CHAPTER 199: OVERLOAD

No pressure.

The sarcasm did little to steady the tremor in my chest, as I wondered how the hell was I supposed to deal with this?

Every flame-based attack I threw would get absorbed into that inky mass like fuel for its corruption. Same went for my standard offensive skills; the death aura would just devour them and grow stronger.

That left me with only one real option—my class skills.

They were powerful enough to distort the fabric of space and reality, and more importantly, they weren’t made of life or mana that the thing could feed on.

Yeah. That meant I had to rely on pure dimensional force.

Below me, the corrupted form of Jael twisted as it fell, its arms stretching unnaturally as black tendrils flailed in every direction. The moment it touched the ground, the spread would start again. The thought alone tightened my throat.

Not happening.

SWOOSH!

I used [Swap] and reality inverted in a single breath.

My vision flipped, the world twisting like a kaleidoscope before snapping back into place.

In the next instant, I was falling—air rushing past my ears—while Jael’s blackened form appeared where I had been, suspended midair, far from the ground he’d been about to poison again.

I didn’t waste a second. My grip tightened around [Gravefang], the blade thrumming with void energy as I warped upward, closing the distance between us in a burst of distorted air. The sound of my movement cracked through the sky like thunder, the world bending around me as I rose to meet him head-on.

The entity—whatever Jael had become—reacted instantly. From the swirling ink coating its body, a weapon emerged: the same sword Jael had once wielded, now twisted and pulsing with black veins of death energy. It moved like liquid shadow, yet carried the weight of solid steel.

Our blades met.

BWOOM!

The collision tore through the air with a shockwave that rippled across the sky. Space itself shuddered under the impact, and both of us were thrown back, our bodies spinning through the air. My shoulder ached from the recoil, but I steadied myself mid-fall, forcing my focus back on the enemy.

When the smoke cleared, I saw it—proof that my strike had landed. A long, jagged mark glowed faintly across Jael’s blackened body, a thin violet slash burned into the surface of the corruption. For a brief second, I felt a flicker of satisfaction.

But it didn’t last.

The wound sealed almost immediately. The mark faded like steam on glass, the surface smoothing over until it was as if I had never touched him. It reminded me of striking armor with a wooden blade—visible dent, no real damage.

I exhaled sharply, frustration flaring. "So you can be scratched... but not cut."

No time to dwell on it.

I warped again, blinking into existence directly in front of him before he could raise that corrupted blade for another counter. The instant my feet touched air, I swung, releasing a [Rift Slash] at point-blank range.

The attack carved through the air with a shriek, a gleaming arc of purple light that split the sky.

It hit dead center.

The impact sent Jael crashing downward, his body turning into a streak of black as he plummeted toward the earth, the shockwave following close behind like the roar of a storm.

I warped beneath his falling form, air bending around me as I swung [Gravefang] in a sharp, upward arc.

Another [Rift Slash] screamed free, tearing through the sky like a violet crescent.

It struck him cleanly from below, ripping into the inky mass and blasting him back up into the air. The sheer force split the clouds above us, the slash continuing past him like a blade of distorted light that carved a glowing wound across the heavens before fading.

I didn’t stop. The moment his body stalled midair, I warped again—sideways this time—appearing at his flank in a flash of distortion. My blade came down hard from the right, void energy flaring along its edge.

THRUM!

The hit connected, sending Jael spinning like a broken marionette, his body twisting through the air while trails of black ink scattered in all directions. The droplets hissed when they met the open sky, each one fizzling out like acid rain evaporating before it could fall.

But despite the visual chaos, I could tell. None of it mattered.

I clenched my jaw and exhaled sharply, frustration simmering in my chest. I wasn’t doing real damage—just tossing him around. Every strike that landed only forced him to recoil for a heartbeat before the corruption patched itself over again, stronger, thicker, more defiant.

Meanwhile, my energy was bleeding out fast.

[Rift Slash], for all its destructive power, wasn’t free. Each cast drained fifty MP—not much on its own, but with how often I was chaining the skill, it was adding up quickly. And against something that shrugged off each attack like it was nothing, I might as well have been burning through my reserves for show.

I took a steadying breath and warped once more, reappearing directly in front of the falling Jael. His blackened form loomed large, tendrils writhing in every direction, the sheer pressure of his presence making the air hum.

He spotted me instantly, the black mass twisting midair with inhuman precision. His corrupted blade hissed through the wind as he slashed, a crescent of death energy ripping toward me.

I warped.

The attack tore through the space I’d just vacated, the air behind me imploding with a deep, guttural crack. I reappeared to his left, then his right, then behind him—faster and faster, until even my own afterimages blurred together.

Spatial distortion flared around us as I began chaining [Warp] in rapid succession, each jump leaving behind a flickering echo of myself:

[Paradox Step].

One became two, two became ten, until the sky was filled with countless versions of me, each one holding [Gravefang] drawn and ready.

"Let’s see you absorb this."

The first clone moved, then the next, and then all at once, they struck.

Whissh!

Whissh!

Swissh!

Swissh!

Each illusion released a [Rift Slash], violet arcs of distorted light spiraling inward from every direction. The sky crackled and folded under the barrage, reality itself protesting the number of simultaneous rifts opening and closing within the same space.

BWOOM!

BWOOM!

BWOOM!

The explosions overlapped, each impact hammering into Jael’s blackened form, tearing chunks of ink away and throwing him through the air like a ragdoll caught in a hurricane. His body jerked violently with every hit, the force scattering droplets of corruption that burned out before touching the ground.

And then—silence.

Every [Paradox Image] faded, leaving only me—hovering above him, blade raised.

Void energy surged through [Gravefang], the weapon trembling in my grasp as I poured everything I had left into it. The blade’s edge warped, cracks of violet light running along its surface as it reached its breaking point, gathering more power than it was ever meant to hold.

My lungs burned, mana thrumming painfully under my skin, but I didn’t stop.

With one sharp breath, I brought the blade down.

WHOOM!

And colossal [Rift Slash] exploded downward, wide enough to...