Chapter 251: The True Cost of the Rift, A Familiar Foe! Power Light Runes, Permanent Cut
The moment they stepped through the portal, the atmosphere completely shifted.
This was no cave or battlefield. They stood inside a shattered dimension. Endless fragments of broken space floated aimlessly around them. The rocky platform beneath their feet trembled constantly, suspended in an endless, dark void.
The environment alone screamed that this was nothing like their previous encounters.
In the dead center of the shattered world stood a colossal nightmare. It was roughly the size of a three-story mansion. Its twisted humanoid torso fused directly into a massive, bulbous lower body. Eight bladed, arachnid-like legs supported its weight. A thick purple barrier completely covered its dark carapace.
As soon as Caelus saw it, his expression dropped.
He recognized it instantly.
The World Eater Dark Lord.
It was a boss they had encountered back in the Abyss. Caelus did not know why it was here as a mere fragment, but he knew exactly how terrifying it was. He remembered its mechanics perfectly. Its field that constantly drained HP and MP. Its Temporal Reversal that instantly cleansed debuffs. Its condensed Dark Energy attacks and falling Dark Spears.
The Dark Lord stared down at them. It muttered something in an unknown, guttural language.
The purple barrier pulsed. A dark field instantly spread across the entire arena.
"This field continuously drains HP and MP!" Caelus shouted. "Do not underestimate it!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the system validated his warning.
[Debuff Applied]
[Dark Consumption]
[HP: -5 every second]
[MP: -5 every second]
The surrounding guild members fell into immediate panic. Some scrambled to check their status windows. Others shouted in confusion.
Fedrick turned toward Caelus and Sylvia.
"How did you two know..."
Before Fedrick could finish, his body suddenly twisted unnaturally. His stomach caved inward with a sickening crunch. His arms bent in impossible directions.
"Huh...?" Fedrick gasped. "What is... happening to me...?"
He stared at his own trembling hands. His breathing became erratic. Thick veins bulged furiously beneath his skin.
"...Guys..." Fedrick choked out, his voice laced with pure terror. "...I am scared."
Blood suddenly poured from his eyes. His entire body violently swelled.
Boom!
Fedrick exploded into a shower of blood and flesh. From his remains, a pillar of crimson light shot straight up into the sky, linking directly to the Dark Lord’s purple barrier.
Then, another scream rang out. Another player nearby swelled and exploded.
Then another.
One after another, players burst apart. Each death sent another beam of light upward, strengthening the boss. Total chaos erupted. People screamed in horror. Some desperately crawled backward. Others cried on their knees.
Caelus watched the crimson lights rise with a cold gaze.
"I knew something was wrong with that HP Fruit," Caelus muttered.
James from the Silver Pickaxe Guild was among the dead. The very first person who had looked down on Caelus moments ago was now reduced to a mere sacrifice.
Only a handful of people remained alive. Caelus, Sylvia, a girl chewing bubblegum, and a few paralyzed guild members who had not eaten the fruit.
Caelus looked toward Sylvia. "It looks like we are on our own."
He turned his gaze back to the towering boss. "We do not have much time. We are ending this."
Even though they could not see its level, they had no choice. Either the Dark Lord died, or they did.
The barrier finished solidifying.
[Foe Identified: World Eater Dark Lord (Fragment)]
The Dark Lord screeched.
Hundreds of Dark Spears materialized in the sky and rained down upon them.
Sylvia reacted instantly.
She threw her hands up and slit both her wrists. Blood erupted outward, coalescing into a massive crimson shield overhead.
The first wave of spears crashed into it. Deep cracks instantly spread across the blood construct. Several black spears broke through, hurtling toward them.
Before they could strike, a translucent pink barrier snapped into existence around Caelus and Sylvia.
The remaining spears bounced harmlessly off the bubble.
A girl casually stepped forward. She blew a bubble, popped it, and kept chewing.
"I am Candy," she said with a completely expressionless face.
She calmly analyzed the battlefield. "I do not think we should attack it yet." She pointed a finger toward the sky. "I think those glowing lights floating above are maintaining the barrier. Can either of you attack from range?"
Caelus noticed Sylvia’s MP rapidly draining under the field’s effect. Wasting Mana was not an option right now. He made a decision instantly.
He summoned his staff.
"Get bigger, Ruyi."
The Ruyi Jingu Bang extended. It grew longer and longer until it pierced the sky itself.
Boom!
The staff smashed into one of the glowing lights. It shattered instantly. The purple barrier surrounding the Dark Lord visibly cracked.
Candy raised an eyebrow. She clearly was not expecting the weapon to grow that far.
The shattered light crashed onto the battlefield, but nobody paid attention.
The Dark Lord immediately retaliated. A massive Dark Pulse erupted from its mouth, hurtling toward them.
Candy formed a glowing pink energy sword in her hand. With one clean slash, she split the entire Dark Pulse apart before it could reach them.
Without hesitation, the three charged together.
They moved with fluid, constant motion. Candy intercepted the boss’s sweeping strikes with her pink sword. Sylvia controlled the battlefield, binding the massive arachnid legs with thick blood constructs using Sanguine Genesis.
Caelus constantly searched for openings.
He activated Star King’s Sword Vault. A barrage of golden swords pierced one of the Dark Lord’s legs. Chaos Erosion successfully landed.
For a brief moment, everyone smiled.
Then, Temporal Reversal activated.
A wave of energy washed over the boss. The debuff disappeared instantly. The Dark Lord swung a massive leg, kicking Caelus away with overwhelming force.
Caelus tumbled across the rocky platform. He crashed directly into the glowing light he had destroyed earlier.
[Power Light Rune]
[One Time Consumable]
[Can be fused into any skill.]
[Greatly amplifies the skill’s power and effectiveness.]
Caelus’s expression changed. He slowly looked upward. There were still roughly nineteen lights floating above the boss.
He immediately understood the mechanic.
The sacrificed players were not just feeding the boss. They were generating the keys needed to defeat it. It was a cruel mechanic. But fair.
He was silent for a moment.
If he was not wrong, this light belonged to Fedrick.
’You will be remembered, Fedrick.’
He then formulated a plan instantly.
Before anyone could press the attack, the purple barrier restored itself.
Caelus did not panic seeing this.
"Keep it busy!" Caelus shouted across the platform. "I am destroying every light! Do not ignore the ones that fall! They can strengthen your skills!"
He launched into the sky. The Ruyi extended repeatedly.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Lights continuously crashed onto the battlefield. Each destroyed light weakened the boss’s barrier further.
After two runes fell near the girls, Caelus shouted again.
"Use them! They are our win condition!"
Both immediately absorbed a rune. Candy’s pink sword gained an overwhelming aura. She dashed in and attempted to inflict a powerful debuff.
"Weakness."
A debuff designed to drastically slow movement and reduce defense wrapped around the Dark Lord.
Puchi!
The sword landed perfectly.
However, nothing happened.
Temporal Reversal activated again, cleansing the debuff instantly.
Candy clicked her tongue. "So annoying."
Caelus had been waiting for exactly this moment.
He dropped from the sky and activated Origin Sever.
His vision glitched as his eyes lit up in a blue draconic aura. The conceptual nodes of the boss’s abilities appeared before him.
His skill cut directly through the Dark Lord’s connection to Temporal Reversal and the rest of its skills.
Whoom! BOOM!
[Origin Sever in effect]
[Dark Lord’s connection to its skill has been permanently cut.]
The skill shattered.
Every remaining light in the sky immediately crashed down. The purple barrier completely collapsed.
Candy’s normally calm face finally broke. "What did you do?"
However, he ignored her question.
"It is powered down!" Caelus yelled. "Inflict every debuff and attack you have! It cannot cleanse them anymore! I permanently sealed away its Temporal Reversal."
The battlefield exploded into motion.
Candy applied Weakness.
The boss’s movements immediately slowed to a crawl.
Caelus struck again, and Chaos Erosion firmly took root.
It rapidly began losing MP and HP.
The Dark Lord rapidly lost control of the fight.
The mechanics snowballed entirely in their favor.
Caelus stepped back and collected one final Power Light Rune from the ground. He fused it directly into his Star King’s Sword Vault.
The skill immediately transformed.
Golden stars ignited across the battlefield. Swords shot out infinitely from the sky. The entire sky was so blinding with golden swords falling like stars that the entire world itself began shaking.
Even the surviving guild members stopped cowering. Everyone stared upward.
Candy stood perfectly still, silently watching the sky. For the first time, she forgot to chew her bubblegum.
With a final grunt, Caelus enlarged Ruyi as much as he could.
The enlarged Ruyi descended from the sky.
The following instant, the entire shattered dimension flashed a blinding white.
The Dark Lord let out one final, deafening scream before being completely crushed beneath the overwhelming attack.
The white light faded. The Ruyi slowly shrank back to its normal size and returned to Caelus’s hand. He remained suspended in the air, his clothes fluttering gently in the winds.
Below him, every surviving guild member stared upward in complete disbelief.
No one spoke. No one moved.
Only the system broke the silence.
[Rift Cleared.]
[The World Eater Dark Lord (Fragment) has been defeated.]
[You have successfully cleared the Rift.]
[Calculating rewards...]
[You will receive immense rewards.]
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A/N: If you are enjoying the story drop the novel a power stone or two.
