Chapter 72 — The Ashen Crown

The roar of the Ashen Crown Mauler rolled through the forest.

Trees bent beneath the pressure.

Loose stones jumped from the ground.

Even the creatures hiding in the deepest parts of the Ashen Wilds fled.

Kael remained still.

His katana rested at his side.

PR-02 was already in his other hand.

His eyes never left the Territory Lord.

The System continued scanning it.

[Ashen Crown Mauler]

Level: 39

Grade: Lord

Potential: Overlord

Classification: Territory Lord Candidate

Traits:

Ashen Dominion

Crown Armor

Predator's Authority

Mana Devouring

Regeneration

Territory Suppression

Warning:

Direct confrontation not recommended.

Kael smiled faintly.

“I didn't come here for recommendations.”

The Mauler moved.

There was no warning.

One moment it stood fifty meters away.

The next—

it was in front of him.

Kael's danger sense exploded.

He dropped.

A massive claw swept over his head.

BOOM!

The force of the strike shattered several trees behind him.

Kael rolled away.

His body screamed from the pressure alone.

“Fast.”

He fired.

BANG!

The PR-02 round struck the creature's shoulder.

It didn't penetrate.

Instead—

the bullet disappeared into the dark scales.

Kael's eyes narrowed.

“Mana Devouring.”

The monster had absorbed the bullet's mana.

The Mauler turned toward him.

Its crimson eyes brightened.

Kael immediately moved.

Another claw came down.

He jumped backward.

CRACK!

The ground split.

Kael landed on a tree trunk.

The Mauler looked up.

Kael fired again.

This time—

he wasn't aiming at its body.

He aimed at the ground.

BANG!

The bullet struck several meters in front of the monster.

Mana Disruption spread through the soil.

The Mauler's movement stopped for a fraction of a second.

Kael's eyes sharpened.

“So the territory is connected to it.”

The monster roared.

The entire forest changed.

Dark ash began rising from the ground.

The sky above the clearing became gray.

A red-black field spread outward.

[Ashen Dominion activated.]

Kael immediately felt his mana draining.

His Metal Control weakened.

His breathing became heavier.

The monster's aura intensified.

Kael frowned.

“This isn't just an ability.”

He looked around.

“The whole territory is feeding it.”

The Mauler attacked.

Kael sprinted.

He didn't try to win the exchange.

He was studying.

Claw.

Tail.

Shoulder.

Horn.

Every attack carried compressed mana.

Every time Kael blocked with Metal Control, some of that energy disappeared into the Mauler.

Every time he fired a mana-infused round, the creature became slightly stronger.

Kael stopped firing.

He switched to physical movement.

The Mauler chased him through the forest.

Kael jumped over roots.

Slid beneath branches.

Used trees to change direction.

The monster destroyed everything in its path.

Kael kept watching.

Its movements were different inside the Ashen Dominion.

Faster.

Stronger.

More accurate.

But not everywhere.

Kael's eyes narrowed.

The Mauler was strongest near certain sections of the forest.

He stopped.

The creature charged.

Kael jumped onto a rock.

The Mauler slammed into it.

Kael was thrown sideways.

He landed on a tree.

His body screamed.

He ignored the pain.

He studied the ground.

There.

A faint red line.

Another.

Another.

Ashen Dominion was not uniform.

It flowed through specific channels.

Territory lines.

Kael smiled.

“Just like the Verdant territory.”

The Mauler attacked again.

Kael moved.

He didn't run randomly anymore.

He deliberately moved toward one of the glowing channels.

When the monster entered the area—

Kael drove his katana into the ground.

CLANG!

Metal Control spread through the soil.

The buried metal fragments he had placed earlier activated.

The red line flickered.

The Mauler suddenly slowed.

Kael's eyes widened.

“It works.”

The Territory Lord roared and smashed the ground.

Kael jumped away.

The buried metal fragments were destroyed.

But one second had been enough.

The Mauler's aura had weakened.

Kael finally understood.

The Territory Lord itself wasn't producing the entire Dominion.

It was using the territory as an amplifier.

Disable enough channels—

and the amplification would collapse.

Kael reached into his Space Ring.

“Then let's cut the territory apart.”

He took out several thin metal stakes.

Darven-made conductors.

He had originally intended to use them for weapon testing.

Now they became battlefield tools.

Kael threw one.

Then another.

Then another.

Each stake landed near an Ashen mana channel.

The Mauler attacked.

Kael dodged.

Another stake.

Another.

The monster realized what he was doing.

Its expression changed.

It charged directly at the nearest conductor.

Kael immediately intercepted it.

The katana struck its horn.

CLANG!

The impact threw Kael backward.

His arm went numb.

The Mauler turned toward the conductor.

Kael recovered.

“No.”

He rushed back.

The monster swung.

Kael blocked.

The pressure sent him sliding several meters.

His boots carved lines through the ground.

He almost lost his balance.

The Mauler charged.

Kael activated Metal Control.

A wall appeared.

BOOM!

The monster smashed through it.

Another wall.

BOOM!

Destroyed.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth.

Kael kept retreating.

The monster kept advancing.

Then—

Kael reached the final conductor.

He smiled.

“Now.”

He slammed his hand onto the ground.

Metal Control surged.

All of the conductors activated simultaneously.

WHUM!

The Ashen mana channels flickered.

The Dominion collapsed.

For one moment—

the entire forest returned to normal.

The Mauler's aura dropped.

Kael's breathing became easier.

His eyes sharpened.

“Got you.”

The Territory Lord roared.

Kael raised PR-02.

This time—

he fired directly at its crown.

BANG!

The round struck one of the horns.

A crack appeared.

The Mauler recoiled.

Kael's eyes widened.

The crown wasn't decorative.

It was the control center.

The horns were channeling the territory's mana.

Kael fired again.

BANG!

Another horn cracked.

The Mauler charged in fury.

Kael ran.

The monster followed.

Kael deliberately led it toward the center of the clearing.

His prepared conductors were still active.

The moment it entered—

Kael activated every remaining metal marker.

CLANG!

Metal chains erupted from the ground.

They wrapped around its legs.

The Mauler tore two apart.

Kael expected that.

The chains weren't meant to hold it.

They were meant to slow it.

Kael raised PR-02.

He fired.

BANG!

The round hit the cracked horn.

The horn shattered.

The Mauler released a tremendous roar.

The Ashen Dominion disappeared completely.

The creature's strength dropped sharply.

Kael rushed forward.

The Mauler swung its claw.

Kael ducked.

The claw passed over him.

He stepped inside its reach.

Katana.

SLASH!

The blade struck beneath the jaw.

The creature staggered.

Kael rotated.

Second strike.

SLASH!

The throat area.

The Mauler tried to bite him.

Kael jumped backward.

PR-02.

BANG!

The bullet struck the other damaged horn.

Crack.

The second horn shattered.

The monster collapsed to one knee.

Kael stared at it.

It was still alive.

Still dangerous.

Its regeneration began.

Kael understood immediately.

If he allowed it to recover—

the entire battle would repeat.

He switched weapons.

HW-02 appeared in his hands.

The heavy weapon's internal components protested.

Kael knew it was damaged.

He had one chance.

The Mauler raised its head.

Its eyes locked onto him.

It charged.

Kael planted his feet.

Mana Compression.

The weapon screamed.

Metal Control reinforced its barrel.

Bloodline Synchronization engaged.

The Mauler came closer.

Twenty meters.

Ten.

Five.

Kael pulled the trigger.

BOOOOOOM!

The shot struck the creature's chest.

The blast threw it backward.

Kael stumbled from the recoil.

The HW-02 cracked.

A section of the frame broke off.

The Mauler collapsed.

For several seconds, nothing moved.

Kael remained still.

Then the System appeared.

[Ashen Crown Mauler defeated.]

[Territory Lord defeated.]

[Experience acquired.]

[Ashen Wilds Territory Core obtained.]

[Territory Lord Core obtained.]

Kael stared at the messages.

Then—

[Level Up.]

[Level 34 reached.]

Kael released a long breath.

“Finally.”

His body immediately relaxed.

He dropped to one knee.

The fight had been much harder than the Level 39 number suggested.

Without his earlier experiences against Territory Lords, he probably would have lost.

He had learned from every previous battle.

Blackthorn had taught him territory manipulation.

Ironhide had taught him to attack structural weaknesses.

Ashen Warforged had taught him how dangerous battlefield control could become.

Now—

he had combined all three lessons.

Kael opened the attribute allocation window.

Five points.

He thought for several seconds.

This time he didn't put everything into offensive power.

The battle had revealed a dangerous weakness.

His stamina and survivability were still too low for prolonged fights against Lord-class enemies.

He allocated:

+1 Strength

+1 Agility

+2 Vitality

+1 Intelligence

The System updated.

[Attributes Updated]

Strength: 31

Agility: 40

Vitality: 38

Intelligence: 37

Mana: 38

Kael closed the window.

He looked at HW-02.

The weapon was damaged.

Badly.

He held it up.

“You did enough.”

He placed it into the Space Ring.

Then Kael looked at the Territory Lord Core.

Unlike an ordinary monster core, it contained something else.

Patterns.

Records.

Territory information.

Kael's Network Sense activated automatically.

The Core responded.

For a brief moment—

the Ashen Wilds appeared inside his mind.

Mana currents.

Monster territories.

Ancient pathways.

Buried structures.

Old battlefields.

And one route leading beyond the Ashen Wilds.

Kael's eyes narrowed.

The territory network showed another region.

A massive black area.

The Blackwater Expanse.

Something there had a concentration of monster signatures far beyond the Ashen Wilds.

Kael's System displayed a notification.

[New Hunting Region identified.]

[Blackwater Expanse.]

Recommended Level: 35+

Known Threats: Commander-class and Lord-class monsters.

Warning: High mortality region.

Kael smiled.

“Perfect.”

But before he left, he looked at the ruined HW-02.

He had been planning to build a new weapon.

Now he had the material.

The Ashen Crown Mauler's core.

The territory core.

Ashen metal.

And the remains of HW-02.

Kael reached for his notebook.

He began writing.

Problem: Heavy weapon overheats and breaks under high-output firing.

Problem: Mana-based attacks can be absorbed by certain enemies.

Problem: Fixed weapons become predictable.

Required solution: Variable-output weapon capable of switching between physical and mana-disruption attacks.

Material requirement: High-grade conductive metal.

Core requirement: Lord-class core.

Design: Incomplete.

Kael stopped.

He looked at the final line.

“Incomplete.”

He didn't want to create another weapon merely because he could.

He wanted to create something that solved a problem he hadn't solved yet.

And there would be plenty of those ahead.

He stood.

The sun had already begun disappearing beyond the trees.

Kael looked toward the distant Blackwater Expanse.

Level 34.

Sixteen levels remained.

And now—

the monsters would become much more dangerous.

Kael placed the notebook into his Space Ring.

Then he began walking.

Behind him, the Ashen Wilds slowly returned to silence.

Ahead—

something enormous roared from the direction of the Blackwater Expanse.

Kael stopped.

His eyes narrowed.

The sound was too deep to belong to an ordinary Commander.

His System reacted.

[Warning.]

[Unknown high-level creature detected.]

[Approximate level: 43.]

[Grade: Lord.]

[Potential: Overlord.]

Distance: Unknown.

Kael slowly smiled.

“So the next hunt has already found me.”

He tightened his grip on the katana.

Then continued toward the Blackwater Expanse.

The road to Level 50 had begun.

And it was getting harder.