As soon as the big announcement that shut down all screens appeared, Aoki went down from his room, just to see his parents in the living room, staring at the screens.


    "What''s happening¨C" he began.


    "Shhh¡­" Arthur cut him off, pointing at the TV.


    The screen showed Stark''s face, as well as every other participant in the 15 squares.


    "HIM?!" Aoki''s reaction was immediate, his toneced with disdain. "I knew he was bad news!"


    From the start, Aoki never trusted Stark.


    He''d been uneasy ever since Stark had visited their home for an offer to join the [Rift Conqueror''s Academy].


    The idea of someone that young, that mysterious, already aligning himself with such prestigious groups had rubbed Aoki the wrong way.


    Plus, he dared to try and flirt with his sister!


    Worse of all, they apparently live together now!


    And now, seeing him here, as one of thest seven participants of that thing called the Domination Trial, Aoki''s suspicions only deepened.


    "What even is Stark''s ss, anyway?" Aoki muttered, ncing at his father.


    Arthur looked at him, almost as baffled.


    "I don''t know," he admitted. "Considering his family, it should be [Soul Wielder]. But I''ve never seen him summon a [Soul Heart], not even once. And I''ve seen him fight."


    Louise''s voice was soft, her curiosity clearly piqued. "But these other participants¡­ they''re not just anyone."


    She wasn''t wrong.


    The seven left in the trial were more than just participants.


    Every surviving name was well-known and respected¡ªsome feared.


    "Sora Gardenis¡­" Louise continued, eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "Who doesn''t know about her?"


    Sora''s beauty and the "Gardenis" family name were extremely famous.


    Then, of course, there was CEO, whose very namemanded influence and power.


    Known as the head of the Amaterasu group, his presence in such a deadly trial raised questions.


    Why would someone as influential as him risk his life? Was he forced into this?


    But the most dangerous person among all of them was... Clever.


    Stark didn''t know it, and most people didn''t since he was from another country in Rheria, but Clever was considered one of the most powerful people in his respective country.


    He is able to take down level 600 bosses easily, and even manages against level 700s.


    There were even rumors that if he used his entire potential, he could beat level 750 or level 800 monsters.


    But who knows.


    All that Arthur knew was that anybody who dared to defy Clever would die.


    ...


    Gardenis Family Home.


    In another household, the tension was equally high.


    Mike Gardenis and Elise Gardenis watched in shock as they saw their daughter''s face among the final seven.


    Unlike their daughter, who was notoriously reserved and expressionless, Mike and Elise were both open and social.


    Their family dynamic was warm, and they had three children, two daughters and one son, but Sora was the only one emotionless in their entire family.


    They didn''t know why that was as they always made sure to provide everything for her using their money from their various businesses, but no one could understand why.


    Strangely enough too, she was the strongest person in the family.


    Her father was a [Magus], her mother an [Archer], and her brother and sister were both mages too.


    Sora was the only weird one, at a young age able to do stuff most people shouldn''t be able to do.


    And to add to that, Sora was also somehow, though they tried to consider their children all the same, the most beautiful of them all.


    Even more so than their mother, who would sometime get jealous and tease her.


    And that''s why they became extremely overprotective.


    Beautiful, smart and powerful? It was a whole package!


    As a result, dozens if not hundreds of other families tried to pair her up with their sons for an arranged marriage.


    But of course, not only did Sora categorically refuse, but her parents refused that too.


    When asked why, Mike had once famously dered, "Our daughter will choose who she wants. If she doesn''t like your son, get lost."


    "We want someone that will actually protect her and help her out, so no, thank you," and her mother was the same.


    Mike and Elise wanted someone that could understand their daughter even though she was emotionless.


    They wanted someone that would be there, but unfortunately, that person never came.


    None of those that came and went were worthy, and their daughter didn''t like them either.


    Eventually, no one tried anymore, as Sora wouldn''t even bat an eye at them.


    So you could imagine the surprise when they saw their daughter on the list of participants of that trial, among one of the 7 alive ones.


    And even more shocking, when the screen began disying the actual trial...


    "Mom! Sora''s with a guy!" Elise''s eyes widened as her son''s voice brought her out of her thoughts.


    "WHAT?!" Mike and Elise leaned closer to the screen, their jaws dropping.


    Sure enough, Sora was standing next to someone, their shoulders almost touching.


    Their shock was palpable¡ªSora, who refused and disgusted to let any mane within three meters, was here, side-by-side with a stranger.


    "Just who is he¡­" Mike''s gaze sharpened, his protectiveness ring up.


    "That''s Stark Heartsouls," Elise answered after a beat. "I heard his family disowned him¡­ something about himcking the [Soul Wielder] ss."


    "STARK HEARTSOULS?" Mike''s voice shot up in disbelief. "Well, let''s see how this unfolds. If that boy so much as touches a strand of her hair, I''m going to murder him."


    But right as he said that, the father suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.


    [Bad idea, Mike, Stark is at least twice as strong as you are.]


    ...


    Then there was Stark''s own family, perhaps the most bewildered of them all.


    "What the hell...?" Jay, Stark''s only brother and leader of the [Wyvern Wrath Guild], the one he had outran back in the first secret rift he went into, mumbled.


    "Stark?" Both of his sisters, Lara and Nissa, looked at each other, their mouths agape.


    Even Aiden, Stark''s father, and Sini, his mother, couldn''t hide their shock.


    They had disowned Stark nearly 1.5 years ago, convinced that he was a lost cause.


    Yet now, their son''s face was everywhere, proof that he was still fighting.


    "Mom! All my friends are messaging me asking if that''s my brother!" Nissa blurted out, turning to her mother. "What''s going on?"


    "I¡­ I don''t know," Sini answered, fear edging her voice.


    What the hell was Stark doing along with all of those powerhouses.


    Even a single one of those participants would defeat their entire family 10x times over without breaking a sweat.


    There was no chance Stark was like them, right?


    You can''t be so strong in less than 2 years... right?!


    "He''s with Sora Gardenis and Lilith Silent," Jay was baffled as well, why was his brother, much less popr than he was, with these two beauties!?


    Both Sora and Lilith came from families with more power and influence than theirs, and possibly even more than the Moonless family.


    Yet there was Stark, right by their sides.


    The Heartsouls family could only watch, having chosen Stark as the [Chosen] participant they''d follow in this trial.


    "Did he unlock his ss?" Lara asked.


    "Probably," Aiden muttered, though his gaze remained hard. "But the real question is¡­ is it [Soul Wielder]?"


    They couldn''t watch Stark fight because of theck of monsters, but soon enough they would.


    Maybe it was to make the suspense higher in the entire world that the trial removed every moonscorched monster, actually, it would make sense!


    ...


    Andstly, there was Lana.


    Alone in her apartmentplex, she felt a tangle of emotions as she watched the broadcast.


    "Didn''t they say they were going somewhere else?" she murmured to herself, trying to piece together the truth.


    But, in opposition to all the others, who were shocked and/or worried, Lana, on the other hand was... relieved.


    "PHEW!" Sheughed, "And here I was thinking they went to have sex behind my back!"


    She had thought about this possibility since they first spoke, but she couldn''t stop Stark from having a rtionship with Sora if he wanted.


    The best she could do was wait for him, and see if he would like her to join.


    Instead, he was in a trial that could kill him at any moment!


    Her relief, however, didn''tst long.


    "WAIT WHAT?!"


    As she clutched her phone, her fingers shook, her mind reeling at the dangers Stark would be facing.


    She didn''t understand why they both hid this from her, but there must be a reason.


    Stark and Sora wouldn''t betray her, she knew it, and Sora wouldn''t y dirty in romance, maybe she would even be willing to share if it came to it, who knows.


    But then why are they there?!


    ...


    Around the world, the reactions varied.


    Some were curious, others worried, and a few were dismissive.


    But everyone was tuned in, watching closely.


    Whether they were protective like Sora''s family, bewildered like Stark''s, or holding their breath in fear like Lana, one thing was certain: everyone was watching, waiting to see who would make it out alive.


    The trial continued, and the world held its breath.


    Back in the trial, the timer finally reached 0, and as the dark barrier that stopped them from leaving the [Hollow Tower Square] formed.


    A message appeared.


    [Get ready to fight.]

 Chapter 349: Hollow Tower Square, The Entire Gang is Here

    A message hovered in the air in front of each participant:


    [Get ready to fight.]


    And then¨C


    FWISH! RUMBLE!


    The ground shook, and from the shadows emerged every elite monster still roaming the trial.


    The atmosphere of the Hollow Tower square, which was up until now only filled with the other participants, changed drastically as five terrifying figures appeared.


    The first was the Mayor.


    Clothed in fine, noble attire, he looked oddly dignified, but his grotesque face twisted with moonscorched madness.


    His beige skin sagged, his bald head crowned by two sharp, triangr horns.


    He gripped a fork in his right hand and a knife in his left, his weapons glinting ominously.


    And before anyone could react, he threw his knife toward the [Ultimate Clone], hitting it straight on and making it disappear.


    "OH COME ON," Stark was the one who shouted, "WHY HIM?!"


    "Because I felt like it."


    [Termina''s Mayor - Level 600 Moonscorch Commander]


    Behind him were his loyal servants:


    A group of three identical butlers, each dressed in ck suits with white gloves.


    They followed the Mayor closely, never leaving his side.


    The Butler Trio''s skill, [Loyal Regeneration], meant they''d revive endlessly as long as the Mayor was alive.


    [Butler Trio - Level 590 Mini-Boss]


    The next creature was The Tormented One, released by Artist from the museum.


    A skinless, humanoid horror, its red muscles and sinews exposed under a cloak made from its own skin.


    With no mouth, it couldn''t scream, but its mere presence radiated agony, as if each step was a testament to endless suffering.


    [Tormented One - Level 600 Moonscorch Commander]


    Beside it stood The Heartless One.


    She was feminine, yet terrifying, almost divine.


    She wore a dark suit, her face disturbingly serene, framed by a golden halo above her head.


    In her hands were a golden spear and a ck de. Her ck wings stretched wide, casting a shadow over the battlefield.


    [Heartless One - Level 600 Moonscorch Commander]


    Then there was Eternal Regret.


    It towered over the rest, a writhing, shifting mass of shadows that seemed alive.


    Its form constantly morphed, the twisted faces of children screaming and crying within it.


    Their agony filled the air, a haunting chorus that chilled everyone who heard it.


    [Eternal Regret - Level 600 Elite]


    Stark already knew about that thing.


    The creature absorbed anything thrown at it.


    Physical attacks were useless against it, after all, he had hit it hundreds of time over with [Asura''s Arms].


    These five horrific beings were thest obstacles standing between the participants and their goal.


    Then, a new message appeared:


    [Killing other participants ispletely allowed. In the end, only one may enter the tower and face the moons.]


    The phrase sent chills through them all.


    "Face the moons?" CEO raised his eyebrows, a grin creeping onto his face. "I knew it. This is a [Death] difficulty trial for a reason."


    This meant that even if they survived each other and the bosses¡­ they''d still have to face the moons themselves to win.


    A daunting, nearly impossible task.


    Everyone exchanged uneasy nces.


    Meanwhile, Follower remained unfazed.


    A private message had appeared just for him:


    [Do not worry about the moons. If you beat them, you''ll take their ces¡ªand more.]


    "Yes, lord," Follower murmured with grim determination, his gaze locked onto Stark.


    In contrast, Clever chuckled to himself, rubbing his beard.


    "Let''s see how these young ones handle this."


    The old man was so confident in his powers against everyone that he didn''t even know if he should actually use them or just stand back as a spectator.


    After all, a single reveal of his domination power would result in nobody attempting to kill him, much like with Stark.


    The countdown appeared in front of everyone.


    [3¡­]


    Auras red around each participant.


    Stark''s aura burned crimson.


    [2¡­]


    The five monstrous bosses prepared themselves, each one radiating a terrifying presence.


    [1¡­]


    The participants nced at each other, each silently debating whether to focus on the monsters or turn on each other first.


    [FIGHT!]


    The trial began.


    Without hesitation, Stark dashed forward, heading straight for [Eternal Regret].


    He was the first to move among all, taking even the monsters aback.


    Even they needed to think of their strategy if they wanted to win against the humans, yet here was that guy, instantly fighting.


    "You beat me once!" Starkughed, charging with fierce determination. "I''ll kill you now, just like I killed Hugo!"


    Heunched a flurry of [Crimson Spears] straight at Eternal Regret.


    But as soon as the spears touched the shadowy creature, they were absorbed into its writhing form.


    The spears vanished, leaving no trace.


    "Damn it!" Stark cursed, "It''s gonna work at some point!"


    [Eternal Regret] only had one hp, so any attack would instantly kill it.


    He tried again, sending a [Holy Infusion]-charged punch as that thing definitely looked demonic, but the impact did nothing.


    Eternal Regret absorbed the energy, unaffected.


    Sora, meanwhile, had her sights on The Heartless One.


    Her eyes narrowed, calcting the right moment to strike.


    She darted forward with a sh, her [Vine Sword] swinging in a precise arc.


    CLANG!


    The Heartless One blocked Sora''s attack effortlessly with her golden spear.


    "Yawn..."


    Their weapons shed, sparks flying as Sora''s sword met the ck de in the Heartless One''s left hand.


    "Strong¡­." Sora muttered, her grip tightening as she pushed back, unleashing a barrage of strikes.


    "THAT''S MY GIRL!" Mike Gardenis, Sora''s father, shouted from thefort of their living room.


    The Heartless One moved with serene grace, deflecting each attack with chilling ease.


    "Forgot about me?" but Lilith also jumped in the fight, wanting to help out her new friend.


    "Fool," Heartless didn''t seem bothered, raising her spear.


    On the other side of the battlefield, CEO aimed his sights on the Mayor.


    "We meet again," The Mayor sneered, raising his fork and knife like a twisted nobleman ready to feast.


    His butlers stood at his side, their eyes locked on CEO with unflinching loyalty.


    CEO raised his hand, unleashing a powerful beam of energy.


    ZAP!


    The beam struck the Mayor square in the chest, but he merely chuckled, shrugging it off.


    The Butler Trio moved in front of him, shielding him from any further attacks.


    "PLATE THROW!" The Mayor''s mocking grin grew wider as the butlers threw their tes at CEO, forcing him to retreat.


    "Alright, then. I''ll y along." CEO smirked, summoning a barrier to protect himself.


    He fired again, determined to pierce the Mayor''s defenses.


    "I''ll help you, old man," Artist sighed, appearing beside CEO, "But I''ll expectpensation."


    "Heh? Trying to get money in such a situation, we don''t even know if we''ll all live."


    "Doesn''t matter, I just want to get money."


    "Fine by me, I have too much of it anyway," CEO smirked.


    Meanwhile, Follower watched from the shadows, his eyes locked on Stark.


    He used one of his perks [Shadow Veil] to hide from everyone and everything.


    He hadn''t forgotten his mission.


    While everyone else was distracted, he moved, blending into the darkness, positioning himself close to Stark.


    He waited for the perfect moment to strike, his [Skill Canceller] in hand.


    Clever, standing back, watched the chaos unfold with a grin.


    "These fools are doing all the work for me." He murmured, crossing his arms.


    But when his eyesnded on The Tormented One, he raised an eyebrow.


    "Hmm, you might actually be worth my time."


    With a powerful stomp, Cleverunched himself forward, not even bothering to activate his aura, mming his fist into The Tormented One.


    His strength reverberated through the ground, but the creature barely flinched.


    It turned its hollow gaze on Clever, its expressionless face radiating pain and suffering.


    "Oh?"


    ...


    Back at Stark, he wasn''t giving up on Eternal Regret.


    "Fine. Absorb this!" He unleashed [Asura''s Wrath], summoning multiple crimson arms to pummel the creature from every angle.


    The fists struck Eternal Regret, each blow heavy with energy.


    But like before, it absorbed every hit, growing darker and more chaotic with each one.


    It wasn''t even retaliating!


    Stark clenched his jaw.


    "There has to be a way¡­" He muttered, frustration building.


    Lilith shifted her strategy.


    She broke off from her sh with the Heartless One and aimed a powerful [Qi Pulse] st at the Heartless One''s exposed face.


    The attack hit, but the Heartless One merely tilted her head, unaffected.


    "Tch¡­" Lilith frowned. "Looks like brute force isn''t enough."


    The Mayor, meanwhile, had CEO cornered.


    His butlers kept regenerating, returning to shield him each time CEO sted them away.


    "Annoying pests!" CEO growled, backing up to gain some space.


    "You should be careful," Artist smiled, not having done anything until now, instead focusing his mind on his future creation to possibly win.


    The Mayor chuckled darkly, raising his fork as if about to feast on his prey.


    "You''re nothing but an appetizer, dear CEO, and I see that your other friend is already gone."


    CEO''s eyes narrowed.


    "He wasn''t my friend."


    With a shout, he unleashed his [Money Wave] skill, sending a massive wave of energy toward the Mayor and his butlers.


    The st knocked them back, giving CEO a brief moment to breathe.


    So basically, this is how it is going:


    Stark VS Eternal Regret.


    Sora and Lilith VS Heartless One


    CEO and Artist VS Mayor and Butler Trio


    Clever VS Tormented one, though the former is mostly having fun with it.


    And finally, Follower is just hiding, the chaos of the square allowing him to not be noticed, lurking around Stark and waiting for the boy to give him an opening.


    Unknown to him, though, Stark could perfectly see him.


    [Watch out.]


    [Focus] had already warned him, and so he was ready to counter-attack Follower at any time, though he wanted to focus on [Eternal Regret].


    Right as Stark gave another punch to the beast...


    It finally decided to activate its skill.


    "Release..."


    The chaos would be much worse now.

 Chapter 350: Eternal Regrets Death, Only 6 Remaining

    "RELEASE...!"


    Eternal Regret''s hundreds of faces screamed in agony as they released a massive shockwave of dark energy, forcing Stark to back away.


    [+50% Moonscorch Infection]


    Unfortunately, he had been hit.


    And that''s when he realized another difficulty in this whole thing: the chance of transforming because of the infection if you stayed exposed too long.


    It was a war against the clock.


    Stark stood in the middle of the ruined square, his muscles tense as he stared down at the creature before him.


    Eternal Regret had no real form, just a mass of writhing, tortured souls screaming in agony as they formed its body.


    [Name: Eternal Regret]


    [Level: 600]


    [HP: 1]


    [Strength: ???]


    [Stamina: ???]


    [Speed: ???]


    [Defense: ???]


    [Skills: Release...]


    Despite the fact it had only one HP, Stark knew it wouldn''t be easy tond a blow.


    The creature shifted constantly, as though trying to escape its own form.


    His anger was rising, fueled by the chaos around him and the fact he just couldn''t put a dent on this thing.


    Instead, he decided to look around.


    Sora and Lilith were struggling against the Heartless One.


    CEO and Artist were locked in a desperate battle with the Mayor and the Butler Trio.


    And Clever was having fun taking on the Tormented One with nothing more than his basic attacks.


    It was a battle of powerhouses, yet amidst all the chaos, Stark was fixated on Eternal Regret.


    With a deep breath, he tightened his grip on his fists, and all six of his arms repeated the movements, crimson aura burning in them.


    Sora and Lilith fought side by side, battling the Heartless One.


    "Stay focused, Sora!" Lilith shouted, her voice strained as she blocked another strike.


    Sora nodded, her vines shooting out in every direction to try and bind the creature.


    Her skill Vine Transformation allowed her to stretch her abilities to their limits, wrapping the vines around the Heartless One''s arms, attempting to restrict its movements.


    But no matter how many vines she sent, the creature tore through them as if they were paper.


    It was too fast, too unpredictable.


    "Flora-Guns!" Sora fired a volley of her most powerful nature-infused bullets at the creature, but the Heartless One simply phased through them, its form flickering in and out of existence.


    Lilith''s Qi Pulse unleashed another wave of energy that shook the ground, but the Heartless One dodged once again, leaving the two women frustrated and running out of options.


    "Hahaha... littledies, you aren''t even close to my beauty!"


    "Shut up, old hag," Lilith gritted her teeth.


    Meanwhile, CEO and Artist were struggling to keep up with the Mayor and the Butler Trio.


    The Mayor''s aura of authority was suffocating, his presence alone making it difficult to concentrate.


    "DAMN IT!" CEO mumbled under his breath, sweat dripping down his face as he narrowly dodged another te attack from one of the butlers.


    Artist, standing beside him, was panting, clutching his brush tightly.


    He had summoned his [Masterpiece Summon], a powerful golem made entirely of living paint, but even it was struggling against the sheer might of the Mayor''s attacks.


    "I... I can''t do it..." Artist muttered, his eyes wide with fear.


    His voice trembled as he stared at the Mayor. "I... I need more time..."


    In opposition to what you might believe, it had already been 10 minutes since the battle started.


    And the Mayor had strangely only been aiming at Artist, already hitting him twice with his weapons.


    "Come on, citizen, ept your fate," Mayorughed.


    "FUCK YOU-"


    Before he could finish his sentence, the Mayor extended his hand.


    In an instant, Artist was lifted off the ground, his body frozen in mid-air.


    The Mayor''s voice was calm, unyielding.


    "You should''ve known better than to think you could challenge me."


    Artist opened his mouth to try and insult him again, but before he could say another word, the Mayor gestured.


    A thick, sharp de of energy extended from the ground, piercing straight through Artist''s chest.


    "FUCK!" CEO rushed forward.


    Artist''s body was cleaved in half, his hand reaching desperately towards Stark as his final breath left him.


    "My... master...piece..." Artist thought before dying.


    "USELESS!" CEO shouted as he used [Mana Laser] to try and damage the Mayor.


    ...


    Stark''s eyes burned with fury as the Mayor executed Artist so effortlessly.


    He had been watching the scene unfold from a distance, his mind focused on Eternal Regret in front of him.


    He didn''t care about Artist, but the fact one of them died so easily while none of the elites were down meant that they could all die.


    [Ding!]


    ["Artist" has been killed by "Mayor"!]


    [6 participants remain.]


    The battle was no longer about tactics or strategy for Stark. It was about rage.


    His anger swelled, drowning out everything else.


    The souls of the damned in Eternal Regret seemed to feed off his fury, their screams growing louder, more intense.


    Stark''s hands clenched into fists.


    It was time to end it.


    Clever, meanwhile, was enjoying himself more than anything.


    The Tormented One was relentless, its body made of endless writhing tendrils of agony.


    But Clever wasn''t using any of his advanced skills.


    No, he was fighting it with nothing more than basic strikes and pure strength.


    He didn''t even summon his [100-Golden Arms Statue], instead only summoning [Golden Gauntlets] around his hands to make it more fun.


    Hand m, Radiant Pulse, and Crushing Palm¡ªeach blownded with such force that the Tormented One wanted to in pain, its form shifting to avoid each attack.


    But Clever''s hands were unstoppable, and each hit sent shockwaves through the creature.


    "Is this really all you can do?" Clever chuckled, sidestepping an attack. "How disappointing."


    He moved with fluid precision, blocking and countering the Tormented One''s strikes with ease.


    It was almost as if he were ying with it, enjoying the battle for what it was.


    The world, all watching everything unfold before them, were baffled.


    His power was beyond anything they couldprehend.


    And all the participants as well.


    These monsters, these humans, they were all so strong, and yet all fighting in front of their eyes.


    It was probably the most entertaining scene they had scene in years.


    ...


    Back at the center of the battlefield, Stark was now fully focused on Eternal Regret.


    He had had enough of this.


    He activated his [Double Assault] skill, doubling his stats for 20 seconds.


    His body surged with power, and the four crimson arms from his Asura''s Arms skill erupted around him.


    Each arm clenched into a fist, radiating an aura of violent intent.


    Without a moment''s hesitation, Stark dashed forward.


    His speed was impossible to follow.


    The world seemed to slow as he closed the gap between himself and the creature.


    But instead of attacking with his fists, Stark did something reckless that could probably take him out if [Eternal Regret] decided to use [Release] again.


    He reached out with all of his arms and took hold of Eternal Regret.


    The creature screamed, thrashing in his grip, but Stark''s strength held it in ce.


    It was now or never.


    Stark raised one of his hands to the sky, focusing every ounce of his energy.


    He drew a circle in his palm, feeling the raw power build within him.


    "GO TO HELL, FUCKING DEMON!"


    HEAVEN''S WRATH!


    The sky above seemed to crack as a massive beam of light began charging up.


    One secondter though, it was already ready, Stark''s aura speeding up the process.


    It tore through the air with incredible force, shaking the battlefield.


    The other participants and monsters scattered, scrambling to avoid the descending beam.


    Even the [Crimson Moons Trio] went out of the way, scared to be hit by another one of the boy''s attacks.


    Yet Stark didn''t move.


    The beam was wide, nearly impossible to avoid.


    The shockwaves from the st rattled the ground, sending tremors through the square.


    The souls within Eternal Regret shrieked as they were about to be enveloped by the light.


    BOOOOOM!


    Stark held on, gritting his teeth as the beam drew closer.


    Just as it was about to hit the ground, Stark released his grip on the creature.


    SNAP!


    He wasn''t stupid, and he had obviously set up a [Crimson Ball Transmission] just in case he needed to escape.


    In an instant he was out of harm''s way.


    And so the beam descended to the ground with a deafening roar.


    Eternal Regret was caught in the full force of the st, its form disintegrating under the sheer weight of the energy.


    The souls that made up its body screamed onest time, and then they were gone, ascended into nothingness.


    -1!


    It actually received damage.


    "HAHAHAHA!" and Stark couldn''t help butugh.


    The beam finally faded, and the battlefield was silent.


    [You have defeated "Eternal Regret". You have received 1 experience point.]


    A single experience point for that was sphemy, but Stark didn''t care, too focused on what to do next.


    He wasn''t done. Not yet.


    Actually, he was ready for more, his anger not stopping at all.

 Chapter 351: Second Target: Heartless One

    Stark stood among the wreckage of his battle with Eternal Regret, breathing heavily, his eyes scanning the chaotic battlefield.


    The message shed before him and every other participant:


    [Eternal Regret has been killed by "Chosen"]


    [6 Participants Alive: Chosen, Sora, Lilith, Follower, Clever, and CEO.]


    [4 Monsters Alive: Mayor, Butler Trio, Tormented One, Heartless One.]


    He didn''t waste a moment, and he didn''t care about taking a break or anything of the sort.


    There were still monsters to take down, and he wanted to do it quickly.


    As he turned, he caught sight of Sora and Lilith struggling against a towering figure with ck wings: the Heartless One.


    They were keeping their ground, but their breaths were heavy, their movements slowing.


    A bit farther, Clever faced off against the Tormented One, moving in sharp, precise strikes that seemed to almost mock the creature.


    Though for some strange reason, no matter how many times Clever hit that thing, it simply wouldn''t go down.


    CEO, meanwhile, battled the Mayor and his three butlers, looking barely able to fend them off.


    And somewhere in the shadows lurked Follower.


    Stark frowned.


    He could sense Follower''s presence nearby, and that dark aura he carried was all too familiar.


    The moment he had seen Follower, he''d sensed it.


    "Godless Demon?" he had thought, a shiver running down his spine.


    It was an aura he''d felt twice before, and it had always signaled danger.


    But there wasn''t time to worry about him now.


    Sora and Lilith needed help.


    Without hesitation, Stark dashed toward them, his mind quickly analyzing the situation.


    He activated [Perception] as he moved, locking onto the Heartless One''s stats and skills.


    ...


    [Name: Heartless One, Moonscorch Commander, Immortal-Level]


    [Level: 600]


    [HP: 10,000,000]


    [Skills: Halo of Despair, Spear of Divine Ruin, ckde Cleave, Winged Judgment, Duality Strike, Serene Malice, Harbinger''s Descent, Soul Rapture, Heavenly Spearfall, Void Embrace, Golden Retribution, Sin Seeker, Angel''s Lament, Dark Purification (Mythical), Eternal Suffering (Mythical), Celestial Annihtion (Godly), Eternal Suffering (Godly), Divine Scorn (Immortal)]


    ...


    Stark''s eyes narrowed.


    Heartless One was far from an ordinary foe. He had to act fast.


    Sora and Lilith barely held their ground, sweat lining their faces as they kept striking with everything they had.


    Lilith''s [Celestial des] sliced through the air while Sora''s [Vine Sword]shed out like a green whip.


    But Heartless One onlyughed, deflecting each attack with ease using her own golden spear or dark de.


    "When will you learn?" she sneered, her voice dripping with arrogance as she pushed them away, "Let''s end this."


    With a cold smirk, she activated [Eternal Suffering].


    [Eternal Suffering: Stabs her spear into the ground, anchoring her opponents'' shadows to it. Enemies bound in this way are immobilized for 8 seconds, taking continuous damage as their shadows try to pull free.]


    A dark, twisted aura formed around her as she plunged her spear into the ground.


    Instantly, shadowsshed out, pinning Sora and Lilith in ce.


    Both girls gasped, unable to move as dark energy coursed through them, sapping their strength.


    Heartless One raised her spear, a merciless glint in her eyes as she dashed toward the girls, wanting to get rid of them both once and for all.


    But before she could strike, Stark lunged forward, his [Spear Block] active.


    He intercepted Heartless One''s spear just in time, blocking the blow and deflecting it.


    "Nice try."


    The force of the sh sent a shockwave rippling through the area, but Stark held firm, his eyes locked onto Heartless One.


    Sora and Lilith staggered back, freed from the immobilizing shadows.


    "Thanks¡­" Sora whispered, catching her breath.


    "No time for thanks. Focus," Stark said sharply, not taking his eyes off Heartless One.


    Heartless One''s eyes narrowed, a hint of irritation shing across her face. "Another fool," she murmured, her wings ring.


    Starkunched forward, fists wrapped in the crimson glow of [Aura Smash].


    He threw a barrage of flying crimson punches using [Spam], each one a phantom fist that pounded toward Heartless One.


    [Spam Perk: Instead of summoning 5 fists to either send them at your enemies or merging them to do immense damage, you can instead decide to separate these fists into five distinct ones too, meaning 25 crimson fists. Not very good damage and no stun, though.]


    She deflected the first few with her spear, but the intensity of his assault forced her to step back, her calm demeanor slipping.


    Lilith joined in, her [Qi Sword Creation] flickering to life, shing through the air and aiming for Heartless One''s exposed side.


    The de left trails of glowing energy, each strike intensifying with Lilith''s focus.


    Sora followed, her vines emerging from the ground to overwhelm the boss.


    Heartless One snarled, her wings folding protectively as she activated [Wings of Shadowlight], turning momentarily invulnerable.


    [Envelops herself in a mix of light and shadow, granting her temporary invulnerability for 5 seconds. Attacks directed at her during this time are reflected back at 50% power.]


    Every strike from Stark, Sora, and Lilith bounced off her, each blow deflecting back in shimmering bursts.


    The effect onlysted five seconds, but it was enough for Heartless One to reposition.


    She leaped into the air, diving back down with [Harbinger''s Descent], sending a shockwave that forced them all back.


    Stark gritted his teeth, sliding to a stop.


    His [Focus] picked up a shift in her stance¡ªshe was about to use [Soul Rapture].


    [Locks eyes with an enemy, channeling dark energy to rip a portion of their soul. This siphons health and reduces the enemy''s stamina, healing the Heartless One and boosting her damage output briefly.]


    "Don''t let her lock eyes with you!" he shouted.


    But it was toote.


    Her dark gaze met Sora''s, and a tendril of energyshed out, sapping Sora''s health and adding it to Heartless One''s own.


    Sora''s face paled, her knees buckling.


    Stark threw himself in front of her and sent his [Crimson Spears] in a sweeping arc, forcing Heartless One to break her focus.


    Lilith seized the opening, her [Mystic Bindings] wrapping around Heartless One, momentarily holding her in ce.


    "Now!" Lilith shouted, her voice strained.


    Stark summoned [Spear of Judgment], a colossal weapon forming above him, radiating holy light. He hurled it down with all his might, aiming to break through Heartless One''s defense.


    The spear smashed into her, sending her reeling back, her wings fluttering weakly.


    -2,783,911!


    The damage was incredible!


    But Heartless One''s fury only grew.


    "Enough!" she roared, her voice echoing with rage.


    With a flick of her hand, she unleashed [Void Embrace], a zone of distorted energy that made their vision swim, hallucinations flickering in and out.


    Stark blinked, his sight blurred, but he steeled himself, using [Focus] to stay on track, dodging her [Duality Strike] as it aimed for him.


    She understood that Stark was the reason she was losing ground in this battle, and so justlike all the others, she aimed for him.


    Lilith, breathing hard, lifted her hand and activated [Qi Barrier], protecting herself and Sora from the swirling dark energy around them.


    Then she channeled her [Healing Aura], restoring some of her strength and helping Sora recover.


    The emotionless girl obviously didn''t stand still either, using [Regenerative Drop].


    Heartless One scowled, raising her ck de high, her voice a low growl.


    "Do you really think you can win? I am beyond your reach!" She charged at them, her de glowing with a dark light as she executed [ckde Cleave], sending waves of damaging energy in every direction.


    Stark twisted, dodging, while Sora and Lilith managed to avoid the worst of it, though their movements were visibly slowing.


    Realizing their fatigue, Stark knew he needed to do it all himself, grabbing Heartless One''s spear with his six arms (4 from [Asura''s Wrath]), then after punching her away.


    -432,904!


    "You¡­you DARE!" Heartless One screeched, her wings stretching to their fullest.


    And so with a look of utter contempt, she activated one of her most powerful skills.


    [Celestial Annihtion].


    At that moment, the battlefield seemed to freeze.


    Heartless One''s dark and holy energies merged around her, swirling into an ominous, crackling aura.


    Her spear and de aligned as she pointed them forward, the mixed energy converging into a single, colossal beam of power.


    Stark, Sora, and Lilith barely had time to react, their eyes widening as the blinding light intensified.


    The air hummed with an unbearable tension, and Stark''s heartbeat thundered in his ears.


    The ground shook as Heartless One released the devastating st, the beam stretching across the battlefield with unimaginable force, heading straight for them.


    The sheer power and size of the attack left everyone stunned, and even the other participants and monsters knew they could be damaged if it hit them.

 Chapter 352: Celestial Annihilation, 5 Participants Remain

    The Heartless One raised her arms, summoning her deadly attack.


    A massive surge of energy erupted, taking shape into a blinding, radiant sphere.


    Her skill, [Celestial Annihtion], pulsed with a terrifying light, building power before it would release destruction upon everything in its path.


    Stark''s eyes went wide, realizing the deadly force behind it.


    Everyone else on the battlefield looked up, dread washing over them as the raw energy hummed louder, ready to consume everything.


    Even the boss monsters knew they couldn''t be hit by that thing.


    Sora instinctively reached into her inventory, pulling out her [Protection Amulet].


    It was her one n¡ªa way to shield them from the st.


    But just as she was about to activate it, Stark''s hand shot out, gripping her wrist tightly.


    "DON''T USE THAT!" he shouted.


    His grip was firm, too firm, but he couldn''t afford to be gentle right now.


    "That''s forter," he added, his tone urgent.


    Sora stared back, wide-eyed, but she trusted him.


    She tucked the amulet back, watching as Stark prepared for what came next.


    Without another word, Stark scooped up Sora and Lilith, holding them securely with [Asura''s Arms].


    Then, he aimed a [Crimson Ball Transmission] just behind the st radius, snapping his fingers.


    In an instant, they teleported out of the st''s range,nding safely a good distance away.


    The three of them watched from afar, and Stark let out a tense breath.


    Now it was up to the others to survive on their own.


    The Mayor stood his ground as the [Celestial Annihtion] hurtled toward him, his face calm.


    He crossed his arms, activating his skill, [Giant Utensils].


    The knife and fork in his hands erged, gleaming with energy as he positioned them before him.


    As the deadly st struck, he swung the utensils, deflecting the energy to the sides, letting it split and crash into the ground around him. He stood in the center of the storm, unfazed.


    In the shadows, Follower watched, his dark form blending perfectly with the surroundings.


    He didn''t even flinch as the st neared.


    He simply melded further into the shadows, the attack passing over him as if he weren''t even there.


    He stayedpletely hidden, waiting for his perfect moment.


    The Butler Trio stood close by, but without any special defense in their arsenal, they faced the brunt of the st head-on.


    The blinding light washed over them, their bodies disintegrating instantly.


    Yet, only secondster, their forms began to reappear, reforming themselves with eerie resilience.


    Not too far away, the Tormented One remained still as the st surged toward him.


    It struck him directly, the immense power rippling over his body.


    -0!


    But there was no effect¡ªno damage registered.


    Even when Clever had toyed with him earlier, punching him around, he hadn''t taken a single hit.


    The others could only wonder if he had been through so much pain and torture that he''d bepletely immune.


    Either way, the attack didn''t harm him.


    He stood there, untouched.


    Clever, however, decided he wasn''t going to just stand still.


    Though he didn''t yet feel like using his power yet, [100-Golden Arms Statue], he wasn''t going to leave himself exposed, either.


    With a quickmand, he activated [Irond Defense].


    Five massive golden hands appeared, each one of them positioned around him in a protective formation.


    The st hit the hands, dispersing against their glowing surfaces, but Clever stood safely behind, unharmed.


    All eyes now turned to one remaining participant: CEO.


    He froze, seeing the massive st bearing down on him, and quickly scanned through his skills.


    There had to be something that could protect him¡­


    But as he mentally flipped through each one, he felt panic rising.


    Most of his skills were for attacks¡ªcountless powerful beams, destructive waves¡ªbut very few were defensive.


    In desperation, he activated [Diamond Defense] first, a barrier of glittering, diamond-hard energy forming around him.


    He added [Infinite Cascade], sending a barrage of beams forward, hoping to weaken the st.


    Then heunched [Endless Beam], followed by [Beam Genesis], firing everything he could into the oing energy.


    His beams shed with the annihtion st, struggling to hold it back.


    But after a few moments, he realized it was useless.


    His eyes widened.


    "AH, FUCK THIS!" CEO shouted, activating every attack skill he had, throwing everything at the st, hoping to create an imprable wall of energy.


    But the st continued, ripping through his beams and defenses.


    BOOOOM!


    It hit him dead on, a searing wave of energy enveloping his form.


    He activated a fewst-ditch life-saving items¡ª[Protection Enhancement] and [Instant-Healing Orb]¡ªjust barely clinging to life.


    After what felt like an eternity, the light faded.


    He stood there, smoke rising from his body, his HP dangerously low.


    [CEO: 12,832/235,000]


    "Heh¡­" he breathed, trying to keep hisposure, "Looks like I''m still good to go¡ª"


    He joked around, wanting to prove his superiority, but before he could even finish his sentence...


    Knife sh!


    The Mayor materialized behind him and swung.


    Without warning, the Mayor''s knife sliced through CEO''s torso, cutting him clean in half.


    The two halves of CEO''s body fell to the ground, lifeless.


    "You went out the same way as your subordinate, how does it feel," Mayorughed so hard that everyone else stopped what they were doing to look at him.


    Even people in the outside world had chills go down their spines as they saw just how quick he had died.


    CEO, real name Miles Volkov, an extremely wealthy businessman that could have anything he wanted, had died, just like that.


    Money and power didn''t save him.


    The world was getting more scared by the second.


    The more they watched this trial and the participants die, the more scared they became.


    [If all participants die, a terrible event will happen]


    And to rub the salt in the wound, the panel that they feared appeared back.


    Ding!


    ["CEO" has been killed by "Mayor"]


    [5 Participants Alive]


    The st from [Celestial Annihtion] had left a massive crater behind, almost destroying half of the Hollow Tower Square.


    Mayor nced around the wreckage with a grin before looking up at the sky, "The area''s too small, moons," he called out, barely able to contain his amusement.


    "Deal with it," the cold voice of the moons replied, cutting off hisint. "And kill the rest of them quickly."


    Mayor shrugged, casually seating himself on the ground. "Alright, alright," he replied with a smirk. "But I think I''ll rest a bit for now."


    He watched the remaining participants, eyes gleaming with anticipation.


    Meanwhile, Stark set Sora and Lilith down, both of them looking worn from the encounter.


    He took a moment to catch his breath, then grinned.


    "Stay here," he told them, a fierce look in his eyes. "I''m getting rid of that bitch."


    He turned his gaze to the Heartless One, who stood across from him, watching him with a mocking smile.


    "How foolish," she said, eyes narrowed. "Deciding to fight me? Alone?"


    Stark cracked his knuckles, his grin widening. "I don''t need anybody to kick your ass."


    But he wasn''t reckless.


    He knew her stats were likely a match for his, and she had powerful skills that could turn the tide if he wasn''t careful.


    He nced back at Sora. "Pass me the [Double Speed Token]," he said, holding out his hand.


    Sora quickly pulled it from her inventory and handed it to him.


    [Double Speed Token: Doubles your speed stats for 5 minutes.]


    With his current speed of 28,000¡ªand boosted further by his [Domination Buff]¡ªthis would push him well over 60,000.


    That is how he always dominated with [Double Assault] except if the monsters had countermeasures.


    With that kind of speed, he could outmaneuver even powerhouses at level 800 or 900.


    "Let''s see if I can manage..."


    He crushed the token, feeling its power surge through him, a thrill of energy filling his veins.


    [Speed stat doubled for 5 minutes.]


    Stark clenched his fists, feeling the sheer speed pulsing in his limbs.


    He looked up at the Heartless One, his grin turning into a determined re.


    "Alright," he said. "Let''s do this, you ugly monster."

 Chapter 353: Divine Scorn and Crimson Soul

    Stark''s body shot forward like a blur, so fast that even Clever, the sharpest observer among them, couldn''t follow.


    He was a streak, a line of movement, and by the time Heartless caught on, he was right in front of her.


    But Stark hadn''t won yet.


    Because¡­


    "Heh," Heartless smirked, her dark eyes narrowing as she felt Stark''s speed bearing down on her. "You''re not the only one who can do this."


    In that instant, her aura shifted.


    Heartless activated her strongest skill.


    DIVINE SCORN!


    [Description: if a situation bes too overwhelming, your hatred and dislike will merge together to double one of your stats for the rest of the battle.]


    A surge of power exploded around her, a dark energy wrapping over her like armor.


    This was no ordinary skill. This was her Immortal-Level skill, a skill fueled by hatred itself, turning her bitterness into raw power.


    "SPEED!" she shouted, her voice echoing as she chose the stat she wanted to double.


    The dark energy red around her, doubling her speed.


    In the blink of an eye, she matched Stark''s swiftness.


    Now they were on equal ground.


    Stark grinned.


    He sent one of his crimson spears flying toward her, aiming right at her chest.


    But she deflected it with a flick of her ck de.


    "Hahaha," Starkughed. "Looks like you aren''t as stupid as I thought!"


    Heartless rolled her eyes, smiling back. "Shhh, boy, you''re not my type."


    Stark raised an eyebrow. "Thank god. I''d be worried if I was!"


    And then¡ª


    BOOM!


    The sh was like thunder.


    Both of them moved at such impossible speeds that all anyone saw was a blur.


    They collided again and again, each impact ringing out with a deafening echo.


    They were like ghosts, vanishing and reappearing in rapid bursts, each blow shaking the ground.


    In the real world, viewers watching the broadcast were left in disbelief.


    "Put it in slow mode!" someone shouted.


    "Idiot! It''s a broadcast; you can''t rewind it!"


    Each time Stark swung a fist, Heartless countered with her golden spear or her dark sword, every blow either blocked or redirected.


    They were equally matched, each of their movements precise, fluid, deadly.


    Heartlessshed out with Halo of Despair, a dark aura enveloping her, lowering Stark''s defenses and slowing his reactions.


    Stark felt it immediately, his body growing heavier, his movements just a touch slower.


    [Description: Creates an ominous aura around her, lowering the defense and speed of enemies within a 30-meter radius by 20%. The aura slowly drains their energy, weakening their attacks.]


    She followed up with Spear of Divine Ruin, thrusting her spear with lightning speed, aiming for Stark''s chest.


    Stark barely dodged, but the tip grazed him, leaving a burning mark that intensified the pain.


    -9,834!


    "Hah!" Heartless cackled, eyes glinting. "Feeling the pressure yet?"


    But Stark wasn''t about to back down.


    He lunged forward with his fists, each punch fast as a bullet, yet she deflected every single one, her smile only growing wider.


    They shed again and again, and slowly, Stark realized something rming: Heartless was¡­ better than him.


    She was faster with each move, deflecting, parrying, countering in ways that left him struggling to keep up.


    Two minutes passed, and he was still getting nowhere.


    Then, Stark''s eyes narrowed.


    He realized what he needed to do.


    A grin spread across his face, a dangerous glint lighting up his gaze.


    "Alright..." he breathed in and out, making everyone look at him.


    Domination Soul!


    Without hesitation, Stark summoned his Soul Heart.


    A small, crimson heart appeared in his hand, pulsing with a fierce energy that only he could control.


    He held it up, and suddenly, everyone watching felt a chill run down their spines.


    Instantly, not only the participants, but all those in the real world held their breath as they realized something.


    How was this guy summoning a soul heart, even though with everything they saw until now, he clearly wasn''t a [Soul Wielder]?


    There was little to no info about the trial, but if it was the [Domination] trial, then doesn''t it mean it was another ss.


    They knew what this meant.


    And yet...


    "Hm..." Clever scratched his beard, even he was wondering who the hell was that kid.


    Follower, standing nearby, looked baffled. "What¡­? He''s using a Soul Heart?"


    "What the..." Lilith, who had never seen Stark use his soul heart until now, was also surprised.


    To them, all previous skills could be given to the domination ss, but this one, no, it couldn''t, it had to be the [Soul Wielder] ss.


    And even in the real world, the panic was spreading, news were reporting like crazy, and chat forums were exploding.


    "A SOUL HEART?!"


    "But it doesn''t make sense, he didn''t even use it until now?!"


    "Can Soul Wielders fight without them...?"


    "No!"


    And of course, the most shocked people of all were Stark''s family, who''s jaws quite literally hit the ground.


    "What the..." Aiden, Stark''s Father, looked at the TV screen with widened eyes.


    The attention of the entire world was now on the boy as the camera focused on his fight.


    "Honey, this is... impossible? They said for sure there was no chance he would awaken this ss..."


    "Mom?!" Lara screamed.


    "Ohe on, my friends are asking if I can introduce them to my brother..." Nissa sighed.


    Everyone, everywhere, was shocked, and now all they could do was see what Stark could do with that smiling crimson heart of his.


    =).


    Stark''s grin widened. "Alright, let''s end this," he said, holding the heart up like a weapon.


    Heartless blinked, her gaze narrowing in suspicion.


    "Let''s go!" Stark shouted, swinging his Soul Heart forward, aiming it directly at Heartless.


    Heartless raised her spear in defense, but Stark''s soul weapon was relentless.


    With a twist of his wrist, he sent a wave of energy crashing toward her, catching her off guard.


    She tried to counter, but the force of Stark''s attack was too strong.


    -148,392!


    They shed, once, twice, three times, moving so fast that their figures blurred even more.


    Each strike sent shockwaves through the ground, breaking rocks and cracking the earth beneath them.


    Stark pressed forward, driving her back step by step.


    She retaliated with her Winged Judgment, summoning dark feathers from her wings, each feather homing in on Stark.


    They exploded around him, bursts of dark energy filling the air.


    But Stark powered through, his fists smashing through the feathers, each impact causing a burst of dark energy that he ignored entirely.


    His determination was unbreakable.


    The fight was brutal, unforgiving.


    "Why don''t you learn?" the boy mocked, sensing that Heartless was getting more overwhelmed by the second.


    Heartlessunched a new barrage, this time using ckde Cleave, her ck de releasing a wave of dark energy that lingered in the air.


    Stark dodged most of it, but he was forced to move through part of the wave, feeling his energy sapped, his strength waver for just a moment.


    "Hmph," Heartless sneered, her eyes gleaming with victory. "Not so tough now, are you?"


    Starkughed, barely fazed. "You talk too much."


    He swung his Soul Heart again, this time pouring more energy into it, the crimson glow ring.


    Heartless moved to block with her spear, but the impact sent her skidding back, her defenses barely holding.


    "You think you''re so good, huh?" Stark began to rant midfight, "All of you think you own this fucking ce, well, don''t worry about that, I''ll send you back to Godless, your little master.


    Each move was faster, more intense.


    Heartless responded in kind, her Duality Strike unleashing a mix of holy and dark energy that exploded around them both.


    They moved so fast that no one in the audience could keep track.


    But Stark was reaching his limit.


    [2:12 minutes of "Double Speed" left.]


    His time was running out. Only a little over two minutes left in Double Speed.


    He had to end this now.


    Heartless noticed his intensity and smirked. "Running out of time, are we?" she taunted.


    But Stark only smiled back, his gaze fierce. "Guess you''ll find out soon enough."


    He needed to win within that time limit, otherwise it was game over.

 Chapter 354: Killing the Heartless One, 100 to 0 Combo

    The battle between Stark and the Heartless One raged on, both of them moving at such incredible speed that the world around them seemed frozen.


    To the others watching, the twobatants were nothing more than crimson and ck blurs colliding again and again, the force of their blows sending shockwaves through the air.


    Stark unleashed his skills over and over, each blow amplified by the crimson aura that surrounded him.


    His [Asura''s Arms]shed out too, striking from unpredictable angles and allowing him to deflect the attacks or grab them.


    But the Heartless One was relentless, her golden spear and dark de dancing through the chaos.


    Every swing of her weapons carried deadly precision, and she met Stark''s attacks head-on, blocking and countering with incredible skill.


    BOOM!


    Another sh sent both fighters skidding backward, their feet tearing into the ground as they tried to maintain their footing.


    Stark smirked, wiping a trickle of blood from his mouth.


    At this point, his aura was not only taking over his face, but his entire upper half too.


    The angrier he got, the more his aura would take.


    "You''re tough," he said.


    "And you''re exhausting," the Heartless One replied with a twisted grin, the ck aura of her skills swirling around her like a storm.


    [1:31 minutes of "Double Speed" left]


    Stark didn''t waste a second.


    "I need... to... get her... FAST..."


    He dashed forward again, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.


    His [Crimson Spears] materialized mid-sprint, streaking toward her like deadly missiles.


    CLANG!


    The Heartless One spun her dark de, deflecting the spears with ease.


    Then she finally decided to use her wings for the first time.


    "HARBINGER''S DESCENT!"


    [Leaps into the air with her wings, before crashing down and creating a shockwave. Enemies in the vicinity are thrown back and momentarily stunned by the impact.]


    She does as the skill indicates, but as she crashed into the ground...


    "It''s my win, human," the stun would be enough to hold Stark for one second, and that would be more than enough for her to cut him in half.


    "Not bad," Stark muttered, but he wasn''t stupid.


    INVINCIBLE DODGE!


    He rolled forward, avoiding the attack thanks to his invincibility frames.


    "Huh."


    "Just like in Dark Sou-"


    ZAP!


    -100!


    "Damn."


    People were surprised that a fucking lightning strike hit Stark out of nowhere, but maybe it was one of the Heartless One''s skills.


    The sheer intensity of their duel left the spectators frozen, even the [Tormented One], who had stopped attacking Clever to watch the fight unfold.


    The clock was ticking.


    Stark knew his [Double Speed] had less than a minute left.


    The strain of maintaining such a high level ofbat was beginning to take its toll, but he couldn''t let up.


    The Heartless One was just as relentless.


    She activated [Void Embrace], covering the battlefield in a haze of dark energy.


    Stark''s vision blurred, his uracy faltering as hallucinations danced in the corners of his eyes.


    "Cheap tricks!" he growled, summoning his [Crimson Ball Transmission] to teleport above the haze.


    SNAP!


    In a sh, Stark reappeared in the air, hurling another [Crimson Spear] down toward her.


    The Heartless Oneughed, effortlessly dodging and countering with [ckde Cleave] again, sending a wave of dark energy slicing upward.


    Stark twisted mid-air, narrowly avoiding the attack andnding with a thud.


    Time was running out.


    [WARNING!]


    [30 seconds remaining!]


    With 30 seconds left, Stark felt his body beginning to slow.


    His breathing was heavy, and his crimson aura flickered faintly.


    The Heartless One sensed his weakness and smiled wickedly.


    "This is the end," she dered, raising her spear high.


    The golden weapon glowed with radiant energy as she activated [Heavenly Spearfall].


    Dozens of holy spears materialized in the air, each aimed directly at Stark.


    "Bring it on!" Stark shouted as hard as he could, summoning another [Crimson Ball].


    He threw it in the air above, intending to teleport out of harm''s way.


    But she was faster.


    The Heartless One tricked him, and instead of the spears crashing down, SHE shot forward before he could snap his fingers.


    "Huh?"


    In an instant, she was directly in front of Stark, her spear poised to deliver the final blow.


    Stark''s eyes widened. He wasn''t fast enough to react.


    And then... he gambled.


    Remember about the [Incubus] ss Stark got?


    The one that was utterly useless in battle except against females foes?


    Well... if the Heartless One could be considered a girl, then maybe...


    "ENRAPTURE!"


    [Enraptured (Incubus Skill): Only works on female foes, but you can use that skill to increase your charm and make them lose focus for a bit.]


    A powerful crimson aura radiated from Stark, and his features shifted slightly.


    That change was only visible to the Heartless One, by the way.


    His face became sharper, more alluring, an unearthly charm emanating from his entire being.


    "W-Wow," The Heartless One hesitated.


    For a single, critical second, she faltered.


    Her grip on the spear ckened, her attack freezing mid-motion as her focus wavered.


    ''He''s totally my type now!''


    It was all Stark needed.


    SNAP!


    He teleported into the air, his [Crimson Ball] floating where he was now standing.


    From above, he activated [Domi-Chains Restrain], summoning three crimson chains that wrapped tightly around the Heartless One.


    She struggled against them, her strength threatening to tear them apart.


    "Not enough? Fine," Stark muttered, clenching his fist.


    [Chains of Judgment Activated.]


    With a deafening roar, the chain demon Gortox appeared, his massive form towering over the battlefield.


    Dozens of additional chains shot out, binding the Heartless Onepletely.


    "YOU THINK THIS IS GONNA STOP ME?" she bellowed, her golden aura ring as she prepared to break free.


    "No," he smiled, "But what happens next will."


    With a fierce grin, he swung his [Soul Heart] down with all of his might.


    "Let''s finish this," he said.


    CRASH!


    The impact was devastating.


    The Heartless One screamed in pain as the attack connected, her HP bar plummeting.


    -862,821!


    Still airborne, Stark followed up with [Spear of Judgment].


    The colossal spear of light descended upon her, piercing through her defenses.


    -2,726,905!


    And he wasn''t finished yet.


    What was about to follow was what many would call a 100 to 0bo.


    While going down, he summoned [Wielding Cross], and Stark mmed the massive weapon into her with full force.


    The ground beneath them cracked and buckled from the sheer power of the blow.


    -1,238,182!


    WHAM!


    He swung again.


    -1,153,985!


    And so on the third strike, [Holy Combo] automatically activated.


    [Reminder: If you swing your cross and strike twice in a row, the third strike will light up the cross with so much crimson aura that it will deal 200% damage and without fail stun enemies for five seconds!


    BOOM!


    -2,318,461!


    The Heartless One was knocked to the ground,pletely immobilized.


    Stark didn''t waste a moment.


    He unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks.


    His [Asura''s Arms] struck her repeatedly, their crimson fists pummeling her without mercy.


    He also mmed his [Soul Heart] into her again and again, each strike dealing massive damage.


    [Crimson Spears] rained down from above, and flying crimson fists exploded around her, leaving no room for escape.


    The Heartless One''s HP bar dwindled rapidly, the relentless onught overwhelming her.


    And finally, with onest devastating blow, Stark''s [Soul Heart] struck her chest, shattering her aurapletely.


    Ding!


    -573,945!


    [Heartless One HP: 0/10,000,000]


    "This is..." she mumbled, "I-Impossible..."


    She died.


    ["Heartless One" has been killed by "Chosen."]


    [3 Monsters Alive: Mayor, Butler Trio, Tormented One.]


    Stark stood over the defeated Heartless One, his breathing ragged but his expression triumphant.


    [You have in "Heartless One" and gained 60,000,000 experience points!]


    Ding!


    [Your level has increased to level 120, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    [Your level has increased to level 121, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    .


    .


    [Your level has increased to level 123, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]


    His crimson aura flickered faintly, but his presence was overwhelming, his power undeniable.


    The battlefield was silent, the other participants staring in awe.


    Stark smiled faintly, his crimson heart pulsing onest time before disappearing.


    "Next," he muttered, his voice carrying across the battlefield.


    No one dared to move.

 Chapter 355: The Domination Trial’s Secret Rule

    [5 Participants Alive]


    [3 Monsters Remaining]


    The trial was reaching its final showdown, and everyone, including the participants, wondered what would happen once all monsters died.


    If the rules were correct, only one of the participants could enter the [Hollow Tower] to win, meaning that by the end of it all, only one could remain.


    For the Gardenis family, it meant the huge possibility of their daughter dying.


    For Lana, it meant that Stark or Sora would die, and no matter who it would be, they would be devastated.


    And for the entire world, it meant that among all of those still alive, only one would rise to be the strongest.


    The millions of screens disying the trial were perfectly connected, meaning that those in the outside world could see all of it happening thanks to smooth cameras that followed everything.


    For example, while Stark and Heartless One were fighting, the cameras were all on them, leaving out everybody else.


    This was how this trial allowed those outside to see everything.


    "Hey," the Mayor was the first to speak, and all the attention turned to him.


    In contrast to his usual calm demeanor, the mayor had a bad feeling about all of this, and when he stared at Stark, it was almost as if he saw a terrifying presence.


    Almost just as scary as the [Godless Demon].


    ¡¯That kid... the more he fights... the more he gets fed up with all of this, the stronger he gets,¡¯ he realized, ¡¯And so that means that...¡¯


    Mayor smirked as he pointed at Stark with his disgusting hands.


    "I say we eliminate that guy first."


    He was talking to not only the remaining monsters, meaning the [Butler Trio] and [Tormented One], but also the participants.


    Mainly to [Clever] and [Follower] though, as it was unlikely Lilith and Sora would betray him.


    "Are they fucking serious?"


    "NO FUCKING WAY?!"


    People in the real world were shocked: these monsters were quite literally asking humans to team on someone else.


    This was unheard of in humanity, as monsters ALWAYS fight humans, no matter what happens, yet here they are, trying to gang up on one simply because they fear he might be too strong.


    Plus... wasn¡¯t Clever the strongest?


    That old man could summon his golden statue and smash all of them at the same time if he felt like it.


    And yet...


    "This might be a good idea," the old man smiled, "I say we tear him apart."


    He was totally in, the idea of all of them fighting that kid fascinating to him.


    "I¡¯m in too, as long as I get the final blow," Follower appeared from the shadows, quite literally next to Mayor.


    Yet, as expected, Mayor didn¡¯t attack Follower, meaning that he was actually serious about fighting and killing Stark together.


    Tormented One nodded his head too, taking a few steps toward Stark to indicate he was in on the idea.


    "Oh, and before we can start the massacre," Clever smiled, "Let¡¯s take care of the other two," he pointed at Sora and Lilith.


    "I wouldn¡¯t do this if I was you, old man," through all of this, Stark was strangely calm, looking at them with the most neutral of expressions.


    "Do we kill them?" Follower pondered, he didn¡¯t care about the other two, but if they could meddle in his n then he would get rid of them.


    "Don¡¯t worry," Clever kept smiling as he snapped his fingers, two massive golden arms emerging from the ground beside the girls and grabbing them both, "They can¡¯t escape anymore."


    Sora and Lilith tried to escape, obviously, but not only were none of their skills working, but every time they resisted, the grip on the golden arms tightened.


    If they kept going, their organs would be crushed, so now, all they could do was watch as Stark was getting teamed on by 5 people.


    In the outside world, people were baffled.


    "Seriously, 5V1?!"


    "Cowards, not gonna lie."


    "I mean, that guy¡¯s so problematic both monsters and humans decided it was better to eliminate him together, so who knows..."


    In schools, restaurants,pany buildings, everyone watched, Stark¡¯s neutral face appearing on every screen.


    The crimson aura that over his face growing in power as his opponents began walking toward him.


    "Are you... sure...?" Stark asked one more time, closing his eyes and smiling.


    "You ain¡¯t gonna do shit," Followerughed, "We saw you use your giant spear or whatever against Father Hugo, you can¡¯t bluff your way out of this!"


    "Oh?" Stark kept smiling, "If that¡¯s what you think."


    Stark, through all of his, could only find it amusing that these people... no... these things would try to team up on him simply because he was a threat.


    It was... sad.


    Right now, through his vision, all he could see were their darkened figures marching toward him, their eyes glowing with their respective aura¡¯s color.


    And to make it worse, a panel appeared in front of everybody to seal the deal.


    [5V1]


    [Mayor, Butler Trio, Tormented One, Follower and Clever] VS [Chosen].


    But that¡¯s not all.


    Because... this trial truly wanted Stark to die.


    The [Crimson Moons Trio], the [Apostles] and even the [Godless Demon] wanted the Chosen One to be killed, so that they can take over this world.


    All those that joined them would reign, while all those that refused and wanted to fight will be annihted.


    And though Godless knew there were a few levels 900 or even 1000 ssifiers that could be difficult to deal with, he was still confident their greed would allow him to recruit them.


    But Chosen One was... weird.


    Godless Demon felt it through his very being since he saw him: that kid wouldn¡¯t back down, no matter what.


    Killing him was the best solution.


    If he could descend to Rheria, he would have already done it, but the preparations of the [Final Ritual] were sooning to an end.


    The moment they did, the world would be at his mercy.


    And so through all of that hatred for Stark, a single rule was added to the trial.


    A rule that changed everything, and everyone¡¯s eyes widened as they saw it, including the participants, monsters, and those in the real world.


    [Secret Rule: if Chosen One is eliminated, then all of those still alive will automatically win, and to all the monsters alive, they will be able to meet with Godless and ascend to a better title.]


    Instantly, the tension in the air became ten times as strong.


    Even Clever, who was joking around until now, activated his [100-Golden Arms Statue], the giant golden statue appearing behind him.


    Follower also activated his aura, a monstrous and dark figure appearing behind him: it was the fruit of his most recent taskpletion.


    And if he managed to kill Chosen, he would be able to use the powers as he wanted, taking over countries when Godless descended.


    Mayor and Tormented One also grew serious: ascending in title means possibly bing an apostle or general of the army, it was something they couldn¡¯t refuse.


    At this point, killing Chosen was the smartest decision if you wanted to live.


    And even people in the real world could now understand why they decided to gang up on him.


    But through all of this, Stark kept smiling.


    He asked the question onest time.


    "Are... you... sure?"


    "Yes," Clever grinned.


    "Affirmative," The Mayor confirmed.


    "If sir decides to kill you, then we are with him," The butler trio nodded.


    "Why wouldn¡¯t I?" Followerughed.


    "..." Tormented One nodded.


    All of them agreed.


    The entire world held its breath as they waited to see what Stark could possibly do.


    "You should be happy, you know?" Clever spoke as he pointed at the restrained girls, "At least your two little girlfriends are going to be able to get out of here alive."


    "..."


    "Just give up, you can¡¯t beat us, no matter what," Follower advanced, his dark aura taking over his body.


    "..."


    "It was nice fighting with you, human, but we have more important things to do," Mayor bowed out of respect, "You shall be remembered."


    "..."


    And then... Starkughed.


    "You guys are so... stupid, hahaha," he held his stomach, actually thinking all of this was funny.


    "Did he go insane?"


    "No, I¡¯m not insane," he wiped the tears from his eyes, "But..."


    Stark¡¯s expression suddenly became so serious, and his aura so powerful, that all the others took their defensive stances


    "I guess all of you are going to die now."


    Clever¡¯s golden statue loomed behind him, its massive arms ready to crush anyone who defied him.


    Follower¡¯s shadowy aura twisted unnaturally, a monstrous figure hovering just behind him, exuding pure malice.


    The Mayor¡¯s grotesque form pulsed with dark energy, and the Butler Trio¡¯s synchronized movements were sharp and calcting.


    Even the Tormented One, silent and deadly, red at Stark with glowing eyes.


    The camera focused on Stark as he ced his two hands together, his eyes still closed.


    And then...


    He pointed at the sky.


    "Huh?"


    "What is he doing?"


    Those outside the trial, and that had never seen it, were confused, but on the other hand, all of those inside suddenly tensed up.


    That¡¯s when Stark whispered the words that could crush anyone who fought him.


    "Heaven¡¯s Spear," he smiled, calm as ever, "Angel of the Spear,e to my rescue."

 Chapter 356: Teaming on Stark? Nuh Uh! Heaven’s Spear!

    Before everyone¡¯s cautious gazes, Stark lifted his arm, an explosive aura emerging from his body.


    "Heaven¡¯s Spear," he whispered, pointing at the sky, "Angel of the Spear,e to my rescue."


    A rift tore through the sky, turning it into a golden color, and from it emerged a giant figure.


    Stark¡¯s arm stayed raised, the massive angelic figure above him radiating an overwhelming aura.


    Its form towered over the battlefield, its colossal spear resting easily in one hand.


    [What do you wish for me to do, master?]


    The angel spoke, his voice loud and thunderous as he had the spear in hand, ready to throw it.


    "If I ever say the word ¡¯GO¡¯, thenunch it, and if they try to attack me, throw it as well," he instructed, and the angel nodded.


    All of the participants now knew they couldn¡¯t act out.


    Even if they killed Stark in one blow, the angel would still throw the spear, and there was no saying whether any of their barriers could block it.


    "I¡¯ll inform you of three things," he raised of his fingers while pointing at monsters and participants.


    But before he could continue what he was about to say, a panel appeared in front of him.


    [To make it fair, we¡¯ll inform you that "Follower" has the "Skill Canceller" item, meaning he can cancel your "Heaven¡¯s Spear" if he uses it.]


    Stark made sure to keep his expression neutral, but turned his pupils toward Follower, who seemed like he wanted to grab the [Skill Canceller] from his system inventory.


    "!!!" Stark knew this was bad, and he hadn¡¯t expected anything like that.


    But now that he did know, he wasn¡¯t about to let it slide.


    "Clone Frenzy," he whispered, a singr clone, the only one he could summon because of the cooldown, appearing.


    Then he whispered a single instruction to it: use [Crimson Ball Transmission] to do what needs to be done.


    The clone nodded, throwing the crimson ball, and setting it right behind Follower.


    ¡¯Now wait.¡¯


    The clone kneeled down, it¡¯s crimson body waiting for the opportunity it sought.


    "Back to what I was saying," Stark repeated, "I¡¯ll inform you of three things."


    "First of all, the angel above me can¡¯t miss his shot, no matter, so don¡¯t even think of escaping to somewhere else," as a proof, he disyed the status panels for the [Heaven¡¯s Spear] perk.


    [Heaven¡¯s Spear (Ultimate Form): : Upon activation, a colossal rift tears open in the sky, revealing a towering angelic figure, nearly 50 kilometers in height. With a slow, deliberate motion, the angel summons an immense spear of pure crimson energy,rge enough to obliterate mountains with ease.]


    Everyone gulped as they saw it, and even the people outside the trial could feel the sheer aura of that thing.


    "Second of all, the spear does enough damage to instantly evaporate you, no amount of defense could save you, I believe even a level 850 or 900 ssifier would get instantly killed," yet again, he spoke the truth, not needing any proof this time for everyone to believe him.


    Andst...


    "You can¡¯t escape the range, as the spear could be enough to destroy a small city due to the st," he finally said, smiling.


    "BULLSHIT!" Follower called out.


    "Hm?"


    "I saw the spear attack in the temple, and it was only enough to destroy the temple and an area 1 kilometer around it, that¡¯s definitely not a city!"


    That is definitely true as well, after all, if the attack was so powerful, why did the impact destroy so "little".


    Well...


    "Father Hugo was the one who threw that spear, not me, he simply copied my attack, basically a weaker version of mine," he smirked, "You can even ask the othermanders if you wish?"


    As Tormented One couldn¡¯t talk, all eyes fell on the Mayor, whose expression turned serious and cautious.


    With a sigh, he admitted, "Hugo can basic skills and their perks to perfection, but when ites to massive perks such as... this one... he could probably only use around 10% of their power."


    "..." Follower instantly began to sweat, making him even more eager in using the "Skill Canceller" now.


    If Father Hugo only used 10% of the angel¡¯s power, and destroyed that much, then what would even happen with Stark¡¯s aura and 100% of it¡¯s power?


    No one could imagine.


    But all the people in the real world had a rough image: total annihtion.


    Chosen had the lives of millions in his hands since the beginning.


    "I hope you understand now, so..." Starkughed, "Just let go of them," he pointed at the two girls, "And kill each other."


    "That is... if you guys don¡¯t want to just team up and kill the moons," he added ast option, pointing at the sky, where the three moons were watching.


    "You think we¡¯re scared?" the Mayor intervened, "If you use that thing, you¡¯re going to die too!"


    Instantly, all the others realized it as well: Stark wasn¡¯t invincible, he was about to get it too if he throws it.


    "That is true," he admitted.


    "HAHA, THEN IT MEANS YOU¡¯RE JUST AS FUCKED AS US!" Followerughed, letting go of the [Skill Canceller], "IDIOT!"


    "No," Stark shook his head, "Because I¡¯d rather kill myself with you all than let you win."


    "Bullshit," Clever spoke for the first time.


    "Oh?" Stark looked at him, a vortex of crimson aura appearing in his eyes, "But I am serious, I¡¯ll kill myself to take you all with me."


    The aura in his eyes was so overwhelming and insane that everyone instantly believed him.


    That kid was fucking crazy!


    "And what about your two girlfriends? You¡¯re gonna let them die?"


    "Yeah," Stark shrugged, pushing the bluff to its max, "I don¡¯t care about them that much, all dying together is beautiful, isn¡¯t it?"


    Of course, everything Stark was saying was pure bluff: he had his [Chosen One] talent perk to revive him, while Lilith and Sora had the [Protection Amulet].


    That is the reason why he stopped her from using it when faced with the [Celestial Annihtion].


    But it was to push the bluff to its limit that Stark had to say all of that, and best of all: they believed him.


    "ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Lilith shouted.


    "...Believe in him," but Sora quieted her down, knowing that Stark wouldn¡¯t sacrifice them.


    In the outside world, everyone was going ballistic.


    "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"


    "THAT GUY¡¯S INSANE?!"


    "Suicide annihtion, heh?"


    Even Sora¡¯s family, and specifically her father, was going crazy from rage.


    "T-This kid," he couldn¡¯t even fathom how his daughter could meet someone so bad, "FUCK!"


    To the world, and even those inside the trial, Stark looked more monstrous than ever the monsters themselves.


    Stark¡¯s family was the same, terrified and shocked.


    Just what the hell could have happened during those 1.5 years that made Stark so powerful, and that pushed him to have such a mindset?


    Killing them all was alright if you had a backup n to survive.


    And even killing yourself would be brave if it meant your loved ones could survive.


    But at the end of the day your n is just to: kill everyone, including you and the girls you were with, then it¡¯s just pure insanity.


    That¡¯s not brave, nor heroic, it¡¯s just... evil.


    And worst of all, every screen showed Stark¡¯s figure, takenpletely over by his crimson aura, only his mouth and eyes visible because of the white trail.


    He waspletely serious.


    "Well then," he spoke, smiling, "What¡¯s your choice," he bowed, mocking the Mayor, "It doesn¡¯t matter to me."


    The world waited for the other¡¯s answer.


    Because no matter what they answered, then something crazy would happen.

 Chapter 357: The Skill Canceller, Follower’s Massive Failure

    The air was thick with tension as Stark stood beneath the colossal angel, the massive spear glowing ominously in its grasp.


    At any moment, if Stark felt like it, he could order it to throw the spear, killing every single one of them.


    Everyone had been frozen, unsure of their next move, weighing their options carefully.


    Stark¡¯s crimson aura radiated outwards, making it hard for anyone to look directly at him without feeling overwhelmed.


    The Mayor was the first to move, his calcting eyes darting between the angel, Stark, and the other participants.


    "Your bluff won¡¯t hold forever, Chosen," the Mayor growled, stepping forward. "Someone will call it. Someone always does."


    "And yet," Stark replied calmly, his voice carrying across the battlefield, "none of you have yet."


    The silence that followed was suffocating.


    No one wanted to make the first move.


    No one could, or else it would be instant death.


    No one wanted to risk being the one who triggered the angel¡¯s wrath.


    In the midst of this standoff, Follower¡¯s lips curled into a sneer.


    "Enough of this," he muttered under his breath, reaching into his system inventory.


    Stark¡¯s eyes shifted slightly, catching the subtle movement.


    From his inventory, Follower pulled out a scroll, its surface shimmering faintly with golden text.


    The moment the scroll appeared, an announcement shed before every participant and on every screen worldwide:


    [Skill Canceller: Cancels out any skill, even if it is Immortal or level 100!]


    Gasps erupted from those watching both inside and outside the trial.


    An object that wouldn¡¯t be powerful under usual circumstances because of the many skills everyone had.


    But in Stark¡¯s case, whom [Crimson Spear]¡¯s [Heaven¡¯s Spear] was his lifeline, it was a big deal.


    "YOU FOOL," Follower bellowed, raising the scroll high. "NOW YOU¡¯RE ABOUT TO BE MASSACRED!"


    Every participant¡¯s eyes widened, realizing the implications.


    And they all smiled as well, ready to dash the moment the angel disappeared.


    Stark, however, remained unshaken. His calm demeanor only deepened the unease of those around him.


    "GOODBYE, CHOSEN ONE!" Follower shouted, activating the scroll with a triumphantugh.


    But as his fingers began to glow, the sound of Stark¡¯s voice cut through the chaos.


    "Idiot," Stark whispered, barely audible but brimming with confidence.


    "!!!?"


    SNAP!


    The sharp sound echoed as Stark¡¯s crimson clone, calm until now, snapped its fingers.


    Using [Crimson Ball Transmission], it teleported directly behind Follower, the crimson energy of the clone swirling as it materialized.


    Before Follower could react, the clone grabbed the scroll from his hand.


    "YOU LITTLE- GIVE ME BACK-" Follower roared, swinging a fist at the clone.


    But the clone didn¡¯t hesitate.


    It unfurled the scroll and activated it immediately, aimed directly at Clever.


    FWISH!


    [You have cancelled the "Golden Grip" skill.]


    The golden arms holding Sora and Lilith disintegrated instantly, freeing them both.


    Both Lilith and Sora fell on their feet, surprised, but ready to fight.


    "WRRAAAA!" Follower roared in frustration, his fist finally connecting with the clone and obliterating it in one blow.


    Crimson energy scattered like shards of ss, but the deed was already done.


    Stark smirked, tilting his head mockingly.


    "Thanks for the assist, Follower," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.


    "YOU...!" Follower growled, his eyes bloodshot with rage.


    Before he could charge, Sora and Lilith both moved to Stark¡¯s side, their gazes wary.


    "Are you alright?" Lilith asked, her voice strained but steady.


    "Better now," Stark replied without taking his eyes off the battlefield.


    The other participants began to stir, the tension reaching its breaking point.


    "Well, does any of you think he had some sort of... how do I say it nicely... a trick to stop me?"


    "..."


    No one could speak.


    "Enough games!" The Mayor¡¯s voice boomed, his patience clearly gone. "This has gone on long enough. If we don¡¯t act now, that angel will annihte all of us!"


    "You¡¯re wee to try," Stark replied coolly, his hand gesturing towards the angel above. "But I wouldn¡¯t rmend it."


    Clever, now free of his skill, turned his gaze toward Stark, his expression unreadable.


    "I admit," he said slowly, "you¡¯ve surprised me. But don¡¯t think this changes anything."


    "It doesn¡¯t have to," Stark replied. "Feel free to make your move. I¡¯m ready."


    The Mayor stepped forward, his aura ring.


    "If no one else will act, I will," he dered.


    But before he could take another step, Tormented One let out a guttural growl, its massive, disfigured form lurching forward.


    But it didn¡¯t attack Stark, not at all.


    It attacked... Clever.


    The Mayor stopped in his tracks, narrowing his eyes, "So you fell for his tricks," he whispered, watching as Clever instantly replied by swinging one of his golden fists.


    "So," Stark said, his tone casual butced with a sharp edge, "Gonna kill each other, huh? Then let me enjoy the show."


    He gestured upward, where the angel held the colossal spear, its crimson glow intensifying,


    "And if any attacks hits me or the girls..." he smiled. "...it¡¯s game over."


    The participants exchanged uneasy nces, the stalemate dragging on.


    Suddenly, Follower snapped.


    "ENOUGH!" he screamed, lunging toward Stark with wild eyes.


    Stark didn¡¯t flinch.


    The angel¡¯s grip on the spear tightened, and for a moment, it seemed as if the end was near.


    But before the angel could act, another participant intervened.


    Clever moved with blinding speed, intercepting Follower and mming him to the ground, while keeping the Tormented One in check with his statue.


    "Stop being reckless," Clever hissed.


    Follower struggled beneath him, his rage boiling over.


    "HE HAS TO DIE!" Follower screamed.


    "And so will we if you keep this up," Clever snapped back.


    "FUCK... YOU..." Using the entire power he had earned from the [Godless Demon], Follower¡¯s body exploded with aura, sending Clever flying in the opposite direction, "I¡¯M KILLING EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!"


    [Annihte them all to prove yourself, Follower.]


    A panel appeared in front of him, meaning that killing Stark wasn¡¯t the only way to get stronger anymore, he could kill them all.


    "Oh?" Mayor¡¯s expression was still serious, "Looks like Chosen didn¡¯t even have to push you that much to begin to go insane, kid, alright, you¡¯re gonna die," Mayor took his stance.


    "..." Tormented One also turned his attention, managing to break one of the golden arms that was blocking him.


    It went from a [5V1] to a [1V1V1V2] in mere minutes, with Stark, Lilith and Sora able to enjoy the show.


    Any movement from the others and he wouldunch the spear.


    The single reason he didn¡¯t do it was because he would need it forter, specifically against the moons.


    "Oh yeah," Stark spoke to Lilith, watching Mayor and Follower engage in a battle, "Give me the [Cooldown Gem] you got from your task."


    "Huh?" Lilith tilted her head, "Why should I?"


    "Lilith," Sora held her shoulder, shaking her head, "Trust him."


    For some reason, Lilith was really fond of Sora, her calm face and expressions were enough for her to agree.


    "Alright, you saved me twice..." she mumbled, pulling out all of her items instead of only the [Cooldown Gem], "You¡¯re gonna need them more than me, probably."


    In front of Stark¡¯s eyes were: [Cooldown Gem, Double Power, Revive Token, Teleportation Sphere, Moonscorch Cure x1]


    But Stark decided to only take the [Cooldown Gem], [Double Power], [Revive Token] and [Moonscorch Cure], which he used immediately since his moonscorch percentage was already reaching its peak.


    "Keep the [Teleportation Sphere], they¡¯re safety items, I don¡¯t need them," Stark smiled gently at Lilith, and for some strange reason, through the boy¡¯s bruised and tired face, her heart skipped a beat.


    "A-Alright," she nodded.


    Now all Stark needed to do was sit back and enjoy the show.

 Chapter 358: The Others Actually Start Fighting, Human VS Monster Again

    The others immediately engage in their respective fights.


    [Mayor and Butler Trio VS Follower]


    [Tormented One VS Clever]


    It was yet again back to human vs monster thanks to Stark¡¯s threats.


    Just a few more, and the first human-monster coboration would have happened.


    The Mayor was a level 600 moonscorchmander, with 17 skills to use whenever he wanted to battle:


    [Giant Utensils, Silver Service, Dinner is Served, Chef¡¯s Wrath, Utensil Bind, Table Manners, Final Course, Utensil Storm, Polished Edge, Fork Toss, Feast of Fury, tter¡¯s Revenge, Hunger¡¯s Drive, Carve and Serve, Dinner Rush (Mythical), Full Course Punishment (Godly), Banquet of Eternity (Godly); Horn Call (Immortal)]


    And he was apanied his followers, the [Butler Trio], who would even oppose master Godless for him.


    [Mini-Boss: Butler Trio]


    [Level: 590]


    [Skills: Loyal Regeneration, Moonscorched, Butler Swing, Random te, Mayor¡¯s Servant...]


    They weren¡¯t powerful, but the [Loyal Regeneration] skill was what made them tough to beat.


    [Loyal Regeneration: As long as the Mayor is alive, they will keep regeneration no matter what, for they could never leave his as long as he is still here, their loyalty transcends everything.]


    Beating Mayor was a challenge in itself, so add to that three immortal beings that would do anything to stop you, and this bes a boss fight.


    But Follower wasn¡¯t fazed.


    After all, he had already sacrificed everything for the [Godless Demon].


    Remember how every domination user has their very own status panel and skills?


    Well, Follower sacrificed all of those to gain the power of the [Godless Demon].


    Every single skill he had worked for was gone, but in exchange, he gained powers that far surpassed his previous ones.


    He only gained 5 perks by now, but each of them was immensely powerful: Crimson Corruption, Demon¡¯s Grasp, Attack Negation, Demon Devouring, and finally, Godless Demon Transformation (Immortal).


    [Crimson Corruption: Corrupts the air around him and enhance his fists with a dark aura.]


    [Demon¡¯s Grasp: Transform his hands into ws, and his eyes be sharp enough to notice any weakness an enemy has.]


    [Attack Negation: Able to cancel an attack from an enemy if you hit them.]


    [Demon Devouring: Pierce your enemy, and hold your ws in their hearts for five seconds, then you¡¯ll instantly kill them.]


    [Godless Demon Transformation: partially transform your body with the aura of the Godless Demon, gaining immense strength.]


    He could only use those, but it was more than enough for him topletely dominate any battle he could be in.


    And now that his target, the Mayor, was on his sight, he was about to destroy him.


    The Mayor grinned as his utensils grew to massive sizes, activating [Giant Utensils].


    The fork and knife shed through the air with a deadly arc, forcing Follower to dodge swiftly.


    The [Butler Trio] surrounded him, their movements synchronized.


    They activated [Random te], hurling spinning tes that grazed Follower¡¯s arms and legs. He ignored the cuts, his fists glowing dark with [Crimson Corruption].


    Follower lunged at the Mayor, but one of the butlers intercepted, swinging a massive tray at him.


    The blow missed as Follower ducked, retaliating with a punch.


    The butler stumbled back as he was hurt, but [Loyal Regeneration] quickly mended the damage.


    The Mayorughed. "You¡¯ll need more than that."


    With a swipe of his hand, he summoned spinning tes through [Dinner is Served].


    The spectral tes homed in on Follower, forcing him to leap backward.


    The butlers moved in again, using [Mayor¡¯s Servant] to chain their attacks.


    One swung a fork, while another hurled tes from a distance.


    Follower caught one te midair, shattering it with his wed hand.


    He growled, using [Demon¡¯s Grasp] to extend his ws, which glowing menacingly.


    He shed at the nearest butler, tearing through its chest.


    But the regeneration kicked in immediately, leaving no permanent damage.


    "You¡¯re annoying," Follower muttered.


    The Mayor activated [Silver Service], spinning his utensils in a whirlwind.


    The energy pulled Follower closer, and the utensils shed across his torso, leaving deep gashes.


    Follower winced but recovered quickly.


    -17,834!


    Hended a solid punch on the Mayor, but [Table Manners] triggered.


    The Mayor dodged and stabbed Follower in the shoulder, dealing true damage.


    The Mayor smirked. "You¡¯re nothing but a pest."


    "Annoying little shit..." Follower growled, "You¡¯re simply using tricks over and over..."


    "And yet you can¡¯t do anything about it."


    Follower retaliated with another w sh, but the Mayor blocked it with [Polished Edge], his knife gleaming with enhanced power.


    A counterattack followed, forcing Follower to retreat.


    The butlers swarmed again, swinging their tes at random to strike Follower with incredible force, they didn¡¯t fear for their lives since they knew they would be revived.


    He rolled to the side and used [Attack Negation] on the next swing, canceling it entirely.


    Follower then dashed toward the Mayor, ws aimed for his heart again.


    "I just need... a single opening..."


    The Mayor stepped back, activating [Utensil Storm].


    Forks and knives rained down, forcing Follower to zigzag through the onught.


    A spectral fork struck Follower¡¯s leg, pinning him momentarily.


    The Mayor dashed forward with [Fork Toss], aiming for Follower¡¯s chest.


    Follower broke free just in time, dodging the Mayor¡¯s attack and mming a fist into his ribs.


    -859,384!


    "From a single punch?!" The Mayor stumbled, but the butlers rushed in, their loyalty unwavering.


    Their speed and power increasing as they coordinated attacks. tes flew, forks stabbed, and trays swung, all aimed at overwhelming Follower.


    Follower roared, activating [Crimson Corruption] again.


    A dark aura burst from him, knocking the butlers back temporarily.


    He focused on the Mayor, charging forward with relentless fury.


    "Feast of Fury," he smiled, unleashing a rapidbo of utensil strikes.


    Follower blocked and dodged, each attack growing faster and deadlier.


    One strike connected, leaving a gash across Follower¡¯s chest. He gritted his teeth and countered with a wed strike, but the Mayor dodged effortlessly.


    "You¡¯ll need to try harder," the Mayor taunted, and his fork struck Follower, marking him with a defense-reducing debuff.


    Follower ignored the pain and shed at the Mayor again.


    His ws tore through the air, forcing the Mayor to parry with his knife.


    "That kid..." Mayor, though confident, he could sense that no matter how many times he was hitting him, Follower seemed to only grow stronger by the second.


    The butlers returned, their regeneration fully healed. They attacked from all sides, overwhelming Follower with their relentless assault.


    Follower mmed his foot into the ground, creating a small shockwave to push them back.


    His ws glowed brighter, and his eyes sharpened, identifying a weakness in the Mayor¡¯s stance.


    The Mayor grinned. "You¡¯ll never win. As long as I stand, they cannot fall."


    Follower smirked. "Then you¡¯re gonna be the first to go down."


    "BANQUET OF ETERNITY!"


    Mayor tried to activate his strongest skill besides his Immortal one to finally end this fight.


    But before he could do anything...


    "Watch your back next time, dumbass," Follower already behind, having adapted to Mayor¡¯s fighting style wlessly.


    This was one of the passive perks Follower acquired besides those he got to deal damage: the more he fought and received damage, then the easier it would be for him to overwhelm his enemies.


    He couldn¡¯t do that with the [Heaven¡¯s Spear] since it was just too strong, able to wipe him in mere seconds, but for anyone else, it was his strategy.


    He believed that it would also work perfectly with Stark, that is if he didn¡¯t have another skill to instantly end a battle.


    "Yawn..." meanwhile, Stark was lying down, observing the battles and taking into ount every single skill the others were disying.


    He would surely need to remember them forter.


    Tormented One and Clever on the other hand were locked in a stalemate, as Tormented One couldn¡¯t even reach the old man, but his [100-Golden Arms Statue] dealt literally 0 damage to the thing.


    -0! -0! -0!


    Sensing the growing danger of this trial, Clever got serious and mmed his fists repeatedly, but the creature would get up no matter, as if unaffected.


    After a short while of fighting, Followernded a devastating punch, sending the Mayor crashing into a wall.


    -1,734,945!


    He had adapted to their fighting style perfectly now, even the butler trio sensing that no matter what they did, it wouldn¡¯t work.


    The square fell silent for a moment.


    Followerughed. "Weak, and worse of all, your horns look stupid and ugly."


    Ding!


    [Do not insult the Mayor¡¯s horns]


    Such a warning had appeared in front of Shock and CEO in the manor, but Follower didn¡¯t know about it, and frankly, even if he did know, it wouldn¡¯t change much.


    The Mayor¡¯s expression twisted with rage.


    His hands gripped his utensils tightly, his entire body trembling with fury.


    [Conditions met to use "Immortal" Skill]


    [Horn Call] was a condition skill, much like EGO meter and the fact you need to make the meter reach 100, but in that case, the condition was for someone to insult Mayor¡¯s horns.


    "You¡¯re dead, kid," the Mayor said, his voice cold and furious.


    "Sure thing, you ugly little shit," Follower replied, unfazed.


    The Mayor dashed forward, his rage fueling his every movement.


    Follower grinned, ready to end the battle in one counterattack.


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    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 359: Immortal Skill Horn Call, Death of The Mayor and Butler Trio

    "HORN CALL!" The Mayor shouted, his horns glowing an ominous dark color after being insulted.


    "..." but Follower wasn¡¯t fazed by that at all, instead taking his stance, as if he was ready to tank it all and kill.


    "No one has ever survived the horn call, for even the moons fear it," Mayor mocked andughed, boasting about his achievements, "This attack is unavoidable."


    Stark was actually really interested to see what this was about: would Follower finally die?


    I mean, that guy¡¯s pretty annoying, and Stark didn¡¯t like his aura at all, so it would be great if he could just disappear.


    But it seemed as tough fate itself advantaged him.


    Fwish!


    Mayor, strands of dark aura visible on his skin, dashed toward Follower, closing the distance between them in a single second.


    "YOU CANNOT WIN," Mayor shouted in rage, gripping his utensils and swinging, "The moment you¡¯re hit, it¡¯s already over!"


    "Heh..." but Follower smirked, "Then I guess I just... won¡¯t get it."


    Attack Negation!


    Faster than he could anticipate, Follower punched the Mayor¡¯s stomach, canceling his swing.


    -17,834!


    But the damage he was doing was reduced by a lot, [Horn Call] enhancing the Mayor¡¯s aura as much as possible.


    "Do you not understand? A single one of my attacks could kill you, and my defense is high enough so that you can¡¯t possibly even imagine killing me, give up!" Mayorughed, dashing again.


    "You¡¯re bing boring," Follower whispered, "Goodbye."


    Fwish!


    Mayor swung, trails of dark aura leaving a dark trail behind.


    "GOT YOU!" he sessfully managed to hit the ce where Follower was, "I cut you so easily that I didn¡¯t even notice the chance, humans are so weak."


    Outside, all people could was a mist beginning to form, as well as Mayor¡¯s dark aura.


    "Damn, so Follower¡¯s done for just like that?"


    "Pretty weak if you ask me..."


    "No chance!"


    And all of those believed that the great Follower wouldn¡¯t die so easily would bepletey right.


    Because back in the trial...


    "You¡¯re right, humans are insanely weak, but lucky for me," Mayor heard a voice behind him, sweat dripping from his brow, "I¡¯m not human."


    Fwish! sh!


    Sharpening his ws to the max, he used [Demon¡¯s Grasp] to pierce through Mayor¡¯s sturdy body.


    "Fool! My body is too sturdy for you to actually pierce it from one end to the other," Mayor mocked, "Now you¡¯re gonna die."


    But that was Mayor¡¯s biggest mistake: he didn¡¯t instantly retaliate.


    Because Follower¡¯s n wasn¡¯t to pierce him: it was to hold his heart.


    [Demon Devouring: Pierce your enemy, and hold your ws in their hearts for five seconds, then you¡¯ll instantly kill them.]


    1...


    "Do you truly believe you can beat me," Mayor kept mocking, "All you humans are so idiotic!"


    2...


    "First, that stupid and ugly guy with his two girlfriends thinks he can put us all on lockdown simply because he has a powerful skill..."


    3...


    "...And then you believe you can stop us all?"


    4...


    "Even if you did kill me, you would still have to face the moons, and I promise you that you¡¯re not surviving!" Mayor continued in his speech.


    He had tried to liberate himself from the ws several times, but for some reason, Follower held really tightly.


    "Now you¡¯re about to die, and I¡¯ll finally be an apostle-"


    5.


    He couldn¡¯t even finish his sentence that an excruciating pain hit him: his heart exploded, like, literally.


    DEMON DEVOURING!


    Boom!


    -99,999,999!


    Instant death!


    "H-Huh...?" Mayor couldn¡¯t understand how this was possible.


    After all... Only the [Godless Demon] had such an ability to begin with, no human should ever have that!


    "Oh..." in his final moments, Mayor finally understood, "We were stupid..."


    His horns stopped glowing, and his body also stopped emanating this dark aura.


    Instead, in a final gesture that disyed his entire personality, he bowed in front of Follower.


    "It was a truly beautiful fight, but I have lost."


    "Know your ce, garbage."


    Mayor chuckled before adding something else.


    "But you will never win this trial," he eyed Stark, who was behind Follower, "Someone is gonna stop you, someone much stronger than you are."


    "Nobody¡¯s stronger than me, bitch," Follower gave him the middle finger as Mayor fell, dead.


    Ding!


    [Mayor has been killed "Follower"!]


    [5 Humans Alive: Stark, Lilith, Sora, Follower and Clever.]


    [2 Monsters Alive: Butler Trio and Tormented One.]


    It didn¡¯t take long for Follower to get rid of the [Butler Trio] afterward, the three butlers having lost their will to live after the mayor died.


    They didn¡¯t even protest as Follower shed them repeatedly.


    [Mayor has died, thus "Loyal Regeneration" cannot be activated.]


    Ding!


    [Butler Trio has been killed "Follower"!]


    [Follower is on a rampage!]


    And so with that, only one monster remained: Tormented One.


    "Deal with that yourself, old man," Follower groaned, sitting on the ground and closing his eyes, "That little shit actually hurt me a bit."


    It didn¡¯t mean he was growing stronger after every blow that he didn¡¯t feel pain, after all, and so now all they could do was wait for Clever to get rid of [Tormented One].


    Actually, once Stark decided to check out the status panel of that thing, something strange happened.


    Instead of the usual window appearing, it was simply a few messages.


    [So much agony.]


    [Cannot kill via damage.]


    [Find another way, it can¡¯t feel pain besides the one it was put on for hundreds of years.]


    [It has nothing but its extreme defense and overwhelming strength.]


    These four panels appeared in front of him, meaning that... he couldn¡¯t check the status window?


    Well, it did give him basic info: that thing for some reason had no skills, maybe removed by the [Godless Demon] after putting him through the torture.


    But in exchange, it seemed as though he was invincible, unable to receive damage from anything or anybody, and his two burly arms could potentially destroy a building by a single swing.


    Basically, you don¡¯t want to get hit by that thing.


    And Clever seems to do a great job holding it off, since it easily gets overwhelmed by the dozens of arms blocking its path or mming it in ce.


    -0! -0! -0!


    But as the panel says, doing all of that doesn¡¯t result in anything significant happening to it.


    Clever, angry that his all powerful statue couldn¡¯t do anything in front of such a weak monster, one that couldn¡¯t even retaliate, was growing frustrated.


    CELESTIAL SMITE!


    Ten of the arms of the golden statue merged into one, mming the [Tormented One] in ce hundreds upon hundreds of times.


    Thousand Hands Devotion!


    Then he began to punch it with all its arms at once.


    Embrace of Eternity!


    And finally, he trapped it inside dozens of hands, closing them around it and squeezing as tight as possible in the hopes of crushing its organs.


    But even after all of that.


    "..." Tormented One¡¯s muffled screams could still be heard as he used his hands to block the strikes and liberate himself from the grip.


    His strength was truly otherworldly.


    And there was no chance they could kill it in a normal way, if even Clever struggled to do that.


    Of course... that is if Stark decided not to act, as he in fact had a way, but he wouldn¡¯t bother taking the risk for them.


    Plus, if the [Tormented One] didn¡¯t attack him when he threatened them with the [Heaven¡¯s Spear], then it means it still feared being killed by it.


    Might as well wait for them to all die before trying anything.

 Chapter 360: The Tormented One is Invincible, Ready to End it All

    "Did they give up?"


    "Probably waiting for Clever to do the job..."


    "I mean, it¡¯s clearly not working, so why bother."


    People outside could only talk as they saw Stark, Lilith and Sora sit and do nothing.


    While on the other hand, Clever was repeatedly trying to damage [Tormented One], with no result whatsoever.


    At this point, the old man, who was supposed to be the strongest of this trial, and one of the best domination users, was growing angrier and angrier.


    "Let me try something," Follower groaned, "The faster we do it, then the quicker we can get out of here."


    Follower had surprisingly no grudge with Clever as the old man hadn¡¯t done anything to upset him, it was only against the only three he wanted revenge.


    "Hold it in ce," Follower ordered, and Clever did as told, restraining the Tormented One.


    Demon¡¯s Grasp!


    He transformed his hands into ws, then while making sure to not be noticed, he arrived behind the creature and plunged them deep inside its body.


    "Got it, now all I need to do is..."


    Suddenly, Follower¡¯s eyes widened.


    Five seconds passed, but nothing happened.


    "That thing..." he mumbled, "It doesn¡¯t have a heart, I can¡¯t kill it."


    Before he could remove his arm from the monster¡¯s back, it broke free from the restraints and punched Follower so hard he almost shattered the barrier around the [Hollow Tower Square].


    -64,834!


    This would be equivalent to around 4,000,000 damage, by the way.


    They truly weren¡¯t kidding when the panel said that it had no skill, but insane defense and attack.


    "How are they supposed to defeat it?!"


    "What the hell? They¡¯re all fucked!"


    "Chosen has to do something now, right?"


    Clever could hold it off for weeks if he wanted, as he didn¡¯t need to focus to give his statue orders, but he didn¡¯t feel like doing the work for all these people.


    But regardless of that, hours passed.


    All the participants were now sitting on the cold ground, while Clever [Golden Statue] kept Tormented One in ce, sending him in the opposite direction whenever he approached too much.


    He was extremely slow, so it took him around 10 minutes to traverse the square anyway.


    Strangely enough, no one in the real world, even those that knew nothing was gonna happen, kept watching.


    They returned to their daily tasks, like working or talking to one another, but still kept their phones and screens in case of any development.


    Lilith was meditating, her eyes closed, gathering more strength to be able to fight.


    Sora on the other hand was ying with her vines, twirling them.


    "That¡¯s my daughter," Mike Gardenisughed as he saw Sora act so cutely, something very weird as it didn¡¯t happen often, actually, it didn¡¯t happen at all.


    Was she thisfortable with these people?


    Follower was punching the barrier of the [Hollow Tower Square] repeatedly while mumbling unintelligible words, as if speaking to someone else.


    His wounds were already healed thanks to his other passive he acquired: [Godless Regeneration].


    Clever also just closed his eyes, resting.


    Stark was the only one not doing anything, observing all the others.


    He could sense Follower¡¯s gaze on him sometimes, but every time he looked, the man would go back to punching the barrier.


    He looked above, and saw the three moons still looking at them, their pupils locked on him precisely.


    "..."


    But Stark didn¡¯t want to stay here for too long.


    He didn¡¯t feel like staying in this ce any more than he has to, especially now that only onemander remained, and that the moons were within his grasp.


    If he killed them, all of this could end.


    He also wanted to get rid of Clever and Follower, since they could cause problems.


    But as he expected, the moons would never go down, and quite frankly it was impossible for them since they were too big.


    [If you kill all three moons, then the true form of the apostle will reveal itself.]


    He clearly remembered that panel appearing before him.


    If the [Moon] Apostle was in his true form, then he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to escape anymore.


    Basically, Stark needed to find a way to kill all three moons, as well as Clever and Follower, in one attack.


    ¡¯Hey,¡¯ Stark thought, directly linking himself to the angel above, who still looked down on this trial with his otherworldly gaze, his hand raised.


    [Yes, master?]


    ¡¯Can you manage to destroy all three moons,¡¯ this was the simple task he gave it.


    Stark believed it would be difficult.


    The first time he threw his spear, at the beginning of the trial, all the moons did was get out of the way when their friend was targeted, thus only resulting in one moon being killed.


    Plus, as Stark feared killing Sora, he had deliberately reduced the output of the spear, not by saying it loudly, but because the angel subconsciously understood what Stark wanted and followed through.


    But now that he wanted to go full annihtion route, there was no need to hold back.


    [Yes, I can do that, and even end it with the spear crashing in the middle of the square.]


    The angel said in a neutral and holy voice.


    ¡¯Amazing, then please do that in exactly three minutes.¡¯


    [Alright.]


    In response to its master request, the angel, who stood idle for all these hours, suddenly moved, taking a more appropriate stance to unleash all of its power.


    Though it made sure to not reveal that it was nning to throw the spear, as otherwise it might ruin Stark¡¯s n.


    The moment the angel moved, Follower immediately stopped punching the barrier and looked up, and Clever also woke up from his nap.


    His golden statue instinctively ced around 50 giant golden hands around him to protect him.


    They could sense that something was gonna happen soon if they don¡¯t move, as Stark¡¯s patience couldn¡¯t be infinite.


    He was crazy enough to tell the two girls he would kill them at any moment if he felt like it, so no wonder.


    But surprisingly, the three moons didn¡¯t even bother moving or staring at the angel even though they sensed its presence.


    And the reason was simple:


    "There¡¯s three of us, no chance he can eliminate us," Mooneughed


    "His previous spear hit one of us, then disappeared, meaning that with only one spear, we can just escape and attack," Motwo added.


    "Just stay on guard, if he throws it, make sure to escape, the one that¡¯s been targeted will undeniably regenerate since he can¡¯t use it again."


    They were just this confident in their power.


    Were the foolish? Or was it because they were given the [Apostle] title that they thought they were in invincible in this trial and because it was their domain?


    In the end, they would soon realize that they were dumb for thinking like that.


    "Use your protection amulet when I throw the spear," Stark ordered Lilith and Sora.


    "You¡¯re gonna use it?!" Lilith was baffled, "But what about you?!"


    "Got the [Revive Token], so it¡¯s fine," he didn¡¯t reveal he could also revive himself one more time with his talent, but better keep it a secret.


    After doing that, Stark got up, grabbing the attention not only those in the trial, but in the real world too.


    "HE GOT UP!"


    "Shit, shit, what¡¯s gonna happen?"


    "Chosen, are you gonna the thing?!"


    Stark arrived in the middle of the [Hollow Tower Square], and even [Tormented One] stopped what he was doing as the boy approached.


    He put his palms together, making sweat drip from everyone¡¯s brow, even those outside.


    And then...


    "Goodbye, everybody," he smiled, a vortex of aura spinning in his eyes, as if he was insane, "ANGEL, THROW THE SPEAR!"


    The outside world exploded (not literally) as those words were uttered.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


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