Chapter 159: The Shattered Grid
Chapter 159: Chapter 159: The Shattered Grid
Chapter 159: The Shattered Grid
The nine-foot-tall behemoth of Abyssal Steel and raw crimson muscle charged.
Every step Tharzek Noctis took shattered the concrete beneath him. The sheer, ungodly mass of his mutated body created miniature tremors across the Vanguard plaza.
He swung a massive, bladed steel fist down toward Draven’s head, aiming to flatten the boy into a bloody smear.
Draven did not retreat.
His pitch-black eyes burned with the stolen Level 200 mana surging through his veins. He looked at the descending steel fist.
’You cannot cut or shear hyper-dense metal,’ Draven calculated in a fraction of a second.
’But you can definitely vibrate it.’
[System Skill Activated: SSS-Rank Vector Manipulation]
[Application: Kinetic Resonance]
Draven raised his left hand, meeting the colossal steel fist head-on.
CLANG!
A deafening shockwave of displaced air ripped across the square, blowing away the rubble. But Draven’s feet did not budge a single inch. He caught the giant’s strike perfectly.
Instead of reflecting the kinetic energy backward, Draven multiplied the force and forced it to vibrate violently inside the Elder’s armored shell.
The Abyssal Steel began to hum with a terrifying, high-pitched screech. The localized earthquake bypassed the metal entirely and violently shook the Elder’s internal organs.
Tharzek’s eyes widened in sheer agony as black blood violently erupted from his mouth.
"You think putting on a metal suit would protect you?!" Draven mocked coldly.
Draven grabbed the giant’s massive steel wrist. With a terrifying flex of his siphoned power, he applied a massive vertical gravity vector to the Elder’s center of mass.
He didn’t just throw the nine-foot giant. He violently slammed him overhead.
BOOM!
Tharzek Noctis crashed into the pavement with enough force to create a ten-foot crater. Before the Elder could even process the impact, Draven was already standing over him.
Draven raised his combat boot and drove it directly into the Elder’s chest plate.
CRUNCH!
The impenetrable Abyssal Steel visibly dented inward. The kinetic force echoed like a cannon shot. Tharzek gasped, his lungs compressing under the crushed metal.
’Impossible!’ Tharzek’s mind screamed in absolute panic.
’I am a Level 200 High Priest! I am infused with the Abyss! How is a mortal boy overpowering me in physical combat?!’
The Elder swung wildly from the ground, trying to clip Draven’s legs.
Draven casually stepped over the sweeping strike, grabbed the Elder’s extended arm, and kicked him directly in the jaw, sending the giant skidding violently across the concrete.
Tharzek tumbled through the rubble, his steel armor sparking against the ground. He struggled to his knees, his vision blurring.
’Where is my power?!’ Tharzek thought frantically, his mind racing as he spat out broken metal teeth.
’Even without my Edict, my ambient mana regeneration should be healing these wounds! Why is my core empty?!’
Tharzek looked around the plaza through his swollen, bleeding eyes.
He saw it.
Faint, glowing geometric lines pulsed beneath the cracked concrete. The lines connected to small, metallic Anchor Nodes planted all over the plaza.
The nodes were aggressively sucking the ambient mana out of the air and funneling it directly into the masked boy’s body.
’A siphon trap,’ Tharzek realized, a cold dread washing over his soul.
’He didn’t just nullify my Edict. He is stealing my godhood to fuel his own strength. If I stay inside this dome, he will beat me to death with my own power.’
Draven was already walking toward him, the air around the Captain violently distorting with kinetic pressure.
Tharzek knew he could not win a physical brawl against a Vector user. He needed to break the trap.
The Elder lowered his head and allowed his massive steel body to slump forward, feigning complete exhaustion.
"Is this all the Fifth Elder has to offer?" Draven taunted, raising his hand to prepare another devastating gravitational strike.
"You are embarrassing yourself."
Tharzek gritted his teeth. He embraced the humiliating pain. He let Draven approach, secretly channeling the last dregs of his internal life force to form a soundless chant in the back of his throat.
’Blood of the Abyss... hear the cry of the Eclipse. I offer the souls of the corrupted vanguard as tribute. Pierce the veil!’
CRACK!
Draven’s fist slammed into the side of the Elder’s head, denting the steel helmet. Tharzek took the brutal hit, allowing his body to be thrown backward, hiding the dark crimson light gathering in his palms.
’Break the chains! Overload the domain!’
Draven stepped forward to finish the execution, but his [Tactical Appraisal] suddenly shrieked in his mind.
The air pressure didn’t just drop; it completely vanished.
Draven’s pitch-black eyes widened beneath his mask. He finally noticed the faint, crimson runes glowing underneath the Elder’s bleeding hands. It wasn’t an attack. It was a remote summoning ritual.
"You bastard," Draven cursed, realizing the mana flow had been perfectly hidden beneath the chaotic violence of the brawl.
Draven lunged forward with explosive speed, thrusting a kinetic blade directly toward the Elder’s throat to stop the chant.
He was a fraction of a second too late.
Tharzek Noctis slammed his bloody hands into the pavement and screamed.
"SACRIFICE!"
Far outside the walls of Bastion Six, the remaining thousands of corrupted monsters sieging the gates suddenly froze. In terrifying unison, their bodies violently exploded into mists of blood.
Thousands of dark, corrupted souls were forcibly ripped across space, summoned directly into the center of the Vanguard Plaza.
The massive influx of localized energy hit the plaza like a nuclear bomb.
The [Mana-Siphon Grid] attempted to drain the new energy, but it was too much. The geometric nodes could not process the simultaneous souls of an entire monster army.
The Anchor Nodes began to scream, glowing a blinding, volatile red.
SHATTER!
The sound of breaking glass echoed across the entire city. The invisible dome violently collapsed. The Siphon Grid was completely destroyed.
A massive shockwave blew Draven backward. He dug his boots into the concrete, carving twin trenches into the ground as he fought to stabilize himself.
Tharzek Noctis slowly stood up from the crater. The Abyssal Steel armor was heavily dented and leaking black blood, but the Elder was laughing triumphantly.
With the Grid broken, the suffocating suppression vanished.
The gray, rotting clouds of the [Edict of Entropy] rapidly swirled back into the purple sky above the plaza. The terrifying, god-like pressure of a Level 200 anomaly descended upon the world once more.
Draven gritted his teeth. The limitless ocean of stolen mana that had been flooding into his body was abruptly severed.
A red warning screen flashed violently across his vision.
[System Alert: Siphon Source Destroyed.]
[Warning: Host’s temporary mana reserves are rapidly depleting.]
[Estimated time before return to base stats: 10 Seconds.]
Ten seconds.
If Draven ran out of the siphoned mana, he would return to his base Level 100 stats. The Elder’s fully restored Edict of Entropy would rot him into dust in a single breath.
The physical brawl was officially over. There was no more time for punches.
Tharzek floated into the air, his gray magic swirling around him like a hurricane of death.
"Your little trap is broken, boy!" Tharzek roared, his voice echoing with absolute authority.
"The game is over! Turn to dust!"
Draven Mordis did not run. He did not dodge.
He planted his boots firmly into the bloody concrete. He looked up at the Level 200 monster, his pitch-black eyes entirely devoid of fear.
"You’re right," Draven whispered, drawing 100% of the remaining siphoned mana into his core, pushing his body to the absolute breaking point.
"The game is over."