CHAPTER 125: CHAPTER 125 - FIERCE BATTLE

While frantically scanning his INVENTORY for anything that could save Sebas, Lucien had a desperate thought...

’Maybe if I pour divine energy into him, it can burn away that bleak corruption eating at his wounds.’

He acted at once. Divine energy surged into Sebas’s body... only to collide violently with the bleak energy festering inside.

Sebas’s body stiffened. His jaw clenched tight. He did not scream, refusing to show weakness before Lucien.

But Lucien saw it. Sebas’s contorted face showed the hidden agony. His heart clenched. He cut the energy off immediately.

Potions followed. Nothing worked.

Then his gaze locked on one item.

Heartseed.

An epic drop from the Troll. When consumed, it could accelerate regeneration at terrifying speed.

It was the only card left. If this failed, he had no other way.

Lucien exhaled shakily.

In moments like this, even he couldn’t remain calm. Panic clouded his thoughts. It made him feel clumsy and stupid.

He forced himself forward. No hesitation.

"Sebas! Eat this now!"

He pressed the organ fragment to Sebas’s lips.

With what little strength remained, Sebas obeyed.

He bit down.

A burst of light.

Warm energy rushed into his body, flowing through his veins. It was mending and soothing. His breathing eased...

Then his face twisted again. Pain returned, clawing through him.

But still, Sebas kept chewing.

Lucien caught it immediately.

He focused, channeling divine energy into his eyes. The truth revealed itself...

The Heartseed was working.

Wounds were closing. Flesh was knitting back together. But the bleak energy resisted fiercely. It latched on like chains, smothering the divine energy.

It was too dense. The Heartseed alone couldn’t overcome it.

Lucien’s jaw tightened. ’Not enough.’

Without hesitation, he yanked three more of the organ fragments from his INVENTORY and shoved them into Sebas’s hands.

"Try them all at once."

Sebas then forced them all down. The moment he did, the healing effect erupted.

A pleasant and vigorous energy surged through his body, pressing back the corruption. The bleak energy writhed and resisted... but it couldn’t hold.

With a final violent clash—

It shattered.

The dark energy dissipated, melting away into nothing.

Sebas’s wounds closed in rapid succession. His pale skin flushed with color as if every cell in his body had woken from dormancy and was greedily drinking in life again.

Finally, Sebas straightened. He sat cross-legged and circulated the restored energy with steady breaths.

One heartbeat later, his eyes opened.

And widened.

Lucien’s face was right there hovering close, studying him like a hawk. Beside him, Cielius leaned in just as much.

"Phew. Thought you died. You suddenly closed your eyes," Lucien muttered.

Cielius chuckled. "Hah. Bad grass is hard to kill."

Sebas’s mouth twitched. He cleared his throat. "Ahem. Young Lord... please disregard what I said earlier."

Lucien smirked. "Since you can feel embarrassed now, I’ll take that as proof you’re fine. Good. Because..." His eyes shifted forward. "We’ve still got one hell of a problem."

The three of them turned.

From the rift, a colossal hand jutted out. Its fingers curled lazily and arrogantly as if waiting for them.

The only saving grace was that the hand couldn’t chase them. The rift itself restrained its body, limiting its movements.

Unfortunately, the exit was another matter. The colossal hand blocked the only way out.

Lucien’s gaze lingered on it. "It only flicked us and we were thrown across the dungeon. Imagine if it had been a punch."

The words settled like a weight. Both Cielius and Sebas fell silent.

The hand remained where it was. Its fingers curled as though swatting them would be no more troublesome than crushing insects. From what it had said earlier, that was exactly how it saw them.

Cielius’s eyes narrowed. "That being... it doesn’t belong to this world."

Both Lucien and Sebas turned toward him.

"I can feel it," Cielius continued. His voice was grim. "Its life force is alien... unlike anything I’ve ever seen in this land."

The weight of his words made the air heavier. And then he revealed something that left both Lucien and Sebas speechless.

"It might be a Tier 10... or even something greater."

Lucien’s breath caught. He looked back at the hand. The overwhelming miasma rolled off its skin. It was so thick that it can sting the lungs.

And yet... he felt no fear. His divine energy stirred within him as if agitated. After all, divine energy was the natural predator of miasma.

If anyone here could fight this thing, it was him.

Without hesitation, he activated Cram Session. He copied Perfect Calculation.

His mind sharpened instantly. Thoughts snapped into order. Probabilities aligned. Strategies unfolded with flawless precision.

’Think. Options. Weaknesses. Traps. Anything.’

He began to strategize. To calculate. To plan.

A way to kill it. Or at the very least... escape.

But deep inside, his instincts whispered something darker. ’If you flee now, something far worse will happen.’

Lucien closed his eyes.

Time to think.

Time to turn the impossible into a plan.

Two advantages.

First. The colossal hand couldn’t move freely. Its range was fixed, chained to the rift.

Second. It was overconfident that a mere flick could erase them. That arrogance could be turned against it.

Two advantages. Enough to gamble on.

Lucien rose to his feet.

"Grandpa Ciel, Sebas. Please support me from a distance. Don’t worry, I’ve got life-saving items and skills. I won’t die that easily." He scratched his cheek with an awkward smile. "Earlier... that was a mistake. I was caught off guard. It won’t happen again."

He didn’t wait for their reply. He ran.

Cielius and Sebas exchanged glances, instantly tense. Lucien clearly had a plan. The best they could do was stay sharp and get ready to intervene the moment things went wrong.

The colossal hand stirred.

A deep, grinding voice rumbled from beyond the rift.

"Have you finished your goodbyes?"

Mockery. Thick and disdainful.

Lucien stopped just outside its reach. Exactly where he wanted to be.

His hand dipped into his INVENTORY.

Spirit Ash Pouch.

An epic drop from an Orc. It was capable of summoning the spirits of fallen warriors bound to obey.

He hurled the three pouches onto the ground.

Smoke billowed. A heartbeat later, three large orc spirits emerged. They were broad-shouldered and clad in phantom armor. Their ghostly forms radiated the presence of warriors pulled straight from a battlefield.

They stood still, awaiting orders.

Lucien didn’t waste a moment. He pressed several objects into their hands then sent his command through their bond.

At once, the orc spirits surged forward. They charged towards the colossal hand with the fury of a warband reborn.

"Petty tricks."

The colossal hand flicked lazily. One of the Orc Spirits shattered instantly. It dissolved into drifting ash.

The other two pressed forward... until the massive palm lifted high into the air.

BOOM!

It slammed down like a mountain, crushing both spirits against the dungeon floor.

A gravelly laugh rumbled. "Ha. I expected mo—"

The voice stopped abruptly.

Lucien’s lips curved into a cold smile.

He had already accounted for this. The first spirit was nothing but bait to draw out a careless strike. The real trap was sprung by the other two.

The hand trembled. It tried to lift itself but couldn’t.

It was bound to the ground.

Warped Jelly.

A temprary adhesive that binds objects as though stitched into another fabric of reality.

Lucien moved instantly. He sprinted forward, knowing the effect would not last.

He leapt. He used Glide Dash to propel himself into the air. Higher and higher. Then a sword shimmered into existence in his grip.

He raised it overhead. All his strength. All his intent. This was his moment.

And then—

SLASH!

CLANG!

The impact rang out like a funeral bell.

The sound wasn’t what he expected.

Lucien’s eyes widened.

The blade snapped in two as its fragments spiraled away. His body was hurled backward. He crashed into the ground with his arms numb.

Not even a scratch marked the colossal hand.

Lucien lay stunned, staring up in disbelief. "Impossible..."

A volley of magic struck from behind. Cielius and Sebas had joined in. Their spells exploded against the restrained hand.

And yet...

Nothing.

The hand remained flawless. Unmarked.

"Pitiful attacks," the voice sneered. "Do you really think something of this level could harm me?"

Then it moved.

The colossal hand that had been pinned down stirred. Its long sharp nails tapped against the stone floor and the ground itself shuddered.

A low rumble built into a quake. Cracks webbed across the dungeon floor until... with an earsplitting crack... whole slabs of stone rose into the air.

"Impossible..." Someone muttered though the thought belonged to all three of them.

For a dungeon to be damaged at this scale... it shook them to their core.

Lucien’s instincts screamed.

Danger.

The hand curled and flicked. It hurled a boulder toward him like a catapult.

"GRANDSON!"

"Young Lord!"

Cielius and Sebas cried out, already rushing to intercept. But Lucien’s voice cut through the chaos.

"SLIME BEAST MODE."

The stone mass slammed into him, swallowing him whole. The impact hurled his body back, smashing him into the dungeon wall...

...only for him to bounce.

Once. Twice. Again and again, like a rubber ball ricocheting across the battlefield.

Cielius and Sebas froze as disbelief was painted on their faces.

He was alive. Alive and absurdly resilient. Now they understood. Lucien wasn’t bluffing when he said he had life-saving skills.

They retreated, choosing not to interfere.

Then the ground quaked again.

No. It wasn’t the dungeon. It was the hand. Trembling.

The stony voice returned. No longer arrogant... but shaken.

"No... how can this be...? Primordial Slime... I was certain... your kind was annihilated. Every last one of you!"

The being behind the rift hesitated. Then its voice broke into a shriek. Raw and horrified.

"GAH! I must kill you now! I will not let history repeat itself!"

Lucien who was still bouncing uncontrollably, felt his heart hammer against his ribs.

That thing had just revealed something enormous.

’Primordial Slime?’ He had no idea what it was but it sounded terrifying... and incredible.

His instincts screamed again.

The hand was no longer toying with him.

It lunged. Its fingers snapped shut to crush him mid-bounce. Lucien reacted in an instant.

Glide Dash! He twisted midair. He then vaulted upward, narrowly slipping free of its grasp.

But then... something worse.

The hand stopped reaching. Instead, it stilled. Miasma thickened around it, condensing like storm clouds before a lightning strike.

Lucien’s eyes widened. The sheer intensity of the gathering energy told him everything... If it landed on him, he wouldn’t just die. He’d be erased.

"No way... PROCRASTINATE!"

For an instant, the casting staggered. A pause. Hope flickered...

But only for a heartbeat. The spell resumed.

Lucien froze. "What!? You have a continue button for spellcasting? That’s cheating!"

Sebas and Cielius hurled their own magic in desperation. The spells flashed against the colossal hand. Nothing broke its focus. The spell was unstoppable.

Lucien’s pupils narrowed.

"Magic, huh? Then it’s time to use my trump card."

He dove into his INVENTORY.

A glimmer of black and white answered his call.

Eclipse Gloves.

He slipped them on. Black on his left. White on his right.

Then...

He grabbed another piece of equipment.

Mantle Infinite.

He wore it immediately.

The air shifted.

The dungeon’s choking miasma thinned... It was being drawn toward the massive spell like a whirlpool collapsing inward.

The voice rumbled.

"A pity... all the precious energy we gathered... wasted here. This will delay our plans. But to kill a descendant of the Primordial Slime... this sacrifice is nothing!"

The spell bloomed to completion. A suffocating sphere of darkness.

It pulsed with hunger as if it wanted to devour the very life around it. Even Lucien’s divine energy recoiled.

Then—

BLAST!

The spell surged forth. The sphere of annihilation roared straight at Lucien.