Chapter 250: Level Twelve Reached, Crushing the Transcendent Gargoyle! The Ultimate Death Flag
Fedrick stood in place. He stared at the five pooling bodies on the ground.
He now understood why these two were here. They were not here to get carried... No. They were incredibly strong. In fact, they had enough strength to carry him!
The shock on his face slowly melted into curiosity.
"How does someone without a guild reach this level?" Fedrick asked.
Most independent players struggled to survive a single encounter in these rifts. Yet Caelus had just casually massacred an entire squad of trained guild members in seconds.
Caelus simply smiled. "I just got lucky in the domain."
Sylvia glanced at him. She covered her mouth and chuckled quietly. Caelus returned her look, and they shared a brief laugh.
Fedrick remained completely unconvinced.
They soon left the bodies behind and continued their trek through the wasteland. As they walked, Caelus decided to ask the question that had been bothering him.
"How did you use three skills back there?" Caelus asked. "A normal player can only ever equip two skills. Correct me if I am wrong."
Fedrick smiled upon hearing this.
He explained that someone from the Golden Light Guild had obtained a Skill Slot Rune from somewhere. The core members of his guild already possessed three skill slots. The rune held no value to them. Hence, they handed it over to him like it was spare change.
The culprit here was the Skill Slot Rune.
’So these are what help you equip more than one skill.’
The Origin Network did mention something subtly about it when it recounted how different Earth was from the Abyss.
But whatever the case was, he needed one immediately!
He wanted to equip Temporal Regression. It was the ultimate "Catch your enemy off guard" card he could pull along with Origin Sever.
Caelus realized the massive gap in power between an ordinary person and a guild right then. Independent players dreamed of finding items like that. The strongest organizations treated them as spare resources.
Just then, his train of thought was cut short abruptly.
A massive shadow suddenly eclipsed the gray wasteland.
BOOM!
The ground shook violently as a beast plummeted from the sky.
Dust and debris exploded outward.
It was a Rift-Born Gargoyle. A Transcendent-Tier monster. Its stony skin pulsed with thick blue veins of energy.
Screech!
The beast lunged immediately. Its massive stone claws tore through the air, aiming directly for Sylvia’s head.
Caelus moved instantly. Ruyi appeared in his hand as he blocked the attack just in time, sending it back a few steps.
Screeech!
The ground trembled as it regained its balance and lunged at Caelus this time.
Sylvia, seeing this, immediately raised her hand. Blood poured from her wrist, forming a thick, crimson wall.
Bang!
The claws slammed into the blood shield. Deep cracks formed across the surface, but it held just long enough.
"Now!" Sylvia shouted.
Caelus did not hesitate. Golden circles rippled in the sky as star swords flew toward the monster.
Sparks flew. The blades tried to pierce through its tough exterior skin, which acted like armor, but each was deflected with just small cracks forming.
This monster was noticeably stronger than the Rift-Born Obsidian Centipede they encountered earlier.
Caelus and Sylvia could not steamroll it alone.
The gargoyle roared, swinging its other arm to crush Caelus.
"I’m coming, guys!" Fedrick shouted. A red aura flared around him.
[Charge activated.]
Fedrick dashed forward and slammed his heavy sword into the gargoyle’s flank. The beast stumbled, shifting its aggro entirely to him.
Whoosh!
Fedrick threw his left hand forward. A massive Fireball erupted, exploding directly in the gargoyle’s face. The blast blinded it momentarily.
"Keep it pinned!" Caelus yelled as he deflected a blind tail swipe.
Sylvia wove her hands. Sanguine Genesis flared as fine blood threads shot out. They coiled around the gargoyle’s massive wings, locking them tightly to its body.
The gargoyle shrieked. It thrashed wildly. A stray claw caught Fedrick in the chest, sending him crashing into a jagged boulder.
Crack!
Fedrick spat a mouthful of blood. His HP plummeted into the red zone.
Without hesitation, Fedrick reached into his inventory. He pulled out a red HP fruit and took a massive bite.
His deep, bleeding wounds sealed up in seconds. His torn flesh stitched back together. His HP bar shot back to full.
"A single fruit completely restores your health. That’s why I said it was valuable," Fedrick explained as he readied his sword again.
Caelus watched it happen and heard his explanation. He still refused to touch the fruit. His instincts told him to not eat something from here, and he would stick to that to the end.
"If you are fine, then come, let’s end this. If we drag this out any longer, it can get troublesome!" Caelus shouted.
Fedrick’s sword glowed with golden runes in response. He activated Holy Sword Surge. He vanished, becoming a blur of light. Dozens of golden slashes tore into the gargoyle’s stony chest, which already had small cracks from earlier, shattering its natural armor.
With its defenses broken, Caelus summoned his staff.
"Get bigger, Ruyi!"
The staff expanded rapidly, glowing with white light. Caelus leaped into the air and swung it down with all his might.
BOOM!
The massive staff crashed directly onto the gargoyle’s exposed head, crushing it completely. The beast collapsed to the ground, dead.
Notifications flooded Caelus’s vision.
They had already reached Level 10 after defeating the Apex Centipede earlier. That milestone had rewarded them with +3 Combat Score. It brought Caelus’s score to 33.5 and Sylvia’s combat score to 33.1.
Now, defeating this Transcendent beast gave them another massive boost. Both of them advanced two more levels, and their combat scores also rose.
[Rank: Rookie]
[Level: 10 -> 12 (116/2,400)]
[Combat Score: 33.5 -> 39.5]
Fedrick was also stronger now.
Fedrick wiped the blood from his blade. He looked at Caelus and Sylvia, genuinely impressed.
"You two fight perfectly together," Fedrick praised them. "It feels like you have been fighting side by side for years."
After a brief rest, the three continued traveling deeper into the rift.
Eventually, the rocky landscape gave way to an enormous withered tree. Its trunk was unimaginably thick. A massive, swirling portal had formed within its hollow center.
Several guilds had already gathered outside the tree. Caelus spotted familiar groups. The Silver Pickaxe Guild stood on one side. The Azure Sweet Guild waited near the roots. Candy Charlotte was also present with her guild, casually blowing a bubblegum bubble.
Everyone stared at the portal in absolute silence. The anticipation hung heavy in the air.
"This must be where the Ascended Beast is," Fedrick commented.
Just then, a conversation broke out. It was led by James of the Silver Pickaxe Guild.
James turned around and addressed the gathered players. "Everyone has an HP Fruit, right?"
Most guild members confidently nodded. Some pulled their red fruits out to show they still had them.
"That’s good. This fruit will be important once inside. I already used a few during the time I came here, but I still got a new one," James added.
Other players also seemed to have used it.
Then several members noticed Caelus and Sylvia. Since neither of them had a guild tag, the mockery started almost immediately.
"Why are there independent players here?" a man from the Crimson Fang Guild sneered.
"Hope you guys won’t be dead weight. One wrong move here means death, and don’t expect us to come save you either. We will handle the frontlines," a woman from the Iron Guard Guild muttered dismissively.
Caelus and Sylvia did not respond. They simply remained silent. Their silence did not look like fear. It made them appear completely calm and unbothered.
"Should we wait for the Shadow Halberd Guild?" a random player asked.
"Give them a little more time," another suggested.
The crowd waited briefly. There was no sign of them arriving. The guild members muttered among themselves, assuming the squad had simply been delayed or died somewhere else in the trial.
"There is no point waiting any longer," Fedrick finally said.
The gathered players began stepping into the portal one after another. Caelus held Sylvia’s hand, and they walked through the swirling energy together.
The moment they stepped through to the other side, both of their expressions changed.
Their faces immediately became serious.
