Chapter 719: The Spectral Titan

Luke stood surrounded by Anne, Charlie, and Angie. Even so, only Charlie and Anne still had their weapons trained on him.

“If you really want me to win, then disqualify yourselves.” His voice came out cold, deliberately harsh. “In this place, we’re going to be split up. Right after that, we’ll have to push into the final area. I can’t waste time looking after you.”

Angie and Charlie both tensed, frustration twisting their faces.

“And you, Anne? You should be worried about your sister. For all you know, Julian’s fight got her killed, and you’re here wasting time on me.”

For one second, Anne’s hand trembled around the grip of her sword. Luke had hit all three exactly where it hurt.

“I don’t care what you say, Master Luke,” Charlie said, her voice steady despite the look on her face. “I’m staying in the challenge, and I’ll protect you as long as I can. After that, I’ll disqualify myself.”

“And you think it’ll be that easy? We’ll be separated in a place packed with powerful enemies.”

“I can handle myself,” Charlie said.

“I’ve gotten stronger, my lord,” Angie said.

“No. You’re not strong enough to keep up with me. What’s the point of entering the forest with you trying to protect me if I end up wasting time protecting you instead?”

“That’s not fair,” Charlie said.

“Death isn’t fair.” His answer came flat and sharp. “You’ll only get in my way. I’m not trying to win this event on some stupid gamble. I want to do everything I can to find my mother. And between her and you, I choose her.”

Charlie lowered her sword slightly, struck by the words. But a moment later, she raised it again, fingers tight around the hilt.

“If you’re that sure of yourself, then you should know I am too. I’d never forgive myself if my husband died and I wasn’t there with him.”

“And who said I’m going to die? I have a thousand ways out of most situations, and you know that.”

“Selfish,” Anne said, lifting her sword again. This time, the blade didn’t shake. “I’m going to... protect my friends. Even... a selfish one like you.”

“You’re a terrible boyfriend and a worse husband,” Charlie said, staring him down. “But I’m going into that forest, and I’m protecting you, idiot.”

Angie ground her teeth. She gripped her spear with both hands and pointed it at Luke, her gaze wild.

“What’s the point of being your soldier if my lord doesn’t trust me? What am I supposed to be, then? A blade you refuse to use? A lord who can’t value that doesn’t deserve the title. So I’m going to beat some sense into you, my awful lord.”

Luke took a deep breath. “If you actually care about me, then take this as an order. I’m ordering you to leave.”

“We’re not your slaves. Is that how you see us?” Angie shot back.

Charlie narrowed her eyes. “Is that all I am to you? Your slave?”

“Of course not.” Luke almost growled it, but the anger drained out of him halfway through. “Seriously? You’re using my own trick against me? That’s low.”

“You’re playing... dirty too,” Anne said. “Terrible friend... boyfriend and... lord.”

“Yes, girls, keep roasting him. Hit him with all those painful truths,” Artemis cut in. “Also complain that he doesn’t feed me when I ask or spoil me properly.”

Luke froze for a second. Then he let out a short laugh.

“You really aren’t backing down, huh...” He sheathed his kukris. “I’m sorry for what I said. You can come with me.”

All three of them kept staring at him with suspicion.

“I’m wrong. You’re right. I can’t stop you. And I don’t ever want you thinking I see you as slaves.” Luke dragged a hand down his face. “You hit my weak spot. Fine. I lost this one.”

Charlie was the first to lower her weapon. Angie followed.

“I’m sorry too...” Charlie said, her voice quieter.

Angie looked at him, still serious. “My lord, I apologize if I offended you. But I stand by my judgment. I need to be on the battlefield with you. Don’t ask me to leave.”

“I won’t.”

Charlie stepped closer, her sword already sheathed and her arms crossed. “A couple is supposed to have each other’s backs. So think a little harder before you say things like that to me. Or to them.”

“I messed up... Sorry.” Luke looked away for a moment. “I just didn’t want anyone getting hurt. Let alone dying.”

Charlie gave him a light hug. It wasn’t long or dramatic, but it was enough to break what was left of the tension.

“I didn’t choose anyone over you,” he murmured. “You’re all at the top for me.”

When Charlie stepped back, Luke felt someone behind him. Anne still had her sword pointed at him.

“An assassin doesn’t lower her guard, huh?”

She nodded.

“I’m sorry for being a terrible friend.”

“Forgiven...” the doll maid said, lowering her sword.

“What? You made up that easily?!” Artemis complained. “What about me? What about my rights? Like, you need to go back and argue with him about feeding me!”

No one paid the chatty soul any attention. The hostility was gone.

“If we’re doing this,” Luke said, “we’re doing it right.”

So they put together a plan. Luke tossed Angie and Charlie an adrenaline dose each. They were the only two he had.

“Use this in an emergency. Last resort only.”

The side effect was cardiac arrest. In any other situation, that would have been a terrible idea. But Charlie was a vampire. She didn’t need a beating heart to keep fighting. Angie, meanwhile, was basically a walking defibrillator on top of being a healer.

When they reached the entrance to the forest, the four of them looked at one another.

“Thank you for what you did, Anne. And I’m sorry for what I said.” Luke met the doll’s eyes. “But I meant one thing. You don’t have to stay in the event. You can go see your family now. This could be dangerous for you.”

“We go... to the end,” she replied.

Anne was the first to enter the forest.

“Wait,” Luke said to Charlie and Angie.

He quickly explained his idea. Then he pulled both of them into his soul and took a step toward the forest.

[Warning: Individuals cannot enter while in contact!]

Something invisible blocked him.

It’s detecting them inside my soul.

Luke took them back out. Charlie and Angie stepped forward.

“We’ll meet again inside,” Charlie said.

“See you there, my lord,” Angie added.

The two of them entered. Luke sighed and looked back one last time. The truth was, he’d lied. They weren’t weak. More than anyone, he knew how strong all three of them were. In raw power, some of them were even above him. If he fought any one of them seriously, Luke wasn’t sure he would win.

He could deal more damage with his skills, the cloak, the horn, and the [Demonic Predator Hands]. But it was like driving a Ferrari on an empty tank. In a drawn-out fight, with them at their peak, he probably wouldn’t win. They were naturally stronger. Tougher, too.

Angie could fly, create a lightning clone, and heal herself. Charlie had the natural brutality of a vampire. Luke, meanwhile, was more fragile. A glass cannon. Still, when it came to quick strategy and combat improvisation, he wasn’t modest. In that, he was much better. After all, that was the core of who he was. What his class was made for. Assassination.

If I’d struggle to beat them in a fight, then they’re ready for the rest of the challenge. No wonder they’re my Generals.

When he took the next step, he felt his body vanish and reappear.

[Time Remaining: 23 Hours: 51 Minutes: 12 Seconds]

“I’m here. And the party already started.”

Luke was in the forest. The trees were gigantic, so wide their branches looked like suspended roads. The sound of clashing metal echoed in the distance. A fight was happening. Closer by, explosions shook the air. Lots of fights. He ran through the trees, leaping across branches thicker than train cars, and watched people fighting below.

If I don’t want anyone hurting my group, then I need to eliminate everyone who gets in the way.

Luke activated the horns and advanced. He sprinted along the branches, slid across damp wood, and conjured a [Shadow Ball] in his palm. As he closed in on two participants dueling below, he fired the dark sphere. The explosion swallowed both of them for an instant. Luke appeared inside it with a kukri in hand. One went down from the slash. The other hit the ground like he’d been run over by a bull when Luke rammed him with his horn.

He jumped from the branch, threw his kukris into the air, and struck two more people ahead before landing. Ten participants were fighting there, two groups that had run into each other in the middle of the forest.

Like a shadow, Luke moved through them. His horns fired [Shadow Balls], his blades carved through the air, and every movement was meant to end a life or clear someone from his path.

***

Charlie moved through the forest, searching for the tower. She had spawned there alone, with no one from the group anywhere nearby. Part of her was still annoyed at Luke for trying to pull her out of the event. The annoying part was, she knew exactly where it came from. Worry. Fear that something might happen to her. Even so, he shouldn’t have done it.

Before she was his girlfriend, Charlie was his protector. His blade. Even if there had never been anything between them, she would still do her duty. And that was why the irritation stayed, small but stubborn. Luke needed to trust her too. Of course, he was her boyfriend. That was why he had acted like that. And in a way, it was sweet. Very sweet.

Charlie shook her head, driving the thought away before it could grow any bigger. This was not the time to get distracted. Later, when she found Luke, she would give him an earful. As his protector, she forgave him. As his girlfriend, not yet. He would have to spoil his way back into forgiveness.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The path to the tower was not peaceful. Dangerous beasts emerged between the trees, but Charlie dealt with them without wasting much time. Then two people appeared and tried to attack her from behind. It was an easy mistake to make, and an even faster one to pay for. Charlie dissolved into a swarm of bats, lunging forward with [Bat Swarm Dash] and catching both of them completely off guard. Her sword was red, stained with Lulie, who had turned into liquid blood around the steel.

Then a distant sound reached her ears. Charlie stopped. Her senses sharpened. She focused her hearing, filtering out the rustle of leaves, the noises of smaller creatures, even the wind moving through the branches. Beneath it all, she heard voices. A group laughing. Charlie didn’t like that.

Without hesitation, she started moving in the opposite direction. But before she could put any real distance between them, figures stepped out from behind the trees. A group. Charlie narrowed her eyes. That was strange. She hadn’t heard any of them approach. No footsteps. No breathing. No heartbeats. Even now, with all of them standing right in front of her, her ears found only a dead emptiness where life should have been.

The distant voices drew closer for a moment.

Then vanished.

“Silence is comforting, isn’t it?” one of them said.

The man’s hand glowed, producing the same sound Charlie had heard before. Another raised a wand, and a sharp, piercing noise tore through the air. Charlie backed away, feeling the vibration pass through her skull.

Then she understood. Sound magic specialists.

“She’s got solid gear,” one of the men said, looking her up and down.

“No kidding. You don’t get this far with trash gear.”

They attacked all at once.

Waves of noise spread through the forest. Some were high-pitched, cutting like glass inside her ears. Others hit in deep, heavy pulses, making Charlie’s brain throb like it was about to burst. The artificial silence around them only made it worse. Every sound the enemies created existed alone in the world, with nothing to soften it.

“Nice and quiet, isn’t it?” one of them said, rushing in with a club.

He tried to strike her from the side. Charlie barely slipped aside and answered with a straight punch that sent him staggering.

“Turn it up!”

Charlie gritted her teeth and charged one of the casters with her sword.

[Wings of Fire activated]

The wings flared to life in a bright glow, far too flashy for someone trying to stay hidden, but that no longer mattered. Charlie shot forward with brutal speed and impaled one of them before he could raise his wand. The impact dragged the body back several steps, and she ripped the blade free before leaping high into the sky. The glow of her wings lit the treetops for an instant. Then Charlie crashed into the middle of the group.

[Wave of Ash activated ]

Embers and ash exploded around her, swallowing the enemies in a hot, suffocating cloud. Charlie moved through her own skill as if she were dancing, her sword cutting through bodies, arms, and weapons. Lulie slid along the blade in vivid red, making every cut nastier. One of the men managed to dodge at the last second, but he didn’t come away whole. The cut grazed one side of his head and took his ear. He screamed, clutching at the blood.

“You little bitch... let’s see what’s under that helmet.”

He pointed his wand at her. The sound wave that came next was so powerful Charlie could see it warping the air. The impact hit her head-on. Blood ran from one of her ears. For a second, it felt like something inside her skull had burst. The world tilted, blurred, and filled with pressure.

Charlie activated [Blood Orb].

The blood from the nearby corpses answered at once. Red threads rose from the ground, pulled into the sphere, feeding it as Charlie advanced again. Every fallen body became fuel. Every wounded enemy opened the way for more Blood Energy. She used her vampiric skills one after another, giving the group no room to recover their rhythm.

When it was over, only one remained. Charlie grabbed the man by the throat with one hand and lifted him off the ground. He thrashed, trying to say something. Maybe to beg. Maybe to curse. She didn’t care. She brought her face close to his.

Then she bit. Not to drink blood. Charlie would never feed on a human who wasn’t her boyfriend. This was something else. Punishment. He had hurt her ears. So she took his. When the body fell, the forest went quiet again. Charlie took a deep breath, still feeling an unpleasant ringing inside her head, and looked at the notifications.

[Your class [Royal Blood Knight] has reached Level 110!]

[You have unlocked a new Class Skill]

She made the [Blood Orb] fill completely with the remaining blood.

[Vampiric Regeneration I activated]

The pain faded. Her ear healed. The blood stopped running. Within seconds, Charlie was whole again, as if the fight had been nothing more than a loud inconvenience. Still, she did not underestimate what had happened.

They were actually dangerous, Charlie thought, moving faster through the forest.

Only after she found a safer spot, far from the bodies and the obvious trail of battle, did Charlie stop to check her new skill. She touched the notification.

[Crimson Vampire Edge (Ancient)]: While [Blood Bat I] is fused with the Knight’s sword through [Sword Vampire Drain], the blade carries the hunger of the Vespertilio Bloodline. Damage dealt by the sword increases by 20%, and the bat’s ability to steal Blood Energy from enemies wounded by the blade becomes more efficient. While this fusion is active, every cut serves as a channel between the sword, the familiar, and the Royal Blood Knight, allowing extracted energy to flow more easily and feed her blood techniques.

[Blood Swarm Slow (Rare)]: While the Royal Blood Knight uses [Bat Swarm Dash], the bats that make up her movement carry a debilitating effect. Enemies wounded by the bats during this charge suffer temporary slowness, as if the blood in their bodies were affected by the swarm’s passage. This skill turns the Knight’s advance into a control tool, allowing her to cross the battlefield, deal damage, and hinder the reactions of those touched by the swarm.

[Blood Bat II (Ancient)]: The Vespertilio Bloodline manifests its power more deeply within the Knight, causing her Blood Familiar to evolve into a superior form: a Vespertilio bat born from her own essence. As a loyal familiar, it grows alongside the Knight’s abilities, inherits traces of her personality, and acts as a living extension of her will. With the evolution of this ability, that bond is no longer limited to a single body. The Blood Bat can now divide into two distinct bats, doubling its presence, range, and capacity for action. Though they possess separate bodies, both share the same mental connection, moving as parts of a single consciousness linked to the Royal Blood Knight. This duplication marks the first step toward a true blood swarm. Each bat can serve as a scout, messenger, combat support, or extension of the Knight’s senses, preparing the way for her bloodline to one day awaken an entire colony under her command.

[Heavy Blood Strike (Rare)]: The attack [Heavy Strike (Common)] is strengthened by absorbing the power of [Force Infusion] while [Sword Vampire Drain] is active. During the use of this ability, the Royal Blood Knight’s sword temporarily becomes more lethal, concentrating physical force and mana into a single heavy blow. If the Knight charges the attack by concentrating stamina, she can release an even more powerful slash capable of breaking through defenses with greater impact. This skill receives a small power-scaling bonus based on Lethality and Intelligence.

[Royal Blood Barrier (Ultra-Rare)]: [Spectral Barrier (Rare)] is corrupted and elevated by the Royal Blood Knight class, transforming into a blood barrier far more durable than its previous version. This defense manifests the royal power of the Knight’s bloodline, creating dense, unstable protection that is difficult to break. By using blood present in nearby corpses, the Knight can repair part of the barrier, prolonging its duration in combat. This skill receives a small power-scaling bonus based on Willpower and Intelligence.

Charlie read everything carefully. There were good options. Great ones, actually. But the more she analyzed them, the more she missed a certain voice beside her.

“Hmm... I wish Master Luke were here. He’s so good at this stuff.”

After what she had just faced, she clearly needed more tricks up her sleeve.

So Charlie read one of the options again.

And smiled.

[You have acquired the Class Skill: Blood Bat II (Ancient)]

The choice settled inside her like blood finding an open vein. Now she could use [Sword Vampire Drain] and [Blood Familiar Armor I] at the same time. And that part about a colony... that didn’t feel like pretty system flavor. It felt like a promise. Something told Charlie this would become terrifying one day.

***

Luke finished claiming the tower and looked toward a distant village swallowed by the forest’s green. The blue crystal in front of him lost its color, turning gray.

[Tower Claimed: 3/6]

Okay. Just one tower left in this place.

Eight hours had passed. The real problem was the numbers: around one hundred and eighty towers of each color for eighteen hundred participants. Finding them was hard enough. This one in particular had been hidden among enormous trees and guarded by twenty-foot-tall monkeys. And they weren’t normal monkeys. The creatures used their tails to swing between branches and threw rocks, chunks of wood, and anything else they could grab. Some even ripped sharp tips off branches and used them as improvised weapons.

As Luke leaped between branches, something entered his field of vision. Midair, he twisted his body and dodged by a hair. A spike struck the spot where he would have been. It punched through the tree and left a smoking hole behind.

I saw you.

Sitting on a higher branch was a monkey holding a piece of bamboo. The creature picked up a sliver of wood and started biting it into shape, sharpening the tip with almost craftsmanlike precision. Then it placed the projectile inside the bamboo.

“I think I know what you’re about to do.”

The monkey blew. The spike shot out so fast Luke had to roll back and retreat. The tree behind him was hit, and the hole smoked again.

“You’re a damn sniper?”

The monkey grabbed another piece of wood with absurd speed and fired. Luke ran along the branch.

[Cloak of the Arcane Witch activated]

The cloak’s power flooded his body. Luke jumped higher and faster, dodging the monkey’s shots while the creature kept blowing projectiles like a living crossbow.

[Horns of the Demon of Darkness activated]

Luke knocked one of the spikes aside with his kukri and caught the creature off guard. In the same motion, he fired a [Shadow Ball] from the horn. The explosion hit the monkey and knocked it off the branch. As it fell, the creature’s tail caught another limb, swinging its body away. Luke went after it.

On its back, the monkey carried a backpack made of leaves, packed full of wooden spikes. It pulled out projectiles and fired nonstop. Luke deflected some in midair, ran, slid, jumped, and kept closing the distance.

“You’re not getting away now. You wanted to hunt me? Then I’ll chase you to the edge of this place.”

Luke threw a black knife. The monkey dodged.

[Shadow Mana Explosion activated]

The explosion burst in the air. The creature lost its balance, and Luke arrived spinning, tearing into it with his blades before kicking it into a tree. The monkey pointed the bamboo at him, ready to fire point-blank.

Luke smiled. The horn fired a [Shadow Ball], destroying the weapon before the shot. Then Luke struck the creature with a kukri and followed with a punch. The monkey’s tail came off. The creature screamed as it fell, but it still had enough strength to throw spikes at Luke.

“I told you!” he shouted, bold and hungry and fearless under the horns’ power.

Every spike shattered against his kukris. With the cloak, Luke accelerated his own fall and kept fighting the monkey in midair.

[Crimson Fang activated]

The kukri, charged with that power, blew the creature’s arm apart. Luke kicked the monkey downward and sent it crashing into the ground. Before the creature could get up, he was already on top of it. The kukri came down toward the monster’s face like a reaper’s blade.

“Beat you to it, Kong.”

[You have slain a Splinter Monkey - Lvl 141] *821,772,536 EP earned*

Luke tore open the creature’s chest and removed his trophy: a beast core.

Conjuring the Spectral Beast in the form of the Flying Fish, he handed the core to the creature.

[The Spectral Beast is awakening skills from the Splinter Monkey...]

Inside the world of his soul, Luke defeated the monkey again.

Core: Spectral Beast

Rank: E

Rank D Cores: [511/1000]

Core Skill: [Form Devourer]

Beast Skills: [Spectral Rend (Rare)], [Predatory Sovereignty (Epic)], [Typhon (Mythic)], [Form Devourer Slot I (Legendary)], [Extended Bond (Rare)], [Spectral Roar (Rare)], [Spectral Devour (Epic)], [Spectral Fusion I (Legendary)]

Form Devourer: [Juvenile Sunken Kraken (Rank E)], [Splinter Monkey (Rank E)]

Form Devourer Skills: [Titan Grip (Uncommon)], [Maelstrom Dominion (Epic)], [Leviathan’s Embrace (Legendary)]

Form Slot I Skills: [Forest-Bound Elastic Agility (Rare)], [Monkey Tail Mobility (Rare)], [Compressed Air Shot (Rare)]

Now this forest is mine.

[Forest-Bound Elastic Agility (Rare)]: The Bamboo Shooter Monkey’s agility is extremely adapted to forests, bamboo groves, cliffs, and uneven surfaces. Its limbs are strong, flexible, and slightly elastic, letting it grip, anchor itself, and launch like a natural spring. Because of this, it can perform super jumps, run across slanted trunks, climb natural walls, and change direction in midair with ease.

[Monkey Tail Mobility (Rare)]: Its tail functions as a fifth limb. It can hang, swing between trees, change direction in midair, and even hold itself in place while keeping its hands and feet free to attack. In environments filled with branches, vines, or bamboo, its movement becomes much harder to track.

[Compressed Air Shot (Rare)]: The monkey compresses air inside its mouth and fires a small invisible bullet of pressure. The raw shot hits with enough force to push or injure targets, but its real potential appears when it wraps around a small object such as a rock, wood chip, spike, or seed.

The Spectral Beast took on the form of the enormous monkey. Luke jumped onto the creature. The monkey launched itself forward and swung through the trees, tearing across the forest at incredible speed. Luke smiled. Reaching the remaining tower would be much easier now. And with luck, finding his group would be easier too.

For two hours, he moved through the forest at an absurd pace. The spectral monkey propelled itself with its arms, spun around branches using its tail, and launched itself from tree to tree as if the entire forest had been built for it.

Then arrows struck the creature from below.

A group of participants was shooting from the ground.

“Another monkey, guys!”

“This one’s dark and weird, with glowing cracks!” someone shouted.

The monkey roared and brought both arms down, smashing the branch beneath it. The wood split. The group fired arrows tied to ropes, trying to pull the creature down. Mounted on the monkey, Luke made the beast’s tail coil around another branch and used the momentum to launch it forward. In midair, the monkey bit into the broken branch and chewed the wood into splinters.

Then it fired them with [Compressed Air Shot]. Several archers were hit. One fell and was caught by the monkey, who crushed him against a stone wall with one hand. Luke jumped, using the creature’s body as a launch point, and struck the rest in the air. The last one tried to run, but a thrown kukri reached him before he made it ten steps.

A moment later, the monkey landed beside him and began walking like a dark guardian.

“Nice, Luke. You got yourself a titan. Real Eren vibes, man,” Artemis said.

Luke ignored the jab and looked at the area ahead. There was a clearing. At its center, ancient buildings rose out of the vegetation: the ruins of a stone city, swallowed by roots, moss, and shadow. Among those structures, several towers stood tall.

Luke smiled out of the corner of his mouth. “Looks like I came to the right place.”