Chapter 87: Double Dungeon Incident (7)

He remembered his first life.

He remembered standing helplessly as people died.

He remembered that feeling.

That same feeling.

The certainty that nothing he did mattered.

His breathing became shallow.

The Death Knight began walking toward him.

Eden stumbled backward.

"No..."

His voice barely came out.

The creature slowly raised its sword.

Eden’s eyes fell upon the white ring.

He moved without thinking.

He simply lunged forward and grabbed it.

Eden put it on the moment his fingers closed around Lord’s Mercy.

[Lord’s Mercy equipped.]

[All Attributes +20.]

Eden’s eyes widened.

He looked down at Lord’s Wrath.

Then at Lord’s Mercy.

The two rings resonated.

[Compatible Relics detected.]

[Twin Relic effect activated.]

[Combined Attribute Bonus: +100.]

Eden’s body trembled.

His Attributes surged.

The difference was immediate.

His body felt lighter.

Stronger.

Sharper.

His Essence surged through his veins.

The System suddenly spoke.

[Attribute requirements satisfied.]

Eden’s eyes widened.

[Devour can now be activated.]

Eden stared forward.

His fear didn’t disappear.

But something else appeared alongside it.

A desperate determination.

His hand slowly rose.

Crimson Essence began pouring from his body.

Not the controlled red waves he remembered.

Not the relatively refined power of his previous version.

This was something else.

Something monstrous.

Something hungry.

The Essence writhed around him like an ocean of blood.

Teeth formed inside it.

Eyes opened.

Mouths appeared and disappeared.

The Death Knights stopped.

Eden couldn’t help but to smile at the familiar sensation, even in his currentsituation.

His expression was half terror, half insanity.

"Now or never."

He released Devour.

The crimson mass exploded outward.

There was no elegant technique.

Eden didn’t even aim it.

He simply poured Essence into it.

The crimson wave expanded across the entire hall.

The first Death Knight that touched it immediately disappeared.

Another was swallowed.

Then another.

Dozens of Death Knights vanished beneath the crimson flood.

Eden screamed.

"Get away from me!"

The Devour spread farther.

It ripped through armor.

Consumed weapons.

Tore apart bodies.

A-Rank Death Knights that had previously seemed invincible were being erased in an instant.

But there were too many.

Hundreds.

Even Devour couldn’t consume them all at once.

The remaining Death Knights began advancing.

Eden redirected the crimson mass.

He blasted them backward.

A wave of Devour slammed into a group and sent them flying across the hall.

Another wave tore through their armor.

Another swallowed three simultaneously.

Eden stumbled backward.

His Essence was dropping rapidly.

’There are too many!’

’I can’t t keep this up!’

Eden’s frantic thoughts were cut short.

The boss stood up from his throne.

Eden’s body froze.

The creature disappeared from Eden’s vision.

It moved so quickly Eden couldn’t even perceive it.

One moment it was at the far end of the hall.

And It stood directly in front of him the next.

A hand extended lazily.

Eden’s eyes widened.

"What—"

Pressure descended.

The entire world slammed downward.

Eden was driven into the floor.

Stone exploded beneath him.

The entire hall shook.

Cracks spread outward for hundreds of meters.

The floor collapsed.

Then the walls.

The pressure didn’t stop at the chamber.

It traveled through the dungeon itself.

The entire Gate trembled.

Outside, the surrounding landscape shook as if struck by an earthquake.

Eden screamed.

His bones snapped.

One.

Two.

Three.

His ribs cracked.

His shoulder dislocated.

His knees buckled.

Blood poured from his mouth.

He couldn’t move.

He couldn’t even breathe.

The boss towered above him, mocking his desperate attempts.

To Eden’s own surprise, he seemed to understand its voice.

It wasn’t speaking human language.

Yet he understood.

"Pathetic."

The creature’s voice echoed directly inside his mind.

"You believed that little trick would save you?"

Eden’s eyes widened.

The boss tilted its head.

"You are weak."

Another wave of pressure hit.

Eden screamed.

"No different than a filthy animal."

His bones cracked again.

"Your existence is insignificant."

Eden’s vision blurred.

"No..."

The boss raised its hand slightly.

"Die."

Eden’s entire body screamed.

He forced Devour forward.

Every remaining fragment of Essence.

Everything.

His entire reserve.

He poured it into the crimson mass.

The crimson Essence surged.

It slammed directly into the boss.

The impact destroyed the surrounding walls.

Stone was vaporized.

The cavern shook violently.

For several seconds, Eden couldn’t see anything.

Then the dust cleared.

The boss was still standing.

Its armor was scratched.

Barely.

Tiny fragments had been eaten away.

But it wasn’t even close to being injured.

Eden stared.

"How..."

He pushed harder, pouring his last Essence in a desperate attack.

His body felt like it was tearing apart from the inside.

"More!"

The crimson Essence became denser.

The boss finally took a step backward.

Eden’s eyes widened.

The crimson Essence exploded.

It expanded beyond the hall.

Beyond the walls.

Into the surrounding dungeon.

The A-Rank Death Knights were swallowed.

They disappeared inside the crimson storm.

Eden screamed.

His body suddenly convulsed.

Pain erupted from his core.

Something inside him was dying.

His vision went black around the edges.

’What is happening...?!’

The crimson Essence continued devouring.

The boss was finally showing minor injuries.

But it remained standing.

Barely scratched.

Eden couldn’t breathe.

His consciousness began fading.

’I’m going to die.’

Eden genuinely believed it.

His eyes slowly closed.

’I don’t want to die again—’

Eden lay motionless on the ruined floor, as the last bits of his consciousness finally left his body.

Just as Eden fell unconscious, sound split the gate.

Something that made reality itself seem to tear.

A voice echoed through the destroyed hall.

"Hold on."

A figure stood between him and the boss.

Long blonde hair.

Green eyes.

A familiar face.

Neville.

The S-Rank Awakened looked at Eden for half a second.

Then his expression hardened.

He turned toward the boss.

His fist tightened.

The air around him distorted.

Neville punched what seemed to be the air.

Reality itself seemed to shatter.

The space between Neville and the boss was annihilated.

The force of the punch ripped through the dungeon.

The cavern behind the boss disappeared.

A shockwave raced through the region, flattening everything in its path.

And the boss itself was punched straight through.

Its body tore in half.

The S-Rank creature didn’t even have time to react.

Neville slowly lowered his fist.

He turned his head.

Hundreds of Death Knights remained.

His expression became colder.

One of his eyes began glowing red.

"Strong force."

The words were quiet.

The result was anything but.

A red-black pulse erupted from within space itself.

Every Death Knight caught within it exploded in the blink of an eye.

Hundreds of A-Rank Abyss Creatures were obliterated simultaneously.

Their bodies disintegrated by nuclear energy.

The cavern shook violently.

The force tore through the dungeon, ripping apart enormous sections of stone.

For several seconds, the entire underground structure glowed with nuclear energy.

Not a single Death Knight remained.

Neville looked toward the boss.

The S-Rank creature had been split in two.

Yet its body was already trying to regenerate.

Black Dark Matter flowed through its wounds.

Its two halves began pulling toward one another.

Neville frowned.

"Still alive?"

Neville was preparing to finish it off, but froze as he watched Crimson Essence surge across the Boss monsters Body.

Eden’s Devour.

The blood-red mass wrapped around the boss.

The creature struggled.

Dark Matter flared in an attempt to regenerate.

But Devour wouldn’t let it. It clung to it, consuming what little was left of the monsters body.

The boss screamed.

Its body slowly disappeared into the crimson Essence.

Neville’s expression became complicated.

"That skill..."

The final remnants of the S-Rank creature vanished.