Chapter 54: Sector 4 Cleared

Leon had spent over a week sweeping the highest-density mana zones, eradicating hidden hives and shattering corrupted altars.

He had found the last one.

Rising from the depths of the glowing fissure was a creature that defied biological logic. It was a massive, four-legged amalgamation of crystalline plating, pulsating violet flesh, and jagged obsidian spines. It had no face, only a vertical, glowing maw filled with hundreds of spinning, serrated teeth.

[Monster Detected: Void-Scarred Chimera]

[Level: 53]

[Type: Abyssal Anomaly - Hidden World Boss]

[Innate Talents: Mana Void, Spatial Disruption, Kinetic Absorption]

Level 53.

Leon didn’t flinch. In the ten days since his 10X EXP window had closed, his leveling speed had drastically slowed down. Without the massive multiplier, reaching the higher Adept tiers required astronomical amounts of experience. He was still Level 50.

But Level 50 was more than enough.

"Mana Void," Leon noted, reading the system prompt as the Chimera pulled itself out of the fissure. "It drains ambient magic. Meaning spellcasting is going to be severely dampened."

He didn’t bother drawing Stormcaller’s Conduit.

Instead, he drew Bloodfang Edge. The silver blade hummed, the dark energy of the Severance Effect swirling along its corrosive edge.

The Chimera didn’t roar. It simply warped. The Spatial Disruption talent caused it to flicker out of existence, bypassing the physical space between them, reappearing directly above Leon with its massive, crystalline claws descending to crush him into paste.

Leon didn’t retreat.

"Storm-Strider," Leon commanded.

The evolved, B-Rank wind talent activated. The air resistance around his body ceased to exist. He didn’t just dodge; he slid through the empty space left by the Chimera’s strike with zero friction, moving faster than the creature’s massive bulk could track.

"Obsidian Carapace," he muttered, his skin turning to pitch-black volcanic glass as he stepped directly into the creature’s guard.

The Chimera’s sheer mass collided with his shoulder. The impact was equivalent to being hit by a freight train, but Leon’s 110 Constitution held firm. The Kinetic Resonance property of his armor greedily absorbed the force of the collision, storing the kinetic energy deep within his hardened skin.

"Return to sender," Leon snarled.

He triggered the release.

BOOM!

A localized concussive shockwave exploded from Leon’s shoulder, blasting directly into the Chimera’s chest. The sheer, redirected kinetic force shattered the creature’s outer layer of crystalline plating, staggering the massive beast backward and exposing the pulsating violet flesh underneath.

"Gorgon’s Decree!"

Leon’s eyes flared with pale grey light. The deathless petrification washed over the exposed flesh, instantly calcifying the violet tissue into brittle, lifeless stone, locking the creature’s front legs in place.

The Chimera thrashed violently, its vertical maw spinning as it tried to suck the ambient mana out of the air to fuel a massive area-of-effect attack.

"Monarch’s Command!"

Leon didn’t use the C-Rank roar. He used the evolved, B-Rank talent. He focused the vocalization into a concentrated beam of pure, crushing authority. The psychological and gravitational pressure slammed into the Chimera’s mind, instantly shattering its magical channeling. The creature’s maw snapped shut, choking on its own disrupted energy.

Leon leaped into the air, riding a localized vacuum generated by Storm-Strider to suspend himself directly above the beast’s head.

He brought the Bloodfang Edge up, gripping the hilt with both hands. His 90 Strength coiled like a spring.

"Verlimon’s Judgment!"

Slash!

The Platinum-tier crescent of compressed wind tore downward. It struck the calcified, petrified flesh of the Chimera’s neck. The brittle stone shattered instantly. The Corrosive Edge melted the remaining connective tissue, and the Severance Effect flared with pitch-black true damage, completely erasing the physical durability of the creature’s spine.

The Tremor Impact detonated.

The shockwave blew the Chimera’s head completely off its body, sending it tumbling into the glowing fissure below. The massive, headless corpse swayed for a fraction of a second before collapsing onto the jagged rocks.

Leon landed smoothly, exhaling a slow, controlled breath as the volcanic black sheen faded from his skin.

Ding!

[You have killed "Void-Scarred Chimera (Level 53, Hidden World Boss)"]

[Calculating Experience...]

[You have gained 850,000 experience points.]

Ding!

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 51!]

[You have gained 5 Stat Points and 2 Evolution Points.]

...

[Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level 55!]

[You have gained 5 Stat Points and 2 Evolution Points.]

The golden light of five consecutive level-ups washed over him, the system forcibly expanding his mana pool and reinforcing his muscle density to match his new Level 55 status.

Leon looked at the dissolving remains of the Chimera.

Ding!

[Lucky Fate has activated!]

[An extraordinarily rare drop has been detected.]

[Void-Scarred Chimera has dropped: 600,000 Eternal Coins, 1 Spatial Disruptor Core, 1 Abyssal Blueprint (Mythic).]

He gathered the loot, dismissing the Talent Devourer prompts and storing the fragments for later.

Leon walked to the edge of the fissure and looked out over the sprawling, ruined landscape. There were no more pulsing red auras in his Origin Eyes. The ambient mana in the region was beginning to stabilize. He had spent ten days scouring every inch of Sector 4’s hidden corners, executing anything that posed a planetary-level threat to the beginner zone.

The sector was clean. The players inside the checkpoints were safe from world-ending anomalies. They only had to worry about the system, the 100-day timer, and each other.

Leon summoned his status panel, allocating his 25 new stat points evenly across his attributes. He was Level 55. He was practically a god in a zone meant for Level 10s.

There was nothing left for him here.

He pulled the second Diamond-Rank Greater Teleportation Stone he had saved from his inventory, holding the multifaceted blue crystal in his palm. He couldn’t use it to cross sector borders directly, but he didn’t need to. He just needed to get to the boundary gate.

"Sector 4 is done," Leon whispered to the howling wind.

He crushed the stone.

The blue light swallowed him whole, leaving the jagged, empty wasteland behind as Leon Wes moved on to break the rest of the world.